A FireChickens Intro

[FireChicken]

Ive been a gear head since the 70's. Worked on everything from weed eaters to jaguars, bull dossers to corvairs, generators to robots... Worked as tech at two dealerships. And earned a couple engineering degrees in between. What has drawn me here is my 88 c1500 started acting up and its been so long since my tow vehicle complained I forgot how to scan my ECM! I couldn't find my old OBD1 copy of EFI live or cable. I have the current EFI live and HP tuners though.
I recently acquired a 1 owner 99 Firebird Formula and just upgraded the PCM and did a flex fuel conversion along with a racetronix fuel delivery upgrade. This was done in preparation for the 408 and 4L79 I just built setting ready.
I am looking forward to learning from like minded individuals.

Oh, and hello!

[dave w]

TunerPro RT is an excellent tool for OBD1. Gearhead-efi link for the 1227747 computer (likely the computer for the 1988 C1500) http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...Information-42 The link includes TunerPro RT files.

dave w

[FireChicken]

TunerPro RT is an excellent tool for OBD1. Gearhead-efi link for the 1227747 computer (likely the computer for the 1988 C1500) http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...Information-42 The link includes TunerPro RT files.

dave w

Yes, thank you. I have TunerPro RT and a Moates ALDL cable. I also ordered a Moates burner and have two new 27SF512. I have not been able to get TunerPro to scan. I thought possibly it was the Jet chip I put in when I replaced the 305 with a 350 so I put a 90 OEM chip in. Still no communications. TunerPro had no problem seeing the Moates cable using the interface test feature. As I recall the old EFI software and cable which I purchased from B&B years ago had no issue. So I downloaded WinAldl and it connected immediately. I contacted Mark at TunerPro and he responded promptly and suggested I adjust the baud rate. I have not yet tried this so hopefully this will solve the communications issue. And yes it is a 727 ECM. The Jet chip # is 28814.
What started all this is that after I put on a new exhaust it started running hot and I could find no issue with the thermostat, pump, radiator, or clutch fan. It has also idled high since I put the 350 in in 1999 but its always ran good. I put a timing light on it to check injector spray pattern and look for leaks/dripping to indicate an injector issue and could not get either of my timing lights to work but they worked on my other vehicles. And none of my numerous scan tools would scan it..... So I replaced the injectors and coil. The timing light now works and the overheating problem is gone as well as the idle being now normal??? Yup. As crazy as that sounds and I put new 350 injectors on it when I swapped in the 350. And yes I also replaced the spark control and knock sensor when I put in the 350.
So now I'm at the point I want to make certain my diagnostic tools are working. I may install a Spartan 2 wide band also as I don't think the truck enjoys the 10% ethanol shes been getting.

[FireChicken]

I have a spare ECM I am going to install the Moates chip adapter in. I may be doing some upgrades for a little more power when hauling the car trailer and would like to optimize this old TBI. I plan on reading the 90s stock chip, the 88 stock chip for the 305 as well as the jet chip to see how the calibrations differ from the 305 to the 350, probably just injector PW, and to see what Jet did.
I also sprayed some DeOxit on the ECM connectors and at least one of the pins had some oxidation indicated by the reaction of the DeOxit. However since WinAldl works I dont think its a system issue. However the WinAldl information seems incomplete from scan to scan but maybe this is normal. For example I dont get an RPM update very often. And the sensor information is sometime there and other times not.

One other thing is that the truck has always had a miss when cold starting up. At least that what it seems like. The 305 did it and so does the 350. and the only thing that hasn't been replaced is the intake manifold and TBI unit which has been rebuilt a couple of times and I have updated the fuel pressure regulator and run a little more pressure.

This is probably to much detail for an intro though.

[FireChicken]

Once the idle corrected itself after the injector change I noticed the idle surging a little and found the PCV spring was weak. Replacing that resolved that issue.