Dyno was a Dynocom FX7500 with 24" Rolls with a Frenesla Eddy Current.

Have you thought about finding a local Dynojet and getting a run on it to check if this is all due to the first dyno being set up wrong before you go to a lot of effort to figure out if something's mechanically wrong?

My mechanic said he would do a smoke test on a Saturday, just need to supply a case of beer. But with weather getting cold, snow showers, and salted roads, I think my car is on hold now. Either way the smoke test turns out I will be doing another dyno, but if the smoke test turns out fine...I won't be going to the same dyno again! I found a place about an hour away, R/T Tuning...might give them a try.

When I do the smoke test and re-dyno I post my results and findings.


/Z/

Imazman,
Talk to Vince at R/T Tuning.

I'd just go straight to Vince at R/T. Guys know what they are doing.

A smoke test for one pipe and 3 couplers that are all very visible? :ugh2:

What these guys said. If R/T tuning is close to you, dump your current mechanic and take it to Vince.

From what I read it is much more than 3 couplers and one pipe. It could leak from those areas yes, but also from manifold, fuel injectors, bpv, and...I recall the install of a T for the breather/pvc or something like that...plus perhaps other hoses to/from plenum and TB which were't subject to positive pressures of up to 8 and now they are...I'm not a mechanice and know only what i learned from this experience so dont flame me for saying something stupid ;-)

Once weather is nice Im getting to R/T and will probably go Ecutek.

/Z/

Ok. I can see that. I wasn't thinking past TB's. With the god awful way the manifold goes on with blind bolts, that is probably the Hot spot.

Status up date: Nice weather recently allowed me to grt my car in for a smoke test. Took off the stillen filter Y-tube and connected the smoke tester there at the intake. Found two leaks, one leak at the hose that goes from SC intake boot to the PVC T. The other tiny leak at the back throttle body connection.
Didn't make any difference with the cars performance... still only see 7.4 boost in 3rd gear at 7k rpm...and when driving normal (not WOT) I still have a drop out at (goes lean) at 3250 RPM no matter what gear I'm in.
Weak test hit "20 thousandths"...so 0.02

Never had boost on the z (yet....bp kit this summer hopefully).... but same as any car or any big mod, crappy tune the mod won't perform right!! Tune time

Status update: Stillen said I had an old tune and will get me an updated and improved tune. I don't understand why they gave me an old tune in the first place. Anyway, I am anxiously awaiting the new tune! I asked them about the Uprev Advanced Racing Capability license for $100...but they said if I get that then I would have to take it to a tuner and get a whole new tune. Won't be going to a tuner unless Stillen's new turns out to be a turd...and then I will dump Uprev too. Do you think Stillen may be hurting Uprev!?

Dude, go get a custom tune or you'll continue to have problems. The new stillen tune isn't going to be much better. There's a reason everyone dumps their tune asap.

This.

Status update:
Ok a lot went on since the last time. Took a long time to get an updated rom from Stillen (about a month). The way it sounds the old roms were from Stillen and now they are from Uprev as the software update (ROM Editor) software need to be updated and the license which now says Upreve rather than Stillen. Anyway I installed the new tune about two weeks ago and it was running great in the cool weather. Great shifts, much much much smoother, and it really got up and took off.
Yesterday took it out for a drive in warmer weather (dash said 85)...went to test the boost in 3rd gear up to 7k and I thought I heard something odd. Slowed down and every time I go to give it even a little bit of gas it starts knocking like crazy. Needless to say I limped and coasted home and garaged it...afraid to tell the SO I did something to the engine. I'm hoping if I let it sit for a few days it will fix itself ;-) I know I read a thread on here about a guy that a crazy knocking...I will have to see if I can find that thread and what was wrong with his Z.

Will keep everyone posted as to what I find out.

:-(
/Z/

And this is why we told you to get a custom tune. The tunes provided from Stillen kill motors. It would suck to find that out the hard way, but you would be far from the first to have to go shortblock shopping because of the drawbacks of the kit as it ships and the garbage tunes they provide. Get the car fixed, and go to a good local tuner.

@Chuck...crap you have me really scared that I might need a new engine...that is not an option with the SO. I checked the DTC...says "P006A - Manifold absolute pressure - mass air flow correlation". I don't know what that means but it is something to go on. YES, if I can figure out that my engine is not ruined and it is fixable...I WILL BE GETTING IT TUNED BY A PRO TUNER. Otherwise, I will be selling and my Z days will be over :-(

/Z/

:iagree:
Tune is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of the build. That's why so many people spend weeks remote tuning with specialty Z if they dont have a proven local guy.

Drove the car around the block this morning (65 degrees outside) and it seemed ok! I recorded a bunch of data on my drive, will be analyzing the data for anomolies.

Cannot be emphasized enough.

The car isnt pinging but seems to be lagging or resticting...may be in limp mode. I did a normal drive and recorded data. On normal drive everything seems normal except Knock Strength went up to 27000 and MAP was always 0v. Checked the MAP connector and it was fine, the looked up my PLX gauge and had it report MAP and it reported fine. So Uprev's new RomEditor software version broke the MAP reporting.
My mechanic said he bets it is bad or stale gas...and it did start right after I bought 93 at a Sheetz and it acted really bad on the warm day. I find it hard to believe stale gas would behave that radical but I will try to run the bad gas out on these cooler daysand if I cant run it all out I will open up the tank and siphon it out.

When I am confident it isnt a damaged engine I will get it retuned.

If you want to know if the engine is ok, have a mechanic (preferably a new one, your guys sounds in over his head) perform a compression test and leakdown test. Send an oil sample to Blackstone labs to check and see if there's accelerated wear.

And if knock strength goes up that high, are you sure it's not knocking badly? That won't end well.

Going forward, only buy gas at name brand top tier gas stations, preferably ones with a large enough volume of nice cars so that the 93 tanks get turned over frequently.

Just need to get a good tuner to retune it and you should be fine. High knock will make the ECU go in to 'bad gas' map and it will run like ****, just need to retune it. this happened to me also, had high knock, after 30 mins of driver it would run rough.

Hopefully it's just squirrely because of Stillen's funky tunes. 90% chance a good custom dyno tune will clear it right up. He just needs to make sure nothing else got toasted in the process.

:iagree:

I am hearing a loud high pitched sound coming from the stillen plenum! It is easily heard after I turn engine off and turn the accessory on so the pump runs. It is not the pump as I can move my ear around the engine bay and it is DEFINITELY coming from the plenum...and yes the pump is running and making turbulance in the reservoir. I'm guessing its either the heat exchanger or the MAP sensor...I dont think there is much of anything else. Oh and when I turn off the accessory I hear a really loud click....like a relay turning off and then it is silence. I grabbed a video of the sound, I will try to post it.

I searched for high pitched noise on hear but only found cabin noise...definitely not that.

I not sure I know of any good mechanics around hear so I might see what the dealership is willing to do.

Here is a link to video...sorry it 80M but its very loud...flash is turned on after about 10 seconds.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1x...w?usp=drivesdk

/Z/

The dealer will be willing to misdiagnose your problem and send you on a wild goose chase. Find another shop, even if you have to throw the car on a trailer and take it a couple of hours away. You WILL have a better experience.

Are you sure that noise wasn't there before the sc installation? Your description sounds a lot like a noise that's supposed to be there.

@Chuck
Thanks for the word of caution with a dealer, I was kind of worried about that too given they dont do SCs much...if at all.
I am 95% confident it wasn't there...at least not to that loudness. It actually hides the whine of the actual super charger. I recall upon first installation the SC, the whine sounded exactly like a tubine jet engine spinning up...now I just hear this loud noise that sounds like microphone feedback.

I will wait a day or two to see if other Stillen SC owners say they hear the same or not. I almost haveall the "bad" gas run out. One more day of granny driving around should have it out.

If it's bad gas that's your problem. I'd put the car on a shelf until you have a competent shop diagnose your problems. If it's a bad tune, you can end up doing a lot more damage in the process.

Yea, I doubt it is just bad gas since the high pitch noise has nothing to do with a running engine. I fact, if I turn on accessory when car wasnt run...the sound is not there.
It only is after I drive the car do I hear it. Almost as if the engine is still under pressure from the drive. And after the drive and engine is running I can hear it over top of the engine noise...I just turn off engine and turn on accessory in order to hear exactly where it is coming from.

Any one know of a good SC mechanice near Reading PA. I know RT Tuning is up near Allentown...that is kind of farand I'm not sure if they service or just tune but they charge $100 hr which is too steep for my poor butt.

/Z/

Are you sure it's not the throttle body noise? They whine after shutdown, and then you hear a click.

RT Tuning is good. They'll solve your problems. $100/hr is pretty standard for shops. Boosting a car that came from the factory NA costs more than you initially budget. If you can't afford to have a good shop look the car over and tune it, you sure as hell can't afford not to. A replacement shortblock is LOTS more money than a few hours of diagnosis and a good tune.

$100/hr is what you will pay at almost any competent shop.

And that's for normal mechanic work. We pay $125/hr for somebody to do high end diagnostic work around here.

Never heard a sound like that electrical feedback or whatever you want to call it. Does it go away when the car is turned on instead of just accessory position? The only Relay in that coolant system is the one that is under the cover by the master cylinder. I assume you can hear the pump running since you said the coolant is circulating. You'd be able to trace the noise to it if that were the problem I'm sure.

MAP sensor is the only electrical thing like that at the plenum. Now if it could somehow make that noise if it was faulty or not I couldn't say but mine sure as heck doesn't. Spend a little time to check all your grounds as well to make sure they are good. What about the MAF extensions? Whatever that is it sounds electrical for sure so I'd start with all those things. Anything that changed electrically when the blower was put on.

What PLX sensors do you have and where are they tapped/installed.

What injectors are you running and are there harness adapters?

If RT is only an hour away then it is almost certainly worth it to bring it to them. Even if you figure out this noise thing it doesn't sound like that car was running/performing right to begin with. They know the cars not to mention forced induction for them, and that can be worth a whole lot more than an extra 100 bucks in your pocket.

Time to get a buddy with a truck and rent a uhaul car dolly. Road trip!

YzGyz

It definitely was louder right at the throttle body, but thought the sound could be from the MAP too and it just happen to channel the sound out the rubber connections louder than via the metal plenum. But yes, perhaps it is just throttle body noise because yes as soon as i hear a loud click...noise is gone.

@ChaseZ
If I dont put foot on brake when I push button once nothing really happens...push it again and accessory goes on and that is when I hear the noise (assuming I drove the car and turned off the engine). Doesnt make the noise when the car wasnt run. If you listen closely in the video you can hear the swishing of the SC water reservoir. The pump does make a slight noise...hmmm persay, but it is not as loud as that noise and the pump is under the driver side headlight. I moved the phone over there in the video to show the pump was not the source of the noise.
The only "real" PLX sensor I have is the boost (pressure sensor) tube tapped in at bpv and run into firewall. Injectors are from Still kit (600's I believe) without adapters. Next time I take it for a drive I will check to see where the click is coming from...but yea i think it is probably coming from under the cover.

I guess I will shelve it for a little and save up for a tuner. I have a few parts I was going to get which have required a retune...so I guess that would be the time to get them.

I cant thank everyone enough for your thoughts and your concern to help out.

/Z/

I'm about to I'll all my coolant stuff off but if you'd like any sort of comparison sound video for reference let me know. I've got a few from when it was first installed if that would help. In any case I've never had that hi-pitched electric sound that yours does. I've had different issues but that isn't one of them. My gut still tells me a ground or something similar.