C6 Z06 Vararam post install engine light is on!

[VelocityYellowRules!]

So a few more comments about my experience with the Snake Charmer Vararam installation that I completed and test drove last night.

In 1st gear, just loafing along at say 20 km/hr there was a nodd repetative surging. nothing severe or abrupt but I have to admit that I found teh Z06 and excellent cruising car and it has never exhibited this before. It is slight but even my gf said that she could feel it for the 1st time.

Now for my 1st road trip.

Water temp was 94 to 97 and oil temp 78 to 84 it seems. The car gets hotter when just driving around down, like say water at 104 but that it the way it has always been.

Now about 5 km into my trip the "engine" light came on. The car seemed to drive normally and I picked up my son, the light came on when I restarted the car and stayed on for the return trip.

I popped the hood to check that everything Vararam related seemed to be OK and so far that is the way it looks.

Would the engine light be part of the cars computer reprogramming itself for that period of time post-Vararam installation that the instructions taked about while it runs richer or is this a sign of something else?

Is there a way to find out what the engine light is referring to exactly assuming it is not the Vararam?

Worried but still sort of confident I hope!

Cheers,

Garry

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

The light is on most likey because you did not allow the ECM to learn . If you did any wide open throttle runs , you will have to disconnect the battery to reset the ECM and then start over . Drive the car for 200km NO WOT No 200km an hour runs , just regular pace throught the gears . Drive it like an old guy , ah like Colin would LOL .......not like a rented mule LOL

Once you have the 200km you can go nuts

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

Garry , on the supercharger :

That price is only good until Sept 30th

The price may go even higher depending on our dollar .

We do not take the rads as cores as , the rad supplied is a completely new and differrent part .

Hope that clears it uop a bit

Now drive that Z here and leave for the winter , come spring you will have one wicked ride

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

And as usual Manny comes through with the hopeful advice!

Why don't they say things like this in the instructions? Never assume that thre may be more than one person who is dense like me. You install a new mod so the first course of action is to try it out.

OK, disconnect the battery, wait a few minutes and reconnect it.

200 km driving like Colin and we'll see what happens.

OK, I understand the SC/rad situation.

Any idea what shipping would cost to send the car from me to you? It might be better to have it spend the winter at your place than paying for storage here..........

Cheers,

Garry

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

And as usual Manny has the answer.

Battery disconnected, reconnected and the light is out.

When I was crusing around in Peace River (and yes, at 30 to 40 km/hr) I went by this kid on a bike and yelled at me "Why don't you drive that car like a man" and I thought to myself but I am, I'm driving with restraint.

The WOT and speed runs last night were for sure the kid in me.

Now to get my 200 km of reprogramming in.

As luck would have it my Friday is shot for farming work. Family Friday at school with my son for lunch and then he has a b'day party with a classmate from 4:30 to 7:30. So I might be able to get in some highway km's............

Thanks again (once more!) Manny for guiding me along with this.

Cheers,

Garry

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

And as usual Manny has the answer.

Battery disconnected, reconnected and the light is out.

When I was crusing around in Peace River (and yes, at 30 to 40 km/hr) I went by this kid on a bike and yelled at me "Why don't you drive that car like a man" and I thought to myself but I am, I'm driving with restraint.

The WOT and speed runs last night were for sure the kid in me.

Now to get my 200 km of reprogramming in.

As luck would have it my Friday is shot for farming work. Family Friday at school with my son for lunch and then he has a b'day party with a classmate from 4:30 to 7:30. So I might be able to get in some highway km's............

Thanks again (once more!) Manny for guiding me along with this.

Cheers,

Garry

Garry , shipping is around $1500 by enclosed trailer , or around $1000 by train . There are many good carries out your way that could bring it here .

If you need I can supply with some names and contacts .

Thx
Manny

 

[CCO]

The light is on most likey because you did not allow the ECM to learn . If you did any wide open throttle runs , you will have to disconnect the battery to reset the ECM and then start over . Drive the car for 200km NO WOT No 200km an hour runs , just regular pace throught the gears . Drive it like an old guy , ah like Colin would LOL .......not like a rented mule LOL

Once you have the 200km you can go nuts

Hey! I drive mine like a "rented mule" .........




with 3 broken legs.



......and those funny lights that come on near the speedo ...... I just cover them up with 'lectrical tape -- problem solved.

C.

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

Trivia question that occured to me in the shower just now.

If the battery goes dead because, oh say, I leave the "Mild to Wild" in the "on" setting too long inbetween drives, do I need to go through the 200 km period again to re-teach the car's computer that it has a Vararam installed or will it be set after this 1st 200 period has been done driving like Colin?

Manny, would you recommend that I get certified Vararam driving lessons from Colin? Maybe put a block on the underside of the gas pedal to limit movement........??!!

If so can it be solved by giving the car a "tune" and changing the car computer's memory/programming at that time?

Cheers,

Garry

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

Trivia question that occured to me in the shower just now.

If the battery goes dead because, oh say, I leave the "Mild to Wild" in the "on" setting too long inbetween drives, do I need to go through the 200 km period again to re-teach the car's computer that it has a Vararam installed or will it be set after this 1st 200 period has been done driving like Colin?

Manny, would you recommend that I get certified Vararam driving lessons from Colin? Maybe put a block on the underside of the gas pedal to limit movement........??!!

If so can it be solved by giving the car a "tune" and changing the car computer's memory/programming at that time?

Cheers,

Garry

No , once its set the ECM will not loose the calibration .

LOL driving lesson's from Colin

 

[xlr8r]

If you need to slow down, I can trade you for my car................

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

xlr8r, thanks for the hardship that I know you would be experiencing from this offer. I hope it would not be necessary but you might have a point. Maybe I should let you have the Z06 for the 200 km break-in period and then I'd be sure it would never see hard acceleration..........and I could get your car's ECM recalibrated for some track/strip work.........! I love the sense of humor and bander from the owners who post on this site. It has been a very nice part of the experience of owning a Y-body car.

In perhaps to make a comment to another thread regarding the differences between this site and the US Corvette Forum I'm inclined to state my opinion that I prefer this Canadian site. I find it sort of a better experience to be dealing with a smaller group of knowledgeable owners and people like Manny. It gives it, dare I say, a much more real, personal, and on a car owner level an intimate sort of feel to it, unlike having posts by a few 1000 different people. You almost get to know the other people on the forum in terms of their personalities which is not something I think would occur if there were a much larger number of users.

The 200 km, engine light free, period should being in about an hour. I'm going to have to force myself to do some highway cruising on a 25 above, calm fall day in Northern Alberta and admire all the nice yellow leaves on the poplar trees.

Cheers,

Garry

 

[Riley P]

calm fall day in Northern Alberta and admire all the nice yellow leaves on the poplar trees.

Now that's some good Colin driving! And not to be too hard on Colin, I drive my car like I rented the mule after Colin had it and then it stubbed it's toe (hoof?). If you or anyone needs a laid back, mild 200km's put on a car, I am willing to offer my services. It's been pointed out to me one too many times about how slow I drive....even by random girls! They ask why I'm driving so slow when I'm out for a cruise and I say, the fast the car, the slower I drive. They don't get it. I just like to enjoy being out and seeing the other cars on the road where you can't do that if you're weaving in and out of traffic. Anyway, back to the faster the car, the slower I drive comment....if I had your car with that mentality, I don't think I would even take off the parking brake or put it in gear! I figure at that pace, I would have about 200 kms on the car by 2015.

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

So, here's how today went. Drive like Colin to Fairview. All is good, engine light stays off. Feeling good. Get my son after school, go for a cruise as the birthday party doesn't start for an hour. So just driving around town, maybe top engine speed 2500 rpm. The lilght comes on again!

Gurrrrrrrrr!

So go to the Chev dealer (no Manny's here) and ask one of the mechanics to borrow a 10 mm socket. Pop off the battery cable and the light goes off.

Drive around town more, limit engine speed to 2000 rpm now. Light stays off. Drive home after party and light is still off so have 60 km of 200 under my belt.

On the plus side gotthe name and address of the guy I'd seed with the red C6 Z51. The car was not in the driveway but at least I was able to confirm that there is such a car there and where the owner lives. Apparently he's owned a few Corvettes. Also saw a white C4 convertable in the town maybe two weeks ago too. Again not sure if it is local.

Funny experience, going by the final small farm town before my turn off a black C4 convertable was leaving the town and going in my direction. I sort of hoped he'd turn off the highway when I did and star to follow me home at which point I might have been able to stop and have a conversation but he kept going straight.

One plus side of cruising slow as well is getting to here all the comments people make applauding the car which always makes me feel good! Teen boys are always the funniest - "Hey Corvette guy, do a burnout/smokeshow"..........

So tomorrow I may be able to continue with the ECM reprogramming, I'll update as I get more km in, engine light free I hope!

Cheers,

Garry

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

Whoa boy is this a WTF posting.

So I got to Peace River for a walk. I've been walking 10 km a day without missing a day since Jan 1st 2008. I like walking along the dike as it is so beautiful along the river and it was 25 and calm, ideal weather. Ideal day for getting more KM in my ECM re-programming too. Now they're doing construction on the way into Peace River (but I did meet the red C5 which was nice and we waved and smiled to one another) so after my walk rather than risk waiting in traffic again I decide to take the Shatfsbury Trail home. It winds along the river and with with leaves changing color and the grass and shrubs also turning red, orange and yellow it would look really nice and it did.

So the drive is nice indeed.

I get to the town closest to me and turn toward home, about 7 km away.

I'm in 4th gear, driving JUST LIKE COLIN at 1500 rpm and the F*(^#@&^@! engine light comes on again!

WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF

This is really not getting funny and I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

But this is really losing its appeal quickly.

And of course I imagine that I'm the only one who has ever had this problem too, right?!

So off to get my 10 mm socket and then re-index the window and re-enter my preferences. I can't believe that something so simple is turning out to be so complicated.

Cheers,

Garry

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

Garry , you may want to go and get the code read at a dealer . This is very unusual , and I am suspecting that the code could be unrelated to the Vararam install .

However , please check all the connection points to make ssure the you do not have an air leak , also make sure that the the arrow on the MAF card it pointing toward the engine and not away from it . If this is all good , than its time to have the ECM read at the dealer .

Oh , one last note .....you did not use the rubber throttle body spacer that comes in the package ...right ?

 

[xlr8r]

If it makes you feel any better, my check enging light has been on all summer. Got the codes read--it is my cats. They're shot. No biggie--I'm putting new cats and headers on in the spring. Maybe yours are gone too?

I've learned to ignore it for the time being--knowing that it's not a big deal. I do not have a Vararam, so maybe it's pure coincidence.

Anyways, GL with whatever it is.
[mob][/mob]

 

[CCO]

Codes readers are a good investment......
CTC, Part Source, etc etc have them at good prices and have sales periodically.
Dealers can charge $100 or more just for a reading so you can see that money goes a long way to buying a decent reader.

If you're concerned about what the readings mean, here's a handy link to deciphering them:

OBD-II Check Engine Light Trouble Codes

Colin.

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

Good morning Gentlemen,

Wow thanks for the nice warm fuzzies of support during my experience!

Yes, I just returned from the farm with my ODB2 code reader in hand. Never actually used the thing myself.

And yes Manny, thanks for the suggestion on checking the fittings and that the sensor is facing in the right direction.

I never recall any gaskets, seals or o-rings with either the air sensor or PCV value when I removed them from the OE so I hope I did miss anything.

As well, with the billet MAF, it is not omni-directional, on one side there is a lip and on the other it is machined to a smaller diameter. I assume that a smoother airflow would be over the machined side so that is facing toward the front of the car.

Almost sort of fun if it would be doing it to someone else's car!!!!!

OK, off I go to get codes, stay tuned!

Cheers,

Garry

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

Oh and I did not use the rubber throttle spacer..............

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

OK, now how is this for a mystery.

Connect the OBD2.

The OBD2 powers up, displays the car icon.

Turn on ignition but don't start car - so with this keyless jobby I assume that means have the FOB with you, hit the start button but don't step on the clutch, right?

Hit the connect button on the OBD2, it connects, tells me there are ZERO error codes.

Disconnect the OBD2, start car, engine light still on!

WTF?

I did also confirm that sensor arrow is facing toward the car, yes it is.

Re-read VARARAM instructions, they talk about using two sets of washers on the screws supplied to fasten the air sensor, one agaist the head of the screw and the other between the sensor and the billet housing. I only have one on the screw side as it did not come with four washers. Now using washers between the sensor and billet housing would result in the sensor moving the thickness of the washer out of the airflow inside the billet housing but I can't imagine that is so critical. But I will see if I can find the original screws and if there are two washers there to use.

The red couplers and hose clamps look solid.

But the PCV valve is something I'm not happy about. The stock corrigated rubber body that the PCV valve fits into had a much more solid fitting to go into than the simple hole cut through the red coupler, the original one almost has a more grommet like appendage for the PCV valve and I worried about how well the PCV valve was going to fit/seal into red coupler. Could this be a source of air leaking as it is simply a barbed fitting??

But why doesn't the OBD2 download any error codes???????

Off to look for washers.

Cheers,

Garry