Progress Thread Let's try this again...

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I took this with the kindle so not really clear but you can see that the factory assembly manual shows that it will be as high as the F (full) on the dip stick.
start it up, get it warm, change the oil, drive it like you stole it.
 
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1585143289141-1921118674.jpg

I took this with the kindle so not really clear but you can see that the factory assembly manual shows that it will be as high as the F (full) on the dip stick.
start it up, get it warm, change the oil, drive it like you stole it.

Is that an 87-93 dipstick? Mine just says “fill” at the bottom of the rough part and “max” at the top. I imagine the principle is the same though.Right now, the oil trails off at max when the engine is cold. I’ll take a closer look and maybe drain a little bit more when I get home.

As for the starter issue, the negative battery terminal must have been grounded somewhere else, right? Would the car still run if it wasn’t grounded? Probably a dumb question, but the only thing I know about grounds is that if you do it wrong, parts of the car can become electrified or the wire can weld itself to stuff.

Can I leave the negative ground where I left it, or should I disconnect it?
 
Thats a 89 manual, don't over think it. If you feel the need just change the oil at 1000, then at whatever regular interval you usually do. then get on with life, I change mine with synthetic every 5k. 5 quarts and a filter.
Now about that ground cable. Follow the ground cable from the negative post on the battery and see where it goes. Report back to us.
The starter staying engaged while the engine is running may be a separate issue.
 
Thats a 89 manual, don't over think it. If you feel the need just change the oil at 1000, then at whatever regular interval you usually do. then get on with life, I change mine with synthetic every 5k. 5 quarts and a filter.
Now about that ground cable. Follow the ground cable from the negative post on the battery and see where it goes. Report back to us.
The starter staying engaged while the engine is running may be a separate issue.

The negative cable is the one I bolted to the timing cover. There’s a smaller cable that branches off of it that’s bolted to the apron.
 
If it was not bolted on to begin with, and you bolted it on then I don't see how the car started before with it not grounded?

Neither do I. It was loosely zip tied to the starter cable bracket, but that was hanging loose too. Maybe the bracket was touching the block enough that it was grounded? Also, what about the little cable attached to the apron? First of all, what is it, and would that have grounded the system?
 
In looking back at your pictures, the ground wire to the inner fender, although it is a smaller wire/cable, it probably provided enough ground to start the car. Not ideal, but probably worked. I think they simply forgot to bolt the bigger cable on, and I do not think you bolting it back onto the timing cover caused your starter to hang up.

Chris
 
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Surprised that little cable didn’t burn up!

My starter stays engaged if I just bump the key to start it. If I turn the key all the way, no issues. I’m sure it’s my ignition switch, and one of these days I’ll change it. New one sitting on workbench.
 
In looking back at your pictures, the ground wire to the inner fender, although it is a smaller wire/cable, it probably provided enough ground to start the car. Not ideal, but probably worked. I think they simply forgot to bolt the bigger cable on, and I do not think you bolting it back onto the timing cover caused your starter to hang up.

Chris

Awesome, thanks. I’m glad I got things back to the way they were supposed to be then.

As for the oil situation, I decided to run the car first to see if there were any signs of anything amiss, and it ran just fine. Saw a new c8 corvette, which was the first one I’ve seen in person. Not a bad looking car. Also saw an ecoboost mustang, which reminded me of how ahead of their time the SVOs were, but that’s a little off topic.

I ran the car pretty hard for a good 5-15 minutes and nothing strange happened aside from a slightly elevated oil pressure which went down as soon as I came to a stop for a bit, which I think is normal. Checked the dipstick, and the oil level was still at max or slightly above it, and I didn’t see any white smoke out the exhaust, hear any weird noises, or see anything pop out of the hood.

I am therefore declaring the oil problem SOLVED. Thank you all for your help.

The next step is probably going to be fixing the temp gauge, because the engine felt really hot when I checked the stick. The speedometer cable also needs to be replaced. The wiring issues can wait until after the whole virus situation ends and I can take it to a shop. In the meantime, I have a fire extinguisher handy.
 
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The insufficient ground when starting likely overheated the solenoid making it stick. Check ignition switch and I would replace the solenoid just in case, the resistance in the ground wires in the engine bay should be checked too.
 
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Surprised that little cable didn’t burn up!

My starter stays engaged if I just bump the key to start it. If I turn the key all the way, no issues. I’m sure it’s my ignition switch, and one of these days I’ll change it. New one sitting on workbench.
I’m wondering how you know the starter stays engaged? And how you know that it isn’t staying engaged while running. Are you using the separator plater between the block and transmission?
 
I’m wondering how you know the starter stays engaged? And how you know that it isn’t staying engaged while running. Are you using the separator plater between the block and transmission?
Engaged is the wrong word. It releases from flywheel, but the starter motor stays running. If I then turn the key all the way forward, it stops.
Yes, the plate is there.
 
They didn’t need me at work today, so I spent some time trying to clean up the wires in the engine bay a little bit. Let me know what you guys think, I tried to separate the wires based on a diagram I found.
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I did pick up a set of traditional wire separators from autozone on my way home from work, but they didn’t fit right, and they did this:

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It looks like the plastic cut through the first layer of insulation a little bit. Do I need new spark plug wires?
 

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If it was not bolted on to begin with, and you bolted it on then I don't see how the car started before with it not grounded?
I would bet the ground from the back of driver side cylinder head (or a bellhousing bolt) to firewall grounded engine to body giving enough to start car.


As far as temp gauge, is sender plugged in? (see pic in post #98) If connected and gauge not working, I would change the sender.

Speedo cable, inspect for melted sections where it touched exhaust. If so, then replace. Did you reconnect the hold down bracket at the trans? You could also disconnect speedo cable at trans. Use a cordless drill to grab small (square) inner cable and run drill. Speedo should spin up. If not, cable broken internally.

Good luck
 
I would bet the ground from the back of driver side cylinder head (or a bellhousing bolt) to firewall grounded engine to body giving enough to start car.


As far as temp gauge, is sender plugged in? (see pic in post #98) If connected and gauge not working, I would change the sender.

Speedo cable, inspect for melted sections where it touched exhaust. If so, then replace. Did you reconnect the hold down bracket at the trans? You could also disconnect speedo cable at trans. Use a cordless drill to grab small (square) inner cable and run drill. Speedo should spin up. If not, cable broken internally.

Good luck

The sender is plugged in. I unplugged it and plugged it back in to see if I could fix it like I did the oil pressure sending unit, no such luck. :(

Saw your post earlier about the headlight covers as well, the problem I'm having is that when the brackets are installed, the clips don't extend far enough past the rubber edge to hold the plastic securely. They just fall out. I'll try to remember to get some pics later.

Also noticed that the car is idling at around 500-600 rpm and there's some smoke coming out of the exhaust. This is at about 2-3000 rpm:

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and Ide:

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It's a little chilly out here (40 degrees), so some smoke is to be expected. I also didn't smell any burning oil, so it's probably nothing.

I also took a video to capture the idling. It almost sounds like it has a cam, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't. It's always idled a little low:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFCpsRhQGnA


And finally, here's an extra photo of the whole engine bay Spark plug wiring situation:

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That does not sound like a 500 rpm idle to me. Sounds more like 750-800 I would sooner suspect that the tach is not accurate.

Alright, I’ll add that to the list of possible issues. The engine seems to be running good, it’s not dying, so I’m not too worried.

I just picked up a speedometer cable/sensor kit as well as a temperature sensor sending unit and a bbK cold air intake. I needed the other parts, and the intake is speed density by using an adapter where the MAF sensor would go, so I think I could upgrade it to mass air later without having to get a new intake tube.
 
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So I’ve been working on putting on the bbK headers I got a while back, but I’ve been having a real hard time getting the old gaskets off. I’ve been mostly successful with warm water and a razor blade, but is this good enough?
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