I posted this on j-body also but i figured i would post it here to....
I brought my car out of storage 3 days ago and have been driving it with no real problems for the past 2 days. But today i drove about 5 miles and the check engine light came on. It is running fine though. The one thing i believe it could be is a dirty air filter, i have an AEM CAI which is the only aftermarket engine part on my car. I never cleaned it last year and had planned on doing it when i took the tires off to clean it but i guess i will have to do it sooner.
Here are a few other things that i have noticed since i brought it out:
- A little worst gas mileage
- Black water or something leaking from my muffler (there was spot about the side of a soda can on my garage floor)
- Bottom half of exhaust tip is black (it was clean enough to eat off of when i stored it)
- The gas gauge is not acting right, like when i am driving it would go down to 3/4 tank then up to almost full then back down to 3/4 tank
- Also i put gas stabilizer in when i stored it, did it last year as well with no problems
- The oil is a little dirty for only having like 150 miles on it, i put fresh Mobil 1 in when i stored it
I am almost thinking it could be that i am running rich and have fouled the plugs and sensors. I plan on taking it to work when its not raining and have them hook up a scanner to it and check things out. So should i do a complete tune-up on it? btw i have a 2002 Cavalier LS Sport with 59,000 miles.
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2002 Cavalier LS Sport -- IBM/G/A4 -- *SOLD*
2007 Cobalt SS/SC -- SOM/B/M5 -- *SOLD*
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Well, that black crap coming out of your exhaust is probably just carbon build up, my exhaust always gets that over time. Now there is a problem with the fuel level sensors where they act irratically, jumping from high to low at a random pace. Unfortuntally, you have to drop the tank and replace the sending unit. AC DELCO has com out with a gold plated fuel level sensor instead of other crappy metal ones just for this particular problem. Also, how many moths would you say that you stored your car for. More than 3 months? If so, you should do an oil change anyways.
Forgot to mention, your engine light could be an O2 sensor reading wrong, and causing it to run rich. I think (not 100% sure) that a rich running engine will cause more carbon build up.
Yea i had the car stored for about 5 months, with fresh oil, and plan on putting fresh oil in soon. I plan on putting some fresh gas in it and then taking it to work when its nice out and then hooking a scanner up to it and fixing the problem. And once after a tank or two of gas i will make the decision on whether or not to change the sending unit.
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2002 Cavalier LS Sport -- IBM/G/A4 -- *SOLD*
2007 Cobalt SS/SC -- SOM/B/M5 -- *SOLD*
Looking for an Admiral Blue M6 Corvette
Turner Automotive-Corvette's Detailer/Web Designer/Photographer
