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I am having a problem with the old SS but here's the story first on how I got her, I had been looking for 2 years for the right SS at the right price even out of state but could not find a rust free one until I finally saw one on Craiglists about 1 hour away from me with 32k on the odometer, I just couldn't believe it so I went and saw it, guy was the 2nd owner and had it garaged but rarely drove it, I just couldn't believe it. The only mods he had done to it was: JBA shorty headers, Throttle body spacer, S & B CAI, MSD Wires, and Magnaflows, truck ran immaculate as he said he had serviced it from the basic stuff regularly even tranny fluid change and differential service( I checked the tranny fluid so he wasn't lying). Closed the deal for the truck, have put about 7k miles on her since (39k right now) I got her in March, noticed right away that the truck was a monster when you mashed the throttle, tested it's limits to  see and brought it up to 110 a couple of different times. Just out of nowhere though a few weeks back I noticed that something changed and I noticed right away a loss of power from the startup, the exhaust tone even sounded much less loud and toned down, it was easy for me to bring her up to 70 on the freeway but now I noticed that it takes double the effort on the throttle to get her up to that speed.. These engines are strong as can be so I don't think it's a compression problem especially not at that low of mileage, the tranny did have low fluid and I do not know for how long since I owned it had it been like that since I didn't properly check the level, any thoughts? 

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16 hours ago, Downeast Johnny said:

You didn't get a "check engine light" when the problem showed up?

I'd take her to a reputable shop and have it scanned.

nope just underperforming, I  scanned it and everything seemed normal no  codes whatsoever 

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21 hours ago, Rholston said:

Did you find out what the problem is?

Haven't had time to check but Mike from the forum here says it's most likely a clogged cat, my initial thought would be that it would most likely trigger a code or a pending code but I guess maybe the problem hasn't gotten that serious where the computer would set off a code, I agreed with Mike but what do you guys think? Other possibilities that I would have thought that came to mind would be an exhaust leak and this wire that was getting cut by the steering shaft bolt, I've wrapped some electrical tape around it since( 2nd time doing it, don't know what happened to tape first time) and used a ziptie to get it away from the bolt 

 

 

George

IMG_0048.jpg

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2 hours ago, someotherguy said:

Uh.. replace that plug wire bro you're running a V7 right now.

Richard

do you think that's the cause of the power loss or was mike right on the spot when he said that it was one of my cats starting to go bad?

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If the chafed high tension wire was causing the problem it would be a very regular and heavy miss.  The bad spot on the wire is far enough away from metal that it probably doesn't arc to anything, (As in a ground), (other than the bolt end that chafed it and that wouldn't happen until the bolt was turned to the wire at the same time that that cyl was firing).  The high tension wire is not chafed all the way to the conductor in the center of the wire.  Only the outermost covering is chafed.

Mike might have it figured out, but I am surprised that a clogged cat doeesn't show up in a scan.

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11 hours ago, SS-GTP said:

When I lost my passenger side cat, it was breaking into chunks and sounded like rocks being tumbled in a can and still wasn't throwing any codes.

Yeah it's pretty tricky I guess, gonna check the cats tomorrow to figure it out but imo that is most likely the cause as everything else on the truck seems fine

 

Edited by Silverado_George (see edit history)
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Basics... look at air filter, vacuum leaks. (plug wires), etc.

Might very well be cats. Get under the truck and bang around on them with your hand or rubber mallet. Usually they will rattle if they're bad. 

 

Let us know what you find, we'll all need the troubleshooting help sooner or later!

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So here's an update: went under the truck and banged the cats and they didn't really rattle much, but when the truck is on and in drive at a stoplight I hear a rattle coming from under the truck when I have my window down.. next thing that I did was I disconnected the o2 sensor before the cat on the drivers side and connected an exhaust pressure gauge and got 0 PSI ?‍♂️ haven't gotten to the passenger side cat yet. I also notice that on a cold start in the morning when I drive the truck and press the throttle lightly it tends to buck and like hesitate.. gonna try hitting it with the thermal gun but I think that the truck also has the original cats on it, they say Delphi, hmm just putting that out there but what do you guys think, should I go through and just replace the cats? I just want my trucks power back ☹️

 

 

 

 

George 

Edited by Silverado_George (see edit history)
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Before you start replacing parts because you think they might be bad;  Find a GOOD professional mechanic / shop and pay them to figure out what is really wrong with the truck.  I can't believe that there aren't any competent mechanics in the Oakland area.

 

It could easily save you money and aggravation in the long run.

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2 hours ago, Downeast Johnny said:

Before you start replacing parts because you think they might be bad;  Find a GOOD professional mechanic / shop and pay them to figure out what is really wrong with the truck.  I can't believe that there aren't any competent mechanics in the Oakland area.

 

It could easily save you money and aggravation in the long run.

I did, they could not find what was wrong with it.. it's one of those instances where an outside person comes in an tests the truck but only you as the owner know the truck and know that it's just not running right

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