Just a quick question... What is my voltage supposed to be at when my car is at idle and in gear. And also, what is it supposed to be when I am driving?

 

The answer to your question mainly depends on the under hood temperature (since that is where the alternator is), so it will be a "range" of voltage. When cold or cool outside the voltage at idle could be 14.5 ~ 14.6. As the under hood temperature increases, to operating temperature, the voltage may drop down to 13.8. As the alternator gets hotter it will generate slightly less voltage because of losses. If your dash gauge registers anything less than 13.5 ~ 13.6 I would be concerned and start monitoring / checking things.

 

Thank you Curious George. I was wondering because my recently re-built LT-1 has not been tuned yet and I am almost positive that the timing is off. But it was registering a low of 12.8 today. Before I got it re-built, it had an average of around 14.6. But I didnt know if 12.8 was low or not, now I do. Thank you!

I also just replaced the alternator so I dont know whats going on.

 

thats not too bad, especially if you have accessories running. usually its high 13s to 14 when the engine is cold, and settles a bit when the engine is warm. check battery connections and cables for corrosion.

so how exactly do you set the timing on an LT1?

 

Not sure, but on previous cars, when the timing was off, this is what it felt like. And since I sensed a bit of sarcasm in your tone, enlighten me, O Master-of-the-Motor.

Matt

 

no really. i have no idea. theres no distributor to turn. i guess u have to change the advance in the computer.

 

Oh... sorry if I sounded like a d**k Raisin, i re-read what i had written to you before and i didnt mean for it to sound like that. Computers dont display emotion or voice tone as well as humans do.

Anyway, it isnt like anything really matters anyway because i had a problem about two weeks ago where i had to wait for three hours for my car to get towed to my mechanics shop. The problem was that APPARENTLY the shift cable just up-and-went-out on me. So i took it to his shop, it got fixed, they put a brand new shift cable in and everything (its an automatic) and everything worked. So now, here i am, not even two weeks ago i dont think, and i had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM... the shift cable is apparently stuck in first gear even though ive never put my car in first gear. But i was at a friends house and when i pulled up to park, for some reason, i cant park right so i had to back up and try again and when i put it in reverse, it felt fine, then when i put it back in drive, it felt kinda weird but i pulled up anyway and tried to park it, well it would go into park. So i got pissed automatically cause i knew exactly what was going on because i had the same problem not even 2 weeks ago. So i pulled up the e-brake and got out of the car. I couldnt put it in reverse to back it up and try to drive it to the guys shop. So, i had to finally do something i never ever want to do again, even though i got lucky this time. I had to drive it up onto the sidewalk that was in front of me, and through a grassy area to pull out onto the road. Well, this is how i know it was in first, i pulled out onto the street and started driving and when i started going, i could only get up to about 20 and i was revving at like 3500 RPM's and not shifting. So i let off the gas and it felt like the car just cut off or something cause it slowed down so quickly. then i tried it again, and it did the same thing. Finally, i pulled into a parking lot and called my insurance company to take advantage of my free towing thing AGAIN. BTW, i couldnt take my keys out of the ignition EITHER time this happened because both times the car was stuck in gear and you cant take the key out when its in gear. So i had to turn my car off and just leave the key in and leave it at his shop. He doesnt work sundays so i probably wont even hear what it is until monday.

But, when i talked to the mechanic, i told him what happened and apparently even though every other word out of my mouth was not mentionable on this site, he laughed at me. Then, i called the owner and told him the deal (i had actually called him first but he didnt answer) and the same thing happened. He started laughing. So i immediately got pissed and started cussing at him and he stopped laughin pretty quick. The he pulled out something that i definately expected to hear. he said "Well, we just changed that part so I DOUBT IT COULD BE THE SAME PROBLEM" ... Now in my head, with all the s**t i have had go wrong so far and all the bad luck with this guy, all i can think of is him opening the door to make more money for himself by just telling me something is wrong with my car and charging me a few hundred bucks and fixing a five dollar problem. But he did say that the part that is in there is ACDelco GM replacement so its under warranty.

Anyway, i just cant believe im going through this twice in two weeks.

Matt

 

Timing on an LT1 is computer controlled. It has no adjustment. It is based on cam and crank sensor signals while looking at TPS readings. [8D]

 

Sounds kinda like problems I've ran across before in that, if they didn't install the chassis to body ground on your car or if there is a ground wire loose, it is grounding through the shift cable and that creates heat which melts the cable inside the jacket. Might be a possiblity.

 

So mech, if that is the case, it is in no way shape or form my fault correct? Im just wondering because last time this happened (two weeks ago) it actually showed signs of going out. This time, it just went out without warning.

Matt