C4 Ran without oil cap now hesitates

[Eric David]

Added oil to my vette and forgot to put the oil cap back on. My girlfriend then drove 2.5 hours and didn't notice anything. Then two days later drove back 2.5 hours and then noticed the car was leaking oil. I added oil and PUT THE OIL CAP back on. I then sprayed it off with a garden hose. The car now hesitates and only accelerates when the gas pedal is lightly pressed. If the gas pedal is floored the engine just shakes and does not accelerate the car. There is no clicking or knocking noise. The car lost 2.5 quarts of oil during the trip. Please help with any ideas of what the damage could be and how to fix it. Thanks,
Eric

[Terry M.]

Re: C4 Ran without oil cap now hesitates *TL*

Eric,
What year? Is it an LT1?

[Eric David]

Re: C4 Ran without oil cap now hesitates

94 LT1

[Patrick H.]

Re: C4 Ran without oil cap now hesitates

You likely fried the distributor when you hosed off the motor. NEVER, EVER get water on or near the distributor of an LT1. There is a flaw in the 92-94 Optispark distributor, and they are not vented. As a result, any water in them will ruin them, because it can't get out. I've heard of ONE guy who drove his car for a while and had the problem go away, but many, many who didn't.

The oil loss didn't hurt you, but you just hosed several Ben Franklins with your cleanup job (pun intended ). Do a Google search with the word "Optispark" and you'll learn all you ever wanted to know about the problem. Or, I've provided one of the many informative pages in the link below.

Good luck. You can fix it yourself, but it will take lots of patience.

Patrick




Optispark

[Pat Bush]

Re: C4 Ran without oil cap now hesitates

Eric -

I am no C4 expert, but I had a similar situation with my truck. Silly me went to wash and clean the engine compartment -- I got some water on one of the computer controls and it started acting way funny. Cleaned all the connections and everything started working fine. It could be something as dumb as one of the computer control switches/connectors has moisture in it and is malfunctioning. Is your check engine light on?

Perhaps removing, cleaning, drying, and reseating the computer controls would be a place to start.

Regards -

Pat

[Mike M.]

Re: C4 Ran without oil cap now hesitates

agree with the two patricks: you have a waterlogged ignition system. disasemble the ign.system. spray all connections with ether(starting fluid), blow dry, then cross your fingers just prior to start-up( by the way,let the c-4 sit for a couple hours after ether to allow it to evaporate as its explosive). if the ether/air doesn't cure the probles(it almost always does with a c-1 and c-2) then your problems are more complicated than this oldtimer can handle. good luck, mike

[Wayne W.]

Re: C4 Ran without oil cap now hesitates

I wonder about engineers who design such things. Now I know these guys are young, and probably flunked History, but Ford and others learned long ago that this aint no place to put a distributor.

[Terry M.]

[Jim T.]

Re: LT1 Optispark (long)

Terry what is your opinion of changing/modifing the earlier LT1 distributors to have the air moving through the unit to keep the moisture level in check like the later model LT1's and LT4's?

[Terry M.]

[Wayne W.]

Re: LT1 Optispark and water pump mods

Ha, We used to fix Fords with bailing wire and beer cans, now we are doing Corvettes with plastic soda bottles. Whats it comming to?

[Terry M.]

Re: LT1 Optispark and water pump mods *TL*

Wayne,
It works on F, B and D bodies with LT1 motor also. There is not much one can do to these with bailing wire or soda bottles anymore. Most of those hairpin type fixes have gone the way of the do-do bird.

[Wayne W.]

Re: LT1 Optispark and water pump mods

There is one, not so hair brain, fix though. Dont buy this poorly engineered stuff. . I still say, that aint no place for a distributor.

[Terry M.]

We agree to disagree *NM* *TL*

[Jim T.]

Re: LT1 Optispark and water pump mods(long)

Terry there was an article in Corvette Fever about this modification. You can go to the Corvette Fever web page and read the article and view the pictures of how to do the modification. The modification is by Chris Petris who writes the Wear& Tear section for C4's.