so no 5h1t there I was... cruising, on a Saturday about twilight, through Pacific Beach CA, with the top off and the windows down. smiling at the two cuties in the VW next to me . when it happened to me for the first time! I depress the accelerator pedal, and the car surges and hesitates, and makes this awful sound from the exhaust like a popcorn popper. And all of this without throwing up the Check Engine light. WOW, the embarrassment, not about the girls... who really cares about them, but a corvette on the side of the road with the hazards on and the hood popped!! so after about 15 mins of me staring at my LT1 like a monkey looks at a math problem. pulling and tugging on every electrical connector I can get my paws on, to ensure proper connectivity. I attempt to start my car, to find it running as it usually would.... I immediately head for home, half way there, it does it all over again, but only above 3000 rpms, then as I drive a little farther, it starts doing it at 2500 rpms… and then at 2000 then 1500, and you get the picture, as my optispark equipped disaster limps into the driveway like a three legged giraffe, I keep thinking "what could cause such an odd problem, without throwing any trouble codes?" when it happened. The little orange gleam of hope pops up on the driver info center, "CHECK ENGINE". So I scream into the house, I need a paperclip NOW! And sure as breakfast… I bent that little shiny innocent paperclip up into a 1994 OBD 1 code reader and inserted my new tool into the number 4 and 12 ports in the black pluggy thingy under the dash, put the key into the ignition, then there they were… codes! 4 of them, wow… I was so hopeful that my trusty OBD would tell me what to fix to make my little white corvette good as new. I was wrong… code 12 of course, means nothing, , DTC #97: VSS Output Circuit, DTC #42: Ignition Control Circuit Shorted. DTC #48: Mass Air Flow Sensor Circuit. Oh yea.. Somewhere amongst all of this nonsense my digital speedometer decided it would be fun to let me guess how fast I was going. Oh the joy of a LT1 with 143000 miles. Well … I took my car to my good buddy's shop and convinced him to allow me to occupy a hoist and borrow some tools for a bit, then away to work I went. and oh boy was it fun. I replaced the VSS, Then checked the wires to the PCM for continuity, they were good, so on to the MAF, I again checked the wires, they were good, I gave the MAF itself to a mechanic at the shop and asked if he would check it for me, it was good, so on to the ignition. again here I go with my big ass yellow FLUKE meter, only to discover that all wires are Perfect! Being as I had it all torn apart, I replaced the plugs, wires, and ignition coil, and changed the engine and trans oil. Couple hours later, I pack up shop, thank Mike for all his help, and away I go, out for a little test drive, soon as the under hood temp raises, it starts acting up, not the engine coolant temp, it was at 215 before I hit the freeway, then down to 195 as soon as I was to speed, ass soon as I hit traffic... again we went with the popcorn popper action. I pop the hood, for 15 min or so, fire it up to find the coolant still over 200, but the car runs until heat builds under the hood again. So now I know my limits, as I am a broke ass active duty Marine I don’t have another car to drive so I carefully plan my drive to work at the cold times when there is no traffic and heat. A few days later, im driving down the I-5, and my car freaks out! It stalled from 2150 rpms, all the lights in the car flashed and all hell broke loose in the cockpit of my little white corvette. Buzzers were going off radio was beeping and cutting in and out, all the lights in the DIC were flashing all the dash and interior lights were blinking. So again I am furious with my 12000 dollar paperweight with 315/35 r 17 tires. I waited until the urge to set my pretty little white corvette on fire diminished to a simple curiosity of "what the F@#&??!!" then I reattempted to start the car to find yet another orange light of hope… DTC #36: Distributor Ignition System High Pulse., I tried to restart the car again, it fired up, ran fine all the way to work… then last night, after work, I walk to my car only to find it dead, no voltage. Battery has no charge. with no reason, the battery simply bled out and died. As I stare at this disastrous Chevy thingy… I recall my child hood… memories of my dad and grandpa, (both GM Prototype builders, with a lot of experience at the Milford proving grounds) speaking of this wonderful new LT1, with its reverse flow cooling and optical ignition thingy, wonderful stuff, as we did donuts in the K-Mart parking lot in a Mock built go-fast Caprice, a few years later to be known as the resurrected "Impala SS". 143000 miles later…. its all BULL5h1t! Don’t get me wrong I love GM and I will never buy anything else. But damn! what the hell is wrong with this car? Please help, I beg you, if you have any inclination of what could be troubling my baby. Please help us.

welcome aboard!

First off, allow me to introduce you to the "enter key." It really helps to read these long posts when they are not one long run-on sentence.

Code 36 is a fav... it means the optispark isn't long for this world.

I can't explain the battery drain.

My 92 is doing something similar with all the fireworks (DIC lighting up and such). As soon as I figure that one out, I will let you know.

However, many of the codes can be caused by cascading problems.

There is no doubt in my mind you need a new Opti. I suggest MSD, or, call Chris May at Superior Chevy, 1.800.728.8267. Tell him I sent you. He gives deals to C4 Guru members.

Sweet jesus mate!! Ill come back and edit that soon to make it easier to follow!!

One question i have is have you checked all the ground points and had the ICM tested thoroughly?

A failing distributor wont cause the dash to blink of the radio beep and cut in and out.

2nd question, is the battery flat or is it just a poor connection??

You dont state youve checked any of these items that i saw so ive gotta ask to be sure. My 94 did something simular a while ago and the negative terminal was loose and covered in corrosion.