oh boy i'm going to get laughed at for this :laugh: but i thought you guys should know what the problem was considering i've been complaining about this for months hahaha.
well today i found that one of the main battery ground cables was not connected! i'm talking about the thick gauge one that comes right off the negative battery terminal :icon_redface: not the main one that goes to the bellhousing stud, but the other thick one that goes to the body (right by the intercooler outlet). the end of it was kind of hidden out of sight between the battery and headlight area. i can't believe i didn't find it until now! i must have completely overlooked that ground cable when i swapped over to the TGP wiring harness last summer. i also found another ground wire for the headlight wiring harness unconnected so i bolted that one down too.
the difference was immediately obvious. the engine runs way smoother. the bucking is COMPLETELY GONE. i tried to drive in a way that would usually make the engine buck and it just runs very very smooth without even a hint of bucking. the idle is also noticeably more stable, although it's not perfect yet. it still surges but not nearly as bad now.
i'm going to replace the other main ground cables ASAP....they aren't looking so good.
Welcome to the World of non Bucking LG5 ownership
at least ya found the problem Josh!! nothing to be :icon_redface: about
glad i don't have to hear about it anymore :icon_razz: ;)
I know a guy who makes ground cables.... ;)
Did you put in my chip after to see how she ran with it? I am curious if you notice a difference. :icon_eek:
i've actually gotten in the habit of constantly shifting to neutral and coasting just to avoid the bucking in 2nd & 3rd but now i don't have to do that. 1st gear was really bad too but i spend so little time in 1st gear it wasn't really an issue there. it would buck during light decel and whenever i tried to maintain a set speed in 2nd & 3rd gear. never during acceleration though.
i had my brother drive the car tonight to see what he thought and to confirm i wasn't just imaging things. while it is definately much much less noticeable it is still there. i think it was more noticeable with him driving it just because he's not used to the throttle like i am. i've sort of gotten good at driving the car in a way that makes the bucking problem almost transparent. it would be nice to get to the point that other people could drive the car and not notice it at all.
anyways, i think i'm finally on track to eliminating the problem completely so that's a relief. the current ground cables are in such poor shape that replacing them should help even more. i'll get pics of the old ones....they are really bad. i mean like...over an inch of shielding missing from the bellhousing end of the main ground cable type bad :icon_redface:
i haven't put your memcal back in yet Kenny but definately will be once i get the ground cables replaced! should be later this week. wish i could datalog but really can't afford a laptop right now and don't know anyone with one i could borrow either. i'm really curious to see what the IAC is doing. it would be nice to rule that out as the culprit.