I messed up my Baby...HELP...P0300

**TerribleTed** · 01-11-2010, 05:51 AM

So My 2000 Camaro Z28 which is basic stock..drived fine..been strong for many years...
raced many..won many...lost a few..
But dumb me was racing someone the other day and I downshifted to many gears in the improper fashion and here is what I have now as symtoms..
As soon as I did this terrible act, which was done on a very low tank of fuel..On E basically..she started vibrating a bit more..engine light came on real quick...solid for a min or 2, then blinked..then solid.
Stick shift at idle was shaking..I conected my reader up to it, she told me she had a P0300 code...She did not sound like any piston or rod crashed. She was actually solid to drive home..except for the misfire. Once home I checked all wires with an inductive check tool and all wires show sings of fire.
I did not check plugs tips yet. I reset computer..and still she says she suffers P0300.

So did I fubar anything major like a chain or piston top..or is it a simple reprogram of crankshaft position sensor..or a camshaft pos sensor..or cat..

I am a fool...she has been so good for me for so so many years..never again shall I treat her so lightly..

Ted

**JRENIGAR** · 01-11-2010, 06:51 AM

2000, so no egr in intake, right? If it was Id say check the egr gasket in the intake. Might have pulled too much vaccum and caused the rubber gasket to shift and cause leak.

**0rion** · 01-11-2010, 07:28 AM

probably bent pushrods......easy fix.

**LSCyaL8R** · 01-11-2010, 07:39 AM

and as a side bonus you can use the opportunity to upgrade to better pushrods!

**Hi-Po** · 01-11-2010, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by 0rion

probably bent pushrods......easy fix.

Quick job.

**Mr. Luos** · 01-11-2010, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by 0rion

probably bent pushrods......easy fix.

My first thought as well.

Remove coilpacks, remove valvecovers, remove rocker arms (be careful with the bolts, 6 point 8mm needed), pull out pushrods.
Roll on a piece of glass to check if they are bent. Replace bent ones with stock replacement piece. Don't go with upgraded ones until you need too...otherwise if you miss the shift again, you may do more serious damage.

**Phantom2kz** · 01-11-2010, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by 0rion

probably bent pushrods......easy fix.

find out what cyl missing, you will find a bent or broken pushrod

**TerribleTed** · 01-11-2010, 10:51 AM

Thanks all for the fast quick data replies..
I got the same data feed back vibes from some shop in my area I just interfaced with.
PushRod PushRod...

I should stick any bent push rods I find up me arse for screwing up so bad...that shoud teach me...ouch..

Now to do the work myself or pay someone..I changed a knock sensor..so its time to learn how to change out some valve train components..Stockers for sure...since the car has good power for what I need...I just need to learn not to do a FUBAR event like this ever again..

thanks all

**0rion** · 01-11-2010, 10:53 AM

pushrods are cake walk really..... just make sure the valves are closed when you torque the rockers back on and use lock tite on the bolts. Other than that there's really no tricks to it. Remove some bolts, swap pushrods, and put some bolts back in.

**Cutlass** · 01-11-2010, 05:03 PM

I agree with the pushrod theory, however make sure you put a few gallons of gas in it first to make sure you're not so low you are sucking air.

**blkSS98** · 01-11-2010, 05:09 PM

So he should probably get a shifter right?

**GatorSS** · 01-11-2010, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by JRENIGAR

2000, so no egr in intake, right? If it was Id say check the egr gasket in the intake. Might have pulled too much vaccum and caused the rubber gasket to shift and cause leak.

2000 does have EGR, but if there were such a leak I'm sure he would hear it--or at least he should hear it.

Ted, how high did the engine rev upon downshifting?

**Too Fast** · 01-12-2010, 03:18 AM

Originally Posted by JRENIGAR

2000, so no egr in intake, right? If it was Id say check the egr gasket in the intake. Might have pulled too much vaccum and caused the rubber gasket to shift and cause leak.

As an FYI, if the EGR were causing it, it would be most noticeable at idle or up to 1500 RPM or so. After that RPM, EGR wouldn't affect the misfire count. 2001 was the first year for no EGR on F-bodies.

And I concur with others, this is a classic bent pushrod example, we will all be surprised if it is something else.

**TerribleTed** · 02-06-2010, 06:07 PM

So I found the bent push rod..1 of the them was bent...,
Then I figured cod simply bolt her back together...

What else did I do wrong..
I removed each bolt holding down the rocker arm, then removed the push rod.
I did this for each rocker arm.
Once I found that i had 1 bent push rod, I replaced all of them and they were the same size as the ones I removed. After replacing all push rods, I installed rocker arms, then one after the other I tightened them down had tight, then gave them the final tightening to a good hand tightness (i had no torque tool that would fit, si I figured I could hand torgue them to at least more than 22 lbs....)

I think that this was my mistake.

SO do I have to tighten the rocker arm bolts in a specific order in relationship to how the crank is (as in timing marks per crank revs, etc)

I thought that doing the rods only was a simply remove, replace and retighten....

Any help would be great,,,

**bills98ta** · 02-06-2010, 06:15 PM

Have you ever upgraded the valve springs ? If you float the valves out lightly, that can cause a bent push rod, but a heavy float out, will bend the valves too. I recommend the comp 26918's even for a stock cam. As far as the rod install, you should be good !

**TerribleTed** · 02-06-2010, 06:17 PM

So I found one bent push rod...I replaced all of them...and now think I have to re-think how or most likely what I did not do right on the installs.,...

I think I overlooked a rocker arm bolt tightening sequence...I think..I thought all you had to do was tighten the bolts on real real good,,,i might be wrong..

As to what I did...I just f-ed up..no shiter light would have helped...I simply just screwed the pooch and will never do that again..

So now its time to remove coil packs..covers...and perhaps this time read my boook and get my baby back up to speed...

Ted

**Hi-Po** · 02-06-2010, 06:58 PM

There is no sequence. Just torque all the rocker arms to 22 ft pounds and spin the engine over and re-check. I'm on my phone, but that's really all you need to do.

**TerribleTed** · 02-07-2010, 07:27 AM

Thanks...thats what I thought..
I did a simple push rod change out ad did hand tighten all bolts untill they could not be tighten anymore..(since I am with out a proper sized torque wrench that will fit)...
I shall tear her down and check to see if any rocker arm bolts are still in need or more securing.

Else I need to drive the car for a bit..see if I pop a code...I may have perhaps damaged a new plug wire..or something else in the tear down..but the wires came off and went on as normal..

I do know that after finding and replacing the bent push rod..the motor did seem to run better....but still am getting a misfire...so perhaps I should also do a compression check..see if there was more damage other than a push rod...

thanks for the reply Hi Po

**blackSS01** · 02-07-2010, 07:54 AM

I would borrow or rent a torque wrench from a parts store. They are meant to be torqued down properly, if you over torque them, or under torque them.....your looking for trouble.

**Too Fast** · 02-07-2010, 01:42 PM

^^^tru dat.
Also, many people have not perfectly reinstalled spark plug wires, either at the coil or the plug. It was snapped on only halfway, not all the way, causing misfires.