Tracked the 94' for the first time yesterday. Need help with a strange CE light.

klamathpro

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I tracked the 94' at Grattan Raceway during an Alfa Romeo club event yesterday. Despite being a preferred club member (VCA) and given a discount, I was the only Viper representing out there.:( But what a blast. After going with an instructor for the first three sessions, my last four sessions consistently got faster and faster. By the end of the day I had passed and was able to keep at bay, a GT500, a modded mini cooper, a C6, and an M5, among other cars. The only cars that gave me trouble were the experienced C5 and C6 drivers. This was only my second track day experience and my first with a Viper. I was amazed by how much grip I had and how easy it was to drive on the track with a GEN1. I always heard the GEN1 was a handful and would bite me back if I pushed too hard, but I never once felt like it was going to strike. The rear end stayed where I wanted and by the end of the day I was at the verge of sliding through the turns and had reached the limit of the street tires, though the rear end never snapped out and it stayed consistent. I have PS2's with 13k at the back and new Riken Raptors up front. The brakes felt fine, though I had the most trouble stopping from 130MPH into a right turn at the end of the straight. It seemed to have the stopping power with EBC Reds, but it was more of how hard I had to push to get it there, and I think the GEN2 would have fared better, so I ordered a GEN2 booster to help with pedal assist in the future.

Anyway, I had an intermittent issue at the end of the straight. During the morning session, and a couple times in the early afternoon, I got a fast blinking Check Engine light as I stopped at the end of the straight. It did this every other time. It would rapidly flash for about ten seconds and would disappear by the exit of the first turn. It would sometimes blink so fast it looked dim. Other times it was bright red or stayed on without blinking for a couple seconds. The oil pressure gauge never dropped below 20 but did get that low entering the turn with the clutch pushed in and engine RPM below 1000. Most of the time oil pressure was between half and 80. Only once during extremely hard braking did both the check engine and brake light flash simultaneously for about three seconds, but the brake light never did this again. The outside temps were in the 90's by noon, with it hitting 95 by 3pm. By the early afternoon, after the instructor cut me loose, the CE light never came back on. Chuck Tator said to get the ODB-I read. Has anyone had this happen on their GEN1? Thanks.
 
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klamathpro

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FYI: I have an early 94' with the four ribbed plenum. Engine coolant temps sometimes touched the yellow tick mark on the gauge, but never buried into the yellow mark nor touched the red. People were overheating and a C6 blew a radiator cap, so I ran the heater instead of the AC in the afternoon and it stayed just over 190 degrees. I have a 170 thermostat and high flow cats, so that helped. Side sills never got hot.
 

MTGTS

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I'd get SS lines and some Motul brake fluid before swapping out for the Gen 2 booster.

Engine lights could be due to low oil psi since it's coming on undre the hard braking. All your oil is going to the front of the pan away from the pickup. This is not something you want to mess around with. They make a trap door setup that goes in the lager 10qt. (00-02) oil pans that prevents this from happening. If you are gonna track your car this is almost a must have. As you get faster it will become more of an issue. I'm not sure if the 10qt oil pans fit on Gen 1's but if they do I have one listed in the classifieds.
 

Green Viper

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I had that happen twice on my Gen 1. I know it sounds silly but check that yoru battery terminals are tight and that the ground connection is solid to the frame. This can cause both the check engine light and also "appearance of" lower oil pressure on the gauge.

I agree with MTGTS, changing the brake booster is probably not the first step in brakes, SS lines, better high temp fluid would be great places to start.

If you have not already done so you might also want to get a locking/overflow cap for your power steering fluid, especially if you upgrade to race tires, you will boil the power steering fluid when tracking a Gen1.

Congrats on experiencing a Viper at the race track, that is a fantastic experience that I wish more could enjoy!

James
 

Allan

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Awesome! welcome to track addiction. Isn't it great? .....For as much as we dog on those vettes, those things are stupid fast aren't they. Just remember, they are not having as much fun as you in the Viper. :2tu:
 
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