I have never dealt with the AFM solenoids, but I know something about solenoids in general...

Usually there is a some sort of small spring to hold them in the normal position, in this case closed. Solenoid is just a fancy name for an electro-magnet valve. Current runs one way it moves the plunger one way, and here I think where the issue is, switch the direction of current, and it moves the other way. Since your solenoids are not powered at all, there is only a very small force holding it shut. The oil pressure may be forcing the solenoids open, hence your low oil pressure. Basically plug it up and see what happens.

....or im wrong and these solenoids arent normally powered. But I find that unlikely since oil pressure of ~80psi would be tough on a small spring...

 

Who can guess what my next step is?

 

Here are a couple pics from a few days ago when I replaced the AFM delete valley cover with the stock AFM one, reason being is when I took the maggie off I saw evidence that the bottom of the maggie was rubbing against the top of the vent. Even though this turned out to be a ****** mistake on my part, at the time I thought this was going to accomplish the same thing as grinding and welding the AFM delete one closed, but save me time and money:



This just shows the height of the vent:



Here's a question for guys with the HD tensioner: Is this the right belt placement for a 6-rib belt? I had it first on the shoulder closest to the rear of then engine, but it looked a little off, so I moved it over 1 rib (in the middle of the pulley). Is this correct?



Finally got my LS3 TB back from VMAX:















Another question here: Even with the catchcan, it looks like oil is still getting in the engine, so my next step is probably to add a breather, which brings me to this. How do you take the oil fill elbow out of the valve cover? Twist it a certain way and it comes out? I should have paid attention when I had it off, but I didn't think I'd need it off. As it is now, the TB covers the opening, so filling it will be a pain. Probably going to find a short breather cap to put on instead.

 

The elbow comes out by turning it counter-clockwise. There's a little plastic lock tab that's making it want to stay on the valve cover. Sometimes they break off when removing it.

The cap will go directly onto the valve cover, if that helps your situation at all.

 

Got the AFM delete plate back from the machine shop and it looks great. Got it installed and bolted the blower back on for the third time (hopefully the last). Also removed the filler neck and just replaced the cap in the valve cover (Thanks for the tip AK!). I ordered an LS3/LSA filler neck, which looks shorter, so we'll see when it comes in (about a week).

Tomorrow I'm going to going to button up the rest of the engine and hopefully the exhaust pipe I also brought to have the O2 bung moved will be ready so I can start it, hopefully see good oil pressure and take it for a drive to datalog.

Here's the filler neck as it sat before:



I've been reading all day about those who say you can just untwist it, while an equal measure seem to say that you need to pull the valve cover off, because if you just twist it, you'll break off a plastic tab that'll stay in the head. I've read you can just use a screwdriver to depress the plastic tab and then you can remove it damage free.

So I guess you insert the screwdriver into the small recess, but it's tight and you can't really see anything. I was also impatient so I didn't really look for it either:



So I just twisted CCW and sure enough, filler neck came out but so did the piece of the tab:



Just the cap for now. I'm about 99% sure I can just screw in the new filler neck while the valve cover's on the engine and not have to worry about breaking the tab, which I'm assuming is unidirectional:



Here's the valley cover and the corner where the vent used to be:



Underside:



I also pulled the PCV separator off the underside of the cover for weight savings



Installed:

 

Got everything bolted back together and also picked up the piece of exhaust pipe I had the O2 bung moved to a pre-cat position, so now the wideband is actually useful to me. I'm seeing ~14.7 at idle, so right at stoichiometric, which is great. I'll keep an eye on it while driving and when getting on the gas, cause I'm hoping that fattens up a little as the throttle opens.

So I start the truck and just looking around under the hood for leaks or what not, and in the back of my mind I'm still concerned about those lean codes, so I just start playing with things, and press down on the MAP and the truck stumbled pretty noticeable, so I go back to the driver's seat to check the aeroforce for the vac reading, and I'm now getting the "Service stabilitrak, Service traction control" MIL light, so I plug in the autocal to check and or clear the codes and I couldn't get anything to show up on the autocal. Hit Check DTC several times and each time it says No DTC detected. I also tried clearing the DTC and did that a few times and the MIL light never went off, so that was weird. First time I couldn't get anything to come up on the autocal while it was visibly on the dash. Then the truck just shuts off; no stumbling, just off as quick as if I turned the key off. So now I'm getting used to failures, so no big deal, just crank it over again and check the autocal and now I can see:

and

Which didn't surprise me given the stumbling and stalling.

So then I unplugged the MAP, put the key to run and grabbed the voltmeter. MAP is a 3-wire connection and works off a 5V reference signal, so I check the wires:
GREY: 4.97V
GREEN: 0
ORANGE: 0

So it has to be between the MAP and the adapter pigtail I got from Katech, so I pull the MAP out and remembered that the Katech adapter never seated fully into the MAP (the tap and lock of the plastic connectors never aligned when I tried to put everything together while the MAP was first bolted to the S/C), so I pushed it further and made sure it "clicked" home, inspected the MAP, and reinstalled it making sure the final connection was also secure. So what I think happened was when I pressed down on the MAP, I just loosened and already unsecured connection, and the wires must have separated.

Satisfied now, I start it up and no DTCs, and seeing ~16-16.5inHG of vac at idle. Idles smooth, vac stays steady and so does A/F. Also oil pressure is back to around 60psi, which was a huge relief.

Didn't drive it but I'll probably take it out tomorrow night and get a data log. If the lean codes come back, which I'm expecting, I'm just going to keep an eye on A/F, and use that to judge my next step. If A/F stays steady, I may just say fuckit and not bang my head against the wall trying to find this "leak". I just don't know why the fuel trims wouldn't be off when it's idling, there's no throttle input. Why only when I'm driving around at 15 MPH?

Anyways, here's a couple pics of the driver side catted pipe:

In this pic you can see where the old O2 bung placement was (left) and the new one I just had welded in on the right. Also in this pic is another of the same plugs I got from Toyota to seal up the after-cat bung:

 

Looking good!

 

Man, I did the exact same thing. Cap on cover FTW.

 

Well **** me. Driving the truck home from a cruisenight tonight and some **** comes through an intersection and hits me. Then insult to injury, because I was turning left I get a ticket for "failing to yield at a through highway". I know anytime you turn left you're fucked, but if I see someone turning in an intersection, I'll let off the gas or brake, not continue full steam ahead into the person because I have what the law interprets as the "right of way". **** that, I was stopped, and she hit me. If I drive into the back of someone that's stopped, that's on me, but as soon as someone hits me because I'm slightly encroached into the intersection that turns around and becomes my fault? That's some bullshit if you ask me. It's not like I pulled some douchebag move like speed through the intersection on a yellow trying to make the light, I was the first car at the lights as it turned green, started to pull out, then slammed on the brakes when it was obvious she wasn't going to slow down (which in the process saved me a lot more damage) then she doesn't even slow down, just makes a slight turn of about 6 inches and drives right into me. I know I'm fighting a losing battle here, but to me if there's an accident and it's avoidable by a person (in this case she COULD have stopped or slowed) then that should be at least partly her fault. If a car stalls in the middle of an intersection, I can just choose to barrel through it and hit them, and get a new grille out of the deal? And it's not like she was stopped at the lights either and I tried to jump the gun and get through, she was coming up to a red light, then it changed to green and I assume she just got right back on the gas and keeps on truckin because she's a woman, and green means go, and **** all that nonsense about looking both ways and being aware of your surroundings. So if she could have stopped for the red light, why couldn't she have at least slowed for me? Brake, honk or give me the finger, fine, but get up on the gas and continue through to hit me? Even though the law is probably going to side with her, common sense has got to be on my side.

Damage wise, it's not bad; driver headlight is smashed, bumper bar can be fixed, end cap I'm not sure, might be able to fix it but I wouldn't be surprised if they just order a new one. The textured grey valence where the front plate attaches and where the tow hooks are is scratched, but I might be able to clean it up. And the grille is scraped up a little but the worst part is one of the tabs broke off so I don't know if there's any way to fix it or just order a new one (or see what it'd cost to paint the old chrome one I still have). The same bracket that receives that tab for the grille is bent, but I know I can bring it back into shape. The driver endcap is about an inch lower though, so I'm anxious to get under it tomorrow and see if there's any damage to the bracket that attaches the endcap to the frame.

All in all better than it could have been, but still a huge pain in the ****** ****, and not what I need or want to be dealing with or paying for at the moment.

 

Damn, that really sucks, sorry to hear.

Post pics of the carnage?