Can someone please give me a rundown of the EST (or ESC) for my engine? I'm not even sure what it is called.

I know what it is designed to do, but I am pretty sure the problem in my engine lies somewhere in this system. I know the knock sensor signals the computer to retard timing when needed. A faulty knock sensor may very well be my problem but time and money restraints keep me from just throwing a new one in there to find out. Can someone tell me if there are more 'pieces' to this system, and a good way to troubleshoot?

 

Best thing to do is read the manual. Get at least a Chilton manual and read up on the whole system. Each part is explained and there are pictures and some trouble shooting procedures. I had worked with any computer controlled stuff before but am reasonably comfortable with the engine now. You'll some test equipment. Especially a digital volt meter and maybe a vacuum gauge and fuel pressure gauge. And keep reading here of course.

 

The ESC module sends a voltage signal (8 to 10 volts) when NO knock is detected by the knock sensor. If knock occurs, this signal is pulled low and the ecm will retard the timing through the icm to prevent engine damage.

 

The est what are you wanting to know how the ecm adjusts timing the what the bypass wire does ?

 

The book that I have is nearly useless for this engine. I think there are less than 6 pictures of the 3.1 MPI in the entire thing. I have the tools. I just want to know how bad a knock sensor can Screw this engine up, and what other pieces affect the ESC. There is more info on my problem in the engine board, but was just hoping for a rundown on this system.

 

what symptoms are you having code 43 ? helm is the only way to go for gm service manuals.

 

Ok, is the ESC module the one on the distributor? And what is an ICM? What I need to do is track and check each piece of this system. But I am not sure what or where these pieces are.

I understand the theory, and I set the timing with the bypass wire disconnected, but I think the system is over-compensating.

 

At the moment I can't even get the car to run for more than a few seconds. So no codes. I need to get it back into the garage and reset the timing. This is the link to my original post.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...headaches.html

Basically the problem is that under any significant throttle the engine will die immediately. Hard to explain but I am almost certain it's an electrical problem.

 

The icm is the ignition control module it is in the distributor. The esc on your car is part of the memcal. The first Thing I would suspect would be the injectors have you ohmed them while the engine is warm ? If this is a new issue I wouldn't think there is a issue with the eproms calibration file but if you post up the broadcast code the 4 letters on top of the eprom inside the ecm I will see if there are any service bulletin on that code. The best code for the 3.1 is azty for the 3.1L 700r4. You can use tunerpro to see knock counts in $88 definition. You maybe able to to detect a bad knock sensor with a ohm reading between the center post and the body.