Hi, What is this and where does it plug in. I pulled it accidentally by feel reaching up in front of wheel hub into passenger side headlight area. Was meaning to disconnect Intake Air Temp sensor but couldn't get hood open. Thanks.

 

How was disconnecting the intake air temp sensor more important than the ability to open the hood?

 

 

Maybe the headlight motor connector?

 

Lol, the ability to open the hood was already an issue. It sticks but i can usually do the tap tap thing on it and get it to release. I was unplugging the IAT because I have been broke and playing "sensor tune" 😳😳. I have been having serious driveability issues a nd it runs way better with stuff unplugged. I am far from a mechanic but I have read/learned enough from thousands of hours on here, my Haynes manual and knowing my car after 9 years to narrow things down (yeah yeah, I'm a Google mechanic lol). So maybe you guys can help 🙏. That plug isn't my main concern. What's going on is power loss and backfiring on acceleration, hard starts but it does always start after 15 ish tries, idles great after that, random stalls at lights and turns but starts right back up. I have a cheap plug in code reader. At first it just had a code 44. I, and some others who have witnessed the cars behavior, were thinking fuel pump but it primes and I think would be complete toast by now if that was the real issue. I am thinking more electrical short or bad ground. It now gives codes 13, 23, 33, 34, 44. It's like it's running in open loop or limp mode when it gets up to operating temperature. Oh, it is a 91 V6 3,1 Firebird with aftermarket intake and exhaust. I live in the California desert and it typically is around 115 during the daytime right now and my car hates it. The car will "catch" and suddenly surge after getting past the no power misfire thing. A couple other things to note are speedo and odom quit like a year ago, oil pressure gauge has always read between 60 and 80. Right now I have MAP, O2 sensor, IAT unplugged bcuz itt runs way better without them. Thanks for any input. Obviously, I know I should take it to a shop.

 

Headlight is pligged in but thanks for the suggestion. I actually fixed that headlight myself with Top Down Solutions repair kit.

 

It may be really hard to try and explain how to diagnose a 90s model car to someone that isn't really a mechanic.
3 things that make an engine run is air, fuel , spark. Since the car runs you need to narrow down. Out of the 3 which of them is doing what they need to do but not doing it well.
break it down into categories for
air: mechanical parts. Pistons, valves, intake gaskets, head gaskets, carb/throttle body, intake pipes.
fuel: fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel lines, fuel injectors, o2 sensors, pcm
Spark: coil, plug wires, spark plugs, distributor, ignition module, pcm

Start simple. Look at the plugs and get an idea of when it's running how does it look. Sooty, oily, covered in liquid fuel, large gap, no gap, no electrode left?
looking at fuel pressure would show a lot. does it have normal fuel pressure when you crank it? Does the fuel pressure drop to nothing when you turn the key off? Does it struggle to keep pressure up when you open the throttle? Is the fuel pressure regulator leaking liquid fuel into the vacuum line that controls it? When it's running can you see the injectors spraying? Or feel them clicking? (I have 3 injectors on my tpi engine that you can't feel them clicking when it's running)
get a spray bottle with water in it and while it's running spray around where the intake meets the head, where the throttle body meets the intake. Around vacuum lines that you can see. If their is a leak it will make a slurping sound and fix that if you find something.
at this point you more than likely have more than one fault so just work through them one at a time.

 

Compression= #4.
Valve Event to Crank Position correlation= #5.

 

both related to air , under mechanical parts

 

NOPE.

Air entering the Engine does not mean there is any Compression.
Air can go in and out without building any Compression.

Air also does not affect the Valve Event Timing.
If an Intake Valve opens with it's Piston coming up... Air will be pushed out of the Intake, instead of going in.

Might want to read a little about advanced Engine (internal combustion) Operation.

 

air, fuel, fire is a general for basic engine operations. Trying to teach a non mechanic is just as complicated as the non mechanic trying to understand. You test if the cam timing is off with a compression gauge. Very simple test of are all the cylinders equally low on compression? If yes pull the timing cover and verify the timing marks are aligned. But the root of the test is compression of AIR. I'm 100 percent sure I've completely fluent in advanced engine operations. I specialize in engine diagnostic and electrical for a living.

 

Your post above being incorrect, as well as the last several Posts being incorrect...

Clear indicates that you do NOT understand.

 

Instead of arguing with me about things that I do for a living. Why don't you just tell the OP how to figure out what's wrong with his car? Things I've suggested will give him a direction. Nothing you have said will do anything but make you look stupid to me. If you're not going to try and solve the problem, then shut up.

 

Now, that thar's the problem with Pissing contests, , , , everyone ends up gettin wet........

 

I have no interest in arguing with you....

I just don't like incorrect information going unchecked on our Forums.

I Think its great that you are a "Mechanic"...
A Term that no self respecting "Technician" would use Today.

I am an Engineer that Designs, Creates, Tests, Builds, Dynos, and Tunes Complete Power-Train Systems.
So I am confident that you will find NOTHING incorrect with anything that I have said in this Thread!


Good luck Mechanic.
LMAO!

 

So let's hear it? What's wrong with his car?

 

Like I said. If you aren't bringing anything to the table then shut up.

 

Is that all your brain could come up with?

Should we be provided with some actual diagnostic information... and not just a bunch of random descriptions of what the driver thinks is happening...
This could get figured out.

Again, something else that you failed to observe Mr. Mechanic.
HHHHHHHHHAAAA HHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA!

 

Okay, first of all....I am not a he.

 

Hi Tatiana,

Having traveled extensively in eastern Europe, I've never met a guy named Tatiana, but I did met a few ladies with your name, so I knew you were a lady from post #1

 

Back to the subject...
your car backfires on accel
Doesn't want to start when you first start it
code 44 (o2 stuck lean)
You are not a mechanic, but are willing to try.

So me being a mechanic with my customer giving me this data. The first thing I would look at would be fuel pressure. And spark plugs.
a failing fuel pump will cause loss of power from low volume and long starts from its inability to hold fuel pressure.
and a code 44

 

this is a good side by side example related to what your car is doing. Bank 1 is within its +/- 5 percent range of adjustment, where bank 2 is way beyond that range so it set a code for bank 2 system lean. This is looking at correction percentage, with it being a positive number the pcm is adding more fuel to that bank to try and correct the air fuel ratio just for that bank. The front o2 sensors read the amount of oxygen in exhaust and the pcm determines based off of that info does it need to add or take away fuel.
Obviously you can't see percentage of correction with your pcm because of lack of equipment but at least you can have a better idea of what's happening to your engine.
your computer is telling your injectors to give the engine more fuel , so if fuel pressure is low they can't give it enough to keep up, but also if the o2 sensor is bad then it will be telling the pcm false readings and the pcm will be compensating for something it shouldn't be. Coolant temp sensors will do that too. If it's 100 degrees outside and the coolant temp sensor says it's -40 then the pcm will be adding a lot of fuel that it doesn't need.

 

Were this mine to diagnose, the very first thing I'd have the young lady do, would be to plug back in all of the sensors and anything else that may have been disconnected along the way.

No meaningful troubleshooting for bad running nuances can begin till the engine's control systems are exactly as they were the day it left the General's factory..........

 

I thought I had said that somewhere but I might have thought it but didn't type it

 

Hi Tatiana,

The problem with aftermarket parts like this is, the ECM runs the engine based on inputs from various sensors and known tables of the given, as built characteristics of things like your intake and exhaust system. When aftermarket parts that flow more air than the stock parts are used, the poor ECM is left in a situation where it cannot compensate for the vastly different than stock rate of airflow, and poor running is all too often the result. Aftermarket parts that flow more air plus proper ECM tuning will give performance gains, because the ECM has been "told" (programmed) to take advantage of the engine's increased breathing ability and to not see the additional airflow as a malfunction.

In short, while there very well could be things not right with your engine's control system(s) , the fact may be that your lack of power coupled with popping out of the intake could be the exclusive fault of the not compensated for (by the ECM) aftermarket parts......

 

simple things like soot covered o2 sensors.

 

Orangebird is right about adding modifications will change how your car runs and technically should be tuned for it, but also it depends on the extremity of the modifications. Adding a k&n drop in filter and a Flowmaster the computer can usually adjust for that but when you have a catless full header back exhaust and a remote mounted cold air intake the stock tune is probably going to struggle to try and adjust for that.

What kind of intake and exhaust modifications do you have. And did you start seeing problems just after you installed them?

 

^^^^THIS.

The first step to troubleshooting any problem is always to fix all the obvious stuff first.

 

Just a K & N and not sure on the exhaust. Both were already on the car when I bought it in 2014.

 

Plug in everything that is unplugged,
clear the codes,
Go get your car tuned for all of the aftermarket parts you have,
retrieve all engine related data,
then post it to this group chat.

Without doing that you are wasting your time with any chance of anyone in this forum giving a **** about actually trying to point you in a direction.

 

Whoa there Bishopts, , , , no need to be so harsh here, let's please remember Tatiana isn't a mechanic, so a bit of patience will go a long way here

I favor the approach of reconnecting everything, clearing the codes, and then letting us know what codes resurface. If I understand Tatiana's post correctly, she's owned it since 2014 with the aftermarket parts and it ran OK when she got it, (Am I correct Tatiana?) so perhaps the additional airflow isn't what's causing her present difficulties with it.

Also Tatiana, a bit of other history will help aid the diagnosis, have you done anything, parts replacement wise, in attempting to rectify this problem, tune up parts & so on? The more of the "backstory" you can provide the more targeted the ideas can become. A few decent clear pics of the engine could be helpful as well, especially of the intake manifold area and the hoses running to and from the various underhood bits (Charcoal canister & so on)....