So, now that I've hopefully addressed my cooling issues on my car, I'd like to get back to addressing the problem I was having with the car before it sat for a few months. The car seems to run ok when it first starts, but it seems to either be running really rich or possibly burning a bit of oil (oil pressure seems fine, if that means anything). During a recent test run, it'd spew a small amount of dark smoke during light revving, and smelled pretty gassy.

What I used to notice quite a bit of back when I was driving the car on weekends was that the engine would misfire and idle roughly once it was at operating temperature, but seemed to cruise fine. Sometimes after a while though, the service engine light would come on, and there'd be a noticeable lack of power, but only after the light came on.

I haven't tested it for codes yet because I want to make sure my cooling issue is completely solved before driving it anywhere to have it scanned.

What would be the most likely cause of the problems the car is still having? And what codes should I look out for when I can get it scanned?

Other than the radiator, water pump, thermostat, and heater core I've recently installed, the following other parts have already been replaced (with barely any use on them), or work already done..

- Coolant temp sensor
- O2 sensor
- Fuel filter
- PCV Valve
- Spark plugs
- Cap & Rotor
- EGR Valve
- Timing was last adjusted about 9 or 10 months ago (car has probably only been driven 500-600 miles since)

Basically, the extra gassy smell seems to be a red flag of running rich, and the SES light/reduced power when light comes on sounds like another sensor/emission part that needs changing (IAC valve?), or a vacuum leak, but any help/advice on what should probably be looked at first would be greatly appreciated!

 

You can easily pull codes by jumping pins A & B of ALDL connector and observing SES light and counting blinks. Do search on TGO to find HOWTO.

//RF