She called me up and said that the car was acting up. Great . She said that it was shifting too high and kicking in every gear. I said, ok it is probably the TV cable, I will look into that. Then she said that the service engine light was flickering. I looked at it and sure enough it was. It seemed to do it when I did anything electrical. Has anyone come by something like this??

Any help would be apreciated.

Brian

 

so nobody has ever come across this. I guess it sucks to be me. If the service engine light is flickering because of an electrical problem would it show up on a scan if i took it to auto zone??

Brian

 

Black,

I would bet a small steak dinner that you have a connection issue somewhere. The difficulty is going to be in locating it.

I'd start at the battery, engine, and alternator, with grounding and power connections, then check engine ground straps, and the ECM/fuel pump fuse connections.

Check the edge connectors at the ECM itself, and grounding at the ECM and in the passenger compartment. Cleaning the ECM edge connectors can solve a lot of rogue problems like this.

The "shifting/jerking" problem she was experiencing may have been the TCC locking and unlocking, not the TV cable.

 

I took my beast to auto zone and they said that it wasnt putting out any codes. So now I will try everything that vader said.
While I was driving it, it felt like I was driving a rustang. I would give it gas and it didnt want to really move and then it would jerk into second. Going into second is the only time that it jerks, all the others are normal. I was thinking maybe my fuel filter is crapped out or maybe my injectors.

any thoughts????? anybody???

Brian

89 GTA 5.7 auto. 180* and K&N are the only non stock things that I know of.

 

Might also be the distributor. My trans was really acting funky; I figured it was the budget rebuild it got. Well, that was only a part of the problem. My spark module (inside the distributor, even though I have a multiport fuel injected V6, it's the same HEI 8pin module you v8 guys with remote coils use! Looks like this bad boy: http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLin...A/891-103.html ) fried, so I replaced it, and rebuilt the rest of the distributor.

My shifting problems (700r4 automatic) were reduced! My guess is that the engine wasn't running well, and confusing the "automatic" in my automatic trans.

And that could all lead back to bad ground straps (and other ground points) like Vader said... not enough electricity = not enough spark. My V6 has a ground strap at the back of the passenger side head, and it goes to the firewall. It was looking pretty crappy, so I replaced it with a Taylor one... same one listed in the Summitracing.com paper catalog. I think you can get 'em in different lengths but I didn't bother asking about them. Looks pretty bad-*** too, I think it was $5.

 

The car is angry! You let a female drive a car that is accustomed to male occupation!!! (just kidding)


But when a car is mad, its desire is to make you very, very mad and frustrated before it will straighten out!

Then it will suddenly dawn on you what the trouble is.

I just thought I'd tease you about letting your wife drive the car. Same thing seems to happen when my wife drives my car or something like that.......it brakes, not her fault, but always when she uses it.

She was using her father's computer and the monitor just started smoking!

Goes to show that women belong in the kitchen, where there are minimal moving parts!

 

while i drive it and it is acting slow as a dog, it sounds almost normal, it is just slow. i hope this will get some different responces or just back up the already stated ones.

Thanks
Brian

 

first off, I replaced the fuel filter and checked all ground connections.
When i floor it the car gets to about 2900 rpms and then bogs there and stays and sometimes it will jump past it. It also will not idle now, i have to keep giving it gas for to to stay running.

Any suggestions???

Brian

 

Is your Catalytic converter clogged up? I don't think that would make the engine light come on like that though.

 

that was something that I was wondering. Is there an easy way to tell without taking it off? The service engine light isnt giving off a code so I am not sure what is going on there either.

Thanks
Brian

 

My friends s10 had a clogged cat once. His sounded really weak through the exhaust. His engine wouldn't rev past 3500rpm. I'm not sure how you could definetly tell if it's the cat without looking in there.

 

i had the stall/low rpm limit prob with mine and it was a on and off thing for awhile. i burst a hose to the radiator. replaced it and all of a sudden that problem never ever came back. it sort of doesnt make sense but it just disappeared. these things make me scratch my head in bewilderment

 

the only different is mine doesnt really sound different. it is really making me mad now.

Brian

 

Black,

Do you have a VOM at your disposal? If so, just for giggle check the output power of the alternator directly at the output stud. You should measure at least 13.2 VDC. Now put the VOM on an AC voltage scale and check it again. Any reading? If so, what voltage is there?

 

Vader has a point, but simply put on the lights and rev the engine. If the alt has a leaky or shorted diode it will have low output or none at all. Really sounds like exhaust restriction. With a plugged cat as you rev the engine the exhaust gas buildup in the manifold will possibly push the O2 sensor out of range triggering an intermittent SES light. The ECM allows a wider range of tolerance with the O2 because of it's constant varying voltage under different engine load conditions. Try to rev it and hold it there, you might get a hard code which you can then check.

 

I'm with tom on this...check your ignition components...coil, distributor, etc etc.

 

I will be checking the cats(as much as I can, I really dont want to cut them off and weld them back on) and the coil and distributer. I will let you guys know what I find.

Thanks for all the help so far,

Brian

 

I replaced the distributer cap and rotor, it will idle now but it still is not 100%, maybe 65%. It will pass 3000rpms now but it isnt as fast and when I floor it, the car bogs for about a half a second then kinda moves. I also took a rubber mallot and thumped on the two cats and they sound hollow, is this normal?

thanks again

Brian

 

do you have the coil in cap or an external coil? If it is coil in cap check that it is secure in the cap and the mount. My coil in cap was bad, slopping around in the mount and loosing connection with the ignition, caused syptoms almost identical to what you're talking about.

If its the external coil, check to make sure its secure and it has a good connections.

I you saw a noticeable improvement from a cap and rotor, I'd say you are on the right track there.

 

I think that it is an external coil because i didnt see anything under the cap besides the rotor. Does anyone know if the 89 GTA's came stock with an external or internal coil? If it is the coil I will be going with the one that tom recomended, the holley.

Thanks

Brian

 

An '89 should have the external coil.

 

Is the external coil the piece that the center distributer wire goes to? If not I have NO idea where it is. I am getting so sick of the stupid things I am almost ready to save up for an LT1 to put in there.

Brian

 

yes, that is the coil wire.

 

well I checked all the connections on the coil and they are fine. Do you guys think I should go ahead and get the coil? If it is not the coil is the holley coil worth getting anyway. If I buy it and that is not the problem I at least want the purchase to improve the performance once it is back to 100%.

thanks,

Brian

 

My car kept throwing a code 43, I changed the knock sensor, still threw the same code. I re did some grounds that I had broken on the drivers side head when I had my heads off for a re furbish. It still threw the same code.I also noticed the car was very sluggish with a poor idle. So I changed my ECM, the car seams to have more power, the idle is better and so far no code 43.I think my ecm was pooched.

 

My MSD coil got me a few tenths, and maybe 1 mpg. It costs like $40 and is a direct fit. I'm not familar with the holley, but it probably would give the same improvement.

 

YOU MESSED UP LETTING THE OLD LADY DRIVE IT.

 

Is your check engine light still flickering? Have you driven the car substancially since you last checked for codes? If so, check for codes again. If no codes exist, check for mechanical items, but remember they can still be influenced by electrical functions. A car that is just low on power suggests to me a fuel delivery problem, meaning fuel pump. However, before condeming the pump, check out wiring to pump relay & pump itself. In my experience, ignition coils seldom are the problem, especially on cars with only 60K miles.

 

It is still not giving off any codes. The SES light is still on and flickering sometimes. The only reason that I am still thinking about the ignition system is that the only improvment that I have seen is when I replaced the distributer cab and rotor. I will check the fuel pump though.

Thanks

Brian

 

I was on my way to work when my car started to bog and die. On the third time I got it started it ran for five more minutes and did not start again. Got it towed home and took me 3 weeks to figure out it was the battery. Just a suggestion.

 

Battery and Alt are brand new. So is the 180* stat, and radiator. Thanks for the help though.

Brian

 

I wouldnt rule out the bad cat . My car did the same thing,the more RPM's,the worse it ran . The only difference is I could here pieces rattling around in my cat but if they broke loose and blew back in the pipe then you wouldnt hear this. I took mine to a muffler shop and he cut the pipe where it bends to go up over the axle and it was clogging up with cat pieces that couldnt make the bend,they were just collecting up until the exhaust would not flow anymore . Never saw any SES or code lights,but like someone else mentioned these gasses could be sending messages to the computer. I am not saying this is what's wrong with your car but I never knew a bad cat could make it run so crappy until it happened to mine!Good Luck!

 

I am NOT trying to discredit anyones idea on the coil,but before you spend big bux on a performance coil,just replace it with a stock one(they can handle a lot).If it starts running right,fine ,but if it dont you are not out all of that money on a performance coil. Oh yeah,about the wifey driving the car,it is better for me when she does.She just drives it normal,when I drive it,I cant help but to floor it from every stop,and see how many gears I can chirp the tires in!

 

Thanks for the info. I am gonna check it out alot more this weekend.
About the wife, yes she drives it alot "better" than I do. But, when I ***** pulls up next to her she always smokes them, damn I love her.

Brian

 

How do I get the ignition coil off???? Can anyone tell me please.

Thanks,

Brian

 

If it's rivited, cut off the rivits and ue he supplied bolts to reattach it...

It it's bolted, unbolt it...