my question... I thought that a computerized engine was not supposed to flood itself...

here is the info...

a couple years ago.. my car started flooding.. and even though 100's of ppl told me a computerized TPI engine is not supposed to flood itself..

Finally I put the car on a computer test.. and... low and behold.... the car in the middle of the summer was reading temperatures at -40 and below... fixed the prob.. car ran very good for the rest of the summer.......


Forward to the next summer.. This year 2005.....

Car sits all winter.. starts on the first crank in the spring.....

however slowly but steadily... this summer the car seems to be getting worse... I can smell gas again when I start it up.. and its flooding itself again..... but its not something that has just happened.. its gradually started getting worse... I am now affraid to shut the car off when I stop somewhere, I will need to restart it within 10-15 min later.... just wont start... if I let it sit for about 20-30 min.. it will turn over a few times.. then go dead and bang.. start right up.... after sitting for several hours it will 90% of the time start right up... I know why this is... since over a period of time the gas will evaporate..... The engine itself was rebuilt in 2002


anyone have any ideas as to what may be hapening to my car????

 

Sure an EFI engine can flood itself. Your injectors are probably leaking due to worn out internal seals.

 

Two things I'm going to link together that you mentioned:

1. Flooding.

2. -40*F

That's a dead-bang indication that something is wrong with the CTS system (Collant Temp Sensor) that the ECM relies on know whether you're starting an ice-cold engine or one that is already heated up.

A reading of -40*F would indicate an OPEN circuit (infinite resistance). That's as low as she goes. If it's reading that cold on a hot restart you'll flood it out every time. So almost certainly your problem is in that system.

So the question becomes WHY has it returned and WHY is the problem intermittent. The usual culprits (but not the only ones) are that the CTS sensor itself is getting flaky OR that the wiring going between the ECM and the sensor is having problems (it's a 2-wire connection) like being pinched or stripped or...... you get the idea. CTS is screwed into the intake manifold water passage near the thermostat housing.

I had an EFI GMC Jimmy that had a CTS wire in the wiring harness that rubbed through against the sharp edge of an engine bracked a few years ago (keep in mind this truck had over 200K miles on it!). Mine, however, would read full-hot (365*F) and eventually throw a check engine code. Found the wiring problem, fixed it and the problem never returned.

 

Yea... already replaces the CTS last year.... but its starting to do this whole thing all over again..... could the cts go bad that fast??

 

Anything's possible, but I would say "probably not."

Beg borrow or steal a scan tool. You gotta see this how the ECM is seeing it. It's possible that there's NOTHING wrong with the CTS but your injectors are gummed up, like was suggested by someone else, above.

For example, the Jimmy I mentioned before.... I drove around with a scanner on the passenger seat for a few miles before I figured it out. Sitting at idle in the driveway it would read normal for hours. 200* or so, no variation. But every time I hit the gas pulling away from a stop it would shoot up to 365*. After watching this happen a few times I decided a wire was pinched somewhere near the engine and it would ground any time the engine torqued over in it's mounts under load. Sure enough, that's almost exactly what was happening when I traced the wires back.

 

i was having that same exact problem about 4 months ago. Changed the fuel injectors and the diapghragm on the fpr was shot so changed that 2. Still after that had to buy a new computer and prom and then the problem hasnt returned since but i was also getting ****ty gas mileage at the time like batrely 150 to a tank