DylanDubya

Hey guys,

So I’ve had this 1991 firebird 3.1l v6 since 2011 and it’s always given me trouble throughout the years. Most recently, it was dying at red lights or sharp turns after deceleration. That sort of went away for a while, the car was running great, other than shifting late and sometimes hard.

One day, car was running fine. I pull into a temporary parking spot. Come back to move the car 15 minutes later and it starts but immediately dies. I messed around with the EGR connector a little bit, tried running with the connector off of the EGR, but same results. When I put the connector back on, it actually started back up and ran idled fine for about 15 seconds. Died again. I kept messing with the connector and getting variable results but it would never run stable for more than 15 seconds or so. Usually I couldn’t even get that, just died right as it started.

I had been getting various codes at different points. The car runs really rich too. I had a code 32, a code 44, and a code 45. So I went and replaced the EGR valve. No change. Also, the wires on the connector were a bit exposed, so I sort of rebuilt the connector myself, making sure everything was solid. I tried buying a new connector, but could not for the life of me find the correct one online. The connector they showed always had 2 contacts, whereas mine has 4. (Does anyone know where I could buy the REAL correct connector??)

Anyway... the intermittence of the issue is confusing to me (why does the car immediately die most of the time, but run for 15 seconds at other times?) Any pointers are GREATLY appreciated, as I’m lost at this point. I still have a vauge suspicion it is EGR related, somInwas thinking of blocking it off.

I thought it could possibly be the fuel pump working intermittently, but not sure. I really don’t feel like taking it to a mechanic as I’ve been screwed around with guessing mechanics at every turn who just want to replace all the parts and not diagnose.

Also, it’s not throwing any codes anymore, since it won’t even run.

One more thing, when it does run for those few seconds, I can rev it up just fine, but when I let off the gas and the rpms go back down, it stumbles and dies at that point.

Please, oh wise gurus, help this peasant...

DylanDubya

Hey guys, update here...
Last night I was messing with the car and did a few things...
First, I disconnected the battery. Pulled out all of the fuses to check them, they were all good, so I put them all back.
I also saw this one connector, wihcih I'm not sure which one it is, but it looked dirty, so I disconnected it and the contacts were all gunked up, so I cleaned it up and plugged it back in. Can anyone help me identify this connector (attached to this post)? And whether it would have any effect whatsoever on the car running?
I drove it up and down my street a few times, and everything seems to be back to normal, which is really strange, because I can only think of a few things that changed:
1. The ECM got reset?
2. The connector I cleaned is making better contact now and that fixed it?

Could it be that I need a new ECM? Is there a way to test the ECM?

Thanks everyone.

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

That plug is for the heater/AC blower motor and the gunk is there to keep the elements off the metal terminals. Doubt that had anything to do with the way it's running........

DylanDubya

I figured it didn’t. Thanks for ID’ing the connector for me. Welp, any idea what could cause an intermittent issue like this? Only other thing I can think is that I disconnected the battery so that would have reset some stuff in the ECM I guess? Maybe the ECM is going bad?