I posted a while back about the car not starting. Found out it was the injectors. I changed them this past weekend and the car fired right up. It runs good when cold but she heats up and taps the gauge into the red. When its hot it runs like cra, no power when giving it a little gas. The coolant system is not plugged because the motor was just rebuilt back to stock and all passages were cleaned out. Any help or what to check will calm down the anger at the car. Also I'm not running the EGR valve its blocked off. Does a TPI need the EGR valve to run correctly?

Thanks

 

Does this happen while driveing? Have you replaced the water pump? Thermostat? Alos dont run it when it gets that hot.

 

It happens when the car warms up sitting in the garage or driving it. The water pump was replaced before i bought the car and it doesn't weep water or make the failing bearing sound. The thermostat was replaced when i bought the car with the tune up. I'm beginning to suspect the temp sensor for the computer is bad the engine heats up but the gauge goes off the scale. I installed the gauge sensor with teflon tape and I'm thinking that was a bad idea. I will be replacing the ECU temp sensor and the thermostat and see what happens.

 

Did this happen after you replaced the water pump?

 

Wrapping the temp sensor in teflon tape does not allow it to ground properly.

 

Your problem isn't with the cooling system. It sounds like if its induced by blocking off the EGR valve. Since you did not mention it, I assume it hasn't been disabled from your prom?

If not, then thats your problem. The ECM leans the fuel mixture some, and advances the timing when its expecting the EGR to be functioning. It is sending the signal to the EGR solenoid, which is doing nothing, and then advancing your timing and leaning your mixture. Thats a recipe for detonation, which will make the engine cut back on timing, losing even more performance. Your overheating because detonation causes combustion chamber temps to rise pretty high.

Either disable it from the prom, or put the EGR back on.

 

Ok I have ordered a new EGR valve and gasket. I will install it when it arrives. I also will remove all teflon tape from the sensors. It explains why the sensors were making the temp gauge go crazy. I also re-adjusted all the valves now that the engine has been running. I heard a few of them singing when the car was running. Thanks for all the insight and will let ya know what happens when I get everything installed and running.

 

What gives? I installed the new EGR valve, replaced the water pump, belt, thermostat and the timing is good. It still heats up and runs like crap. Anything else I need to replace or test????

 

head gasket?

 

Did you get a reverse rotation water pump if you have a serpentine belt setup?
V-belt pumps go one direction, serpentine are the opposite rotation.
Pop off the radiator cap and see if water is flowing once the thermostat opens.
Open the cap PRIOR to starting the motor and then let it run.

 

But what about the radiator?

 

Okay I have seemed to fix the problem. The water pump was weeping out the bottom hole. I replaced it with a new H/D water pump and also replaced the computer's temp sensor. I also driled 4 1/8" holes in the thermostat. It runs alot cooler now and no longer heats into the red. The temp gauge drops when just driving it around the neighberhood. I will next be changing the plug wires as I suspect they are crap. I have randomly checked 4 of the easy spark plugs two on each side and they all look like they should. I'm also wondering about the injector wires is there a correct way for them to be plugged in I have changed them around and haven't noticed any difference?

 

tpi motors are a batch fire system meaning all the injectors on one side fire at the same time. so as long as you have the wires on the right side it wont matter what injectors they are hooked to.

 

I tested the system with a jumper wire for codes. The test threw a code 42 and no other codes. In the cheesy book I have it talks about the ignition and the ecu. What normally is the culprit behind code 42? I had the ignition control module tested and it was fine. How would I know if the computer is failing?

 

42 is EST.
Did you forget to reconnect the "bypass" wire. ?
Not sure if that would set the error or not.

The only thing I see as far as parameters go in the program is that the code can only be set when RPM is greater than 100.

That says that pulses are getting to the ECM because RPM indication was generated, but how is the the error "seen" by the ECM, I do not know.

 

No the wire is connected. Could bad plug wires or failing coil throw code 42? The tac has not worked since I've had the car and can't find the problem. I've had the dash out when I replaced the heater core and checked the back of the insturment cluster and found no problems.

 

if your plug wires or coil are failing and you are not getting the proper spark that can cause your engine to knock, which will give you a 42.

 

buy the helms manual if you are going to keep the car. have you ignition module checked. It is cheap to replace and everyone who owns a third gen should spend the 30 to keep from going bald

 

I suspected it was the wires and coil. The boss told me that my budget for the car has run out and I need to get rid of it or my bikes. I refuse to get rid of the bikes and now the car is for sale. If anyone is interested in a california car let me know. I have put the ad in the proper board on this site. I do have photo's if needed. I'm asking $3,000 obo as is. Perfect car for a non-smog state. It will smog but haven't gotten her running good enough yet to smog it. If it doesn't sell then I will have to figure out where to find or generate the funds to buy a coil and wires.

 

Is the air dam that bolts underneath the radiator still there if not it can cause cooling problems also.

 

Yup the air dam is still there and it was a faulty water pump and thermostat. I will have to wire the fans manually though.

 

The ESC code is normal of you disconnected it to set the timing and then didn't disconnect the battery for 5 minutes or so to reset the code unpluggin the ESC causes....

 

Bout time it runs better. I disconnected the battery and charged it for about 15-20 minutes while I repaired a wire. The car fires up and idles good. I drove it around and it sounds good. For some reason it likes driving better in "D" than "OD". The torque converter was rebuilt and is now 2800 stall. Does anyone know what the stock stall speed is and if it would react better cruising down the freeway?

 

Since you disconnected the batt I'll bet you can't pull any codes other than the normal "everything is okay" twelve....

As for the stall, the factory stall is down around 1300-1700 RPM if I remember correctly. Definitely a lot lower than your current 2800.

 

Thats affirm the only code I get is good ole #12. I thought the factory stall was around 2200? Anyone know for sure? Gonna take her out on the open road and see what she does.

 

This is really chapping my a$$. Just took her out for a spin and it was doing fine until I opened her up and then it went south. The temp gauge rose up and it limped home. I'm bout to take it out to the pasture and uthanize it.

 

Also now that I have cooled down, I checked for any codes being thrown and none found but #12. I was reading another thread about the dizzy possibly being my problem. I will do the tests they talked about and if the dizzy is bad it won't allow the timing to be right and causes overheating right???

Here are the results of a compression test on all cylinders.

1-165psi
2-153psi
3-150psi
4-150psi
5-153psi
6-155psi
7-153psi
8-155psi

I will have to retest #1 and see if I read the gauge wrong or if its correct. All the plugs looked good #8 was a little black and moist.

Put them back in and it fired right up and sounded good. I checked the timing again and it was holding dteady at 8degrees and advanced to about 12 or so when I reve'd her a little. It didn't bouce at all.

 

If the ESC was connected when you did those timing numbers. then it's way off. Idle timing should not be one steady value, and it should be a lot higher....

 

Sorry bout that the ESC was disconnected when I checked the timing.