alright, so after going through the distributor some and thinking that i had my problems solved, things came back with a vengence, but also a twist. I'm not one to say "i did the job right, so it can't be wrong" but i'm pretty sure i did the job right, third time taking the distributor out of that car, didn't seem to have any trouble the other times. Well, i get the timing set to what seems like the 10, the engine seems to slow down as i decrease the timing.

Well, the car gets pulled into it's parking spot, as i decide that it isn't going to run well enough to get home, and boom, it dies. Well now, it'll start nearly every time, i mean nearly because if it finally doesn't start, then it won't start until it sits for say 2 minutes. When it does start however, it won't idle, if you give it some gas, she'll run, rough down low, smooth up high, but she won't idle for the life of her, if you remove your foot from the gas pedal, she'll die, end of story.

I'm starting to think it's sensor related, such as i have multiple things that have failed, i'm gonna recheck the distributor stuff tomorrow, what else should i look at? IAC i'm assuming, probalby not MAF or O2, sense it's in open loop when it fails, hmmm, where are the possible problems. By the way ,after it ran, i smelt like gasoline, lil' bit rich. Thanx in advance.

 

It could be the main PVC hose in back of engine by distributor base.
Beyond that sounds like pain in the....
One could always say injest the Northstar, but I know the decision.....

 

is it throwing any codes?

you could always try grabbing a bunch of sensors off a car from the wreckers

i do that every now and then. then you have a spare at the very least

 

no codes as of yet, i'll look into that vac hose ked....and if i had a second car yet, i'd definately have the bird on the lift, awaiting the heart transplant.

 

fuel presuer regulator maybe?

 

alright, i thougth the fuel pressure regulator was tested when you had the engine running with the gauge on, that should show propper fuel press. regulator operation, as the pressure decreases from 40 to roughly 35 psi.

Found the problem in the vac line ked, that fixed the issues where the enigne wanted to die constantly, was the hard line that went from the intake to the IAC motor (makes sense eh).

As of now, the engine doesn't even want to start, it'll turn over and turn over, but nothing fires up. Kinda akward, the only code i'm pulling is a 12, so the computer is functioninig properly, what exactly would cause an engine not to run? Seems a tad akward, and, the only way it'll "almost start" is if i depress the accelerator.

thanx for the help so far.

 

I say
COIL
COIL
BOIL IN TROUBLE

Glad that vacuum hose clue sent ya to some search & success.

I say coil.
Cheap "trouble search fix" as ya can patch in & make it not look like "tested" for returning.
I recall earlier ya mentioned new coil a bit ago, but....sure sounds like it....

 

my coil went 2 weeks ago, i was still getting spark, but i couldnt tell it was weak. go to the wreckers and grab 3 coils. they are usually free

cant hurt to try.

 

I cannot repeat this often enough

As I found out myself
and it tooks lots of frustration (including a pregnant Wife at that moment in my life) and others friends kind moments in their life.

OUR V6 ENGINE SPARK MUST BE
LIGHTENING BOLT BRIGHT WHITE
OR ELSE THE ENGINE WILL NOT RUN

If you even see a spark,
if it is NOT lightening bolt bright white,
it won't start.

 

Ok karl, one more Q for ya.

How slowly can a coil go bad? I was under the impression that a failing coil simply failed, not that the coil would slowly burn itself out. Just asking cause the car seemed to have some minor troubles a while ago, those troubles turned into the car dying (cutting out like it was ignition) then cutting out like it was dying from gas. After all was said and done, the car finally just won't start anymore. Normally, a car not starting is simple enough, and a coil is a pretty good simple fix, tell me what you think karl., and thanx again.

 

how is your fuel pressure

and yeah my coil took 2 days to die. i felt a little hesitation on the first day. worked on the car that morning/afternoon
pulled it out into the driveway, the next morning it wouldnt start.

 

My dying symptoms were worse.
My car died while while Wife was pregnant, driving it, alone at an intersection, in the rain.
LUCKILY I was close by, took the phone call.
I ran & pushed car into station & then tried diagnoising it with every trick suggested.
Outta shear frustration, I swapped coils.
I used my Accel coil (ACCEL MAKES THE BEST STUFF!!!!) with 100,000 plus miles on it, over ten years old, from my sided by road not started for long Blazer but it always did start.
I tried the coil.
No one believe it when the car started. We had a crowd at the garage cause they were also stumped.
Our jaws dropped.
Cause we saw spark, no one believed the car started with another coil.

Symptoms up to that moment of final death....
Hey, I bought a $300 car, made it live again and maybe it died often up to that point. The "pattern" wasn't outstanding to warrant the final cure. I, too, did not suspect the coil cause I had spark. I found out how bright lightening bolts are when I saw the good coil spark.

PS from this incident, I learned about distributor rebuilding, as I did that, too, to get car to start.
Don't feel so bad but it is a cheap experiment (purchase new coil) for a solution. And returnable!

Good Luck!

 

so basically buy the coil, hook the wires up to it, along w/ the lead to the distributor, but don't go through the trobule of removing the old unit, until i know the old one was the problem. Under the assumption that the coil doesn't need to be connected to work, i hate assumptions. Kinda sux though since i'm leaving tomorrow and may not be back until next week, guess i might come back early to work on the car some.

 

usually the trick is when installing an aftermarket coil to leave a working stock one intact incase this happens

 

Yeah the blessed part of this is the COIL need not BE MOUNTED to car for it to operate, just wired in!
It can rest, aside, on anything as long as wires connected.
Once car start (you'll know that part) ya just shut off car.
Start again.
IF IT DOES START, you now know what next to do.
Hope those are good clues.

 

yep, good clues. Now here's one more Q, if a coil was slowly failing, what would be the odds that it would be tempermental? Such as, cause some grief, not cause any at all, cause a little more, finally kill the engine, then let the engine run, then let the engine die, then not even be able to start the engine. I believe that getting an engine to start is normally one of the simpilar things to do on a car w/ good compression and a good battery, however, getting it to run right can be the tough part. Finding this problem has to be simple enough, just depends on how deep we have to dig. Taht sounds like a good start, but what are those odds?

 

Funny you should ask that question that way...
Over weekend I rented "Dirty Harry"
You recall the line
"This gun is a .357 Magnum, the most powerful hand gun in the world. It can blow you head clean off. Dental record won't even help. But in all this excitement I don't recall if I fired off five rounds or six.
Now you reaching for that weapon, you'll make me fire this gun.
Well, ya feel lucky?"

GO GET THE COIL & LET US KNOW HOW LUCKY YOU ARE!!!
If ya recall, one fallen villans response was...
"Hey, I gots to know......"
Click! Empty weapon chamber! But Harry already had this villians gun!
Great film....
GO GET THE COIL ALREADY!!!!!

 

85fbird

sounds like a pickup coil to me. buy a new pickup coil, but NOT before you try some spare parts (sensors/ignition coil) you can often get those free from the wreckers. do the cheapest things first.

 

Coils cost like $30-ish & are returnable.
How much cheaper is free?

 

a case of beer on a friday night. you do the math.

 

my tps sensor on my camaro was advanced way out of whack and it caused tempermental starting. intial start would be fine, then if i went to the gas station or the store came out to start it it would crank but sound as if i was receiving no fuel. it was beginning to **** me off, so i went to a mechanic he looked over the car and found my tps sensor out of whack. have it checked could be your problem. hope this helps.

 

i had the thought of a possible TPS problem cuasing everything to go out of whack because it was messing up the fuel delivery, if letting it deliver at all. Not sure, we'll see when i get back, i checked to do the "TPS" adjustment tests, had a ilttle trouble with it. How do we probe the TPS? since it'll need to be energized, and there didn't seem to be enough room to back prob. Also, do i need a digital Multi-meter, or can i use an analog one. (we've got plenty of analogs at my shop, and a digi- i'd have to buy)

no news yet on the coil, as i won't be by the car until next saturday, then the troubleshooting continues, if i can't figure things out by say monday or tuesday, it's off to the shop.

 

just thought i'd give an update to my problem. Finally bit the bullet and took the stupid car to Mr. Goodwrench, end result, Ignition module failed. Same part i took out of the car and had tested at o'riley's apparently, the problem was so "random" that running it through the tests (3 times) didn't make a difference, and it never failed for them. Sure failed for GM, and they went ahead and replaced it, and wham, car's running, and seems to be running well. Neway, least it's fixed, and i don't have to worry about having that heavy wallet anymore either.

 

I would STRONLGY suspect now the alternator.
Why?
I had 6 ICMs fail.
The cause was the alternator (which was very recent rebuild unit, too!).
The bearings were shot which allowed the pulley to go in & out & cause a high voltage energy spike, at any moment.
I would strongly now check your alternator. And not just On the car test.
I'd remove it to examine it real well.
Mine, when I finally "heard" the noise (I got lucky!) from alternator, I was able to move the front pulley in and out. I was only able to move pulley in & out when I removed it from the car.

 

yeh karl, after the ICM went south i started thinking what could cause it, and instantly remembered you stating problems with your alternator, and how it was cooking them. Might pull it and check it while i'm at work tomorrow to make sure there's not to much end play. thanx.