I went to Mieneke this past weekend and had them inspect the car. When the mechanic talked to me, not the guy at the front desk but the actualy mechanic, he took me and showed me everything my car needed. He told me I needed a new transmission mount, new u-joints, new rear seal (he showed me how it was leaking) new pvc valve, new spark plug wires, and a new egr vavle. The mechanic told me I should just take car of the wires, egr and rear seal myself as they are simple to do and would cost a fortune, he is a real nice guy.

I let mieneke fix my u-joints, pvc valve and also had them cleaned my fuel injectors, i drove the car home seemed to be running fine, still running wierd. I replaced the wires, rear seal, and egr valve.

I thought I had solved all the problems but since then the car has been running worse then ever. It runs rough when I start it and runs very rough, vibrating, kinda feels like it is either not getting enough gas (though it seems like it is running rich) it doesn't want to accelerate at all, at least until it reaches about 220 and the themastat opens, then it runs good with it only acting up every now and then.

When I put the new egr valve on it had like 10 different size washers that came with it, I used number 25 like it said to on the instuctions, could there be anyway that I used the wrong one? I pulled off the hose going to the egr and drove with it off, this made the car run alot better till it warmed up. then it gave me problems. Also, when i put my finger over the hose there is no vacuum, same if i put my finger over the end on the egr. Any ideas what I can try? Or anything I can add to try and make this more clear?

Please Help
thanks
steve

 

hate to ask it, but are you getting any trouble codes?

and when was the last time you changed your fuel filter? when i did mine it got rid of a ton of bs problems had, check the plugs too

 

I was getting some a few weeks ago,
32 - Digital EGR system
34 - Differential System
44 - Lean Exhaust
The light would come on ramdomly while I was driving or while just sitting at a light.

Fuel filter was changed in late June, I will replace it just to see though.

I've never pulled the plugs out before (i had a tune up in late june so I hope they are fine) but I will attemp to pull as many of them out as I can to check. Any recommended plugs? I see the ones with the 4 heads on them that do not need gapped, would those be good?

 

Stick with your basic acdelco plugs.

 

Check all of your hoses. Sounds like a vaccum leak somewhere. Do you hear any air sucking under there? Mines was doing something simular to that after I put it back in and found that I had left 2 vaccum hoses dissconnected. Just a thought.

 

Does your cat rattle?

You coulda done all that stuff yourself fast and cheaper BTW.

 

I will check the hoses as they probably need replaced anyway, Car doesn't have a cat on it.

 

Newbie question......... How did you get those codes?

 

There is a guide that shows you how in the technical articles on the main page.

 

Probably the wrong size washer for the EGR. That's why you should go get the OEM replacment. How did he know that you needed a new EGR? How did he test it?

I ask because people don't care and you're not going to make any money on it. I think he was just talking and trying to get your business.

Mechanics do that all the time. They tell you to do the easy stuff that's not worth it, just so you feel that we're making you a deal, then they rape you on the other stuff. My boss is like that. It's something that I hate because after a while the customer gets pissed, but some people are like that. Just not a good way to make money.

 

Where can I get an OEM replacment? The mechanic didn't really want my business to badley, he actualy said that I could do this all myself and save alot of money, I just choose to let them do a few things because I am very limited on time, money, and tools. The instructions that came with the egr had listed my part number as using a size 25 washer. The whole looked a little bigger then my old one..

His words on the egr where that when he "lifted up on it the car started to die(but didn't) when in fact it should have died. He said that I might need to replace it in the near future and that it was something simple that i could do that it was just 2 bolts"

 

almost forgot, tonight on the way home i was cruising at 40 mph (speed limit) tach was around 2000rpm the car started to surge like it had before, but this time tach would jump up in rpms to about 2400 rpms where as before the tach would stay the same, it kept doing this and then when i got to the next red like about 2 miles down the road my car idled at 1500-1700rpm it normally idles between 500rpm and 1100 (it jumps back and forth like it is dieing but then catches it self)

 

replaced fuel filter, egr valve and egr solenoid we will see from here

 

nope still doing what it was doing before...this sucks, any other ideas? Someone brought up that bad fp word (fuel pump) but I have no way of testing or knowing how to test that.

 

my car used to run really rough up until one day it just died. i had the fuel pump relay changed and my car is more fuel efficient and runs like a dream. try that maybe.

 

k will try that it says its only 11$ at advance, i am nearly broke at this point and will have to be making a school payment soon, so i can't afford much. Any other ideas before i try this? Will any of the other relays maybe the one for the a/c work on the fuel pump (like switch them out to test) or is there a way i can test the relay first?

 

i looked up the part number of the a/c relay and the fuel pump, it shows that they are the same so I guess i will try this...wish me luck

one other thing how can i test my ECM? Haynes says something about using a test light but they are really not clear about what to do?

 

Check the plug wires. I only say this since when I did the tuneup on my car it had a constant miss and was running rough over a wire being not completely on the plug. Didnt realize it since it looked like it was on til I finally gave up and pulled every one of the plugs to check the gap...one boot didnt make the popping sound the rest did when I took them off. Put it back on, started the car and it ran great. Its amazing what a car will do over something simple like that.

 

k will check them

 

It really sounds like a vaccum leak. You should inspect all your vaccum lines and replace any that might need it. Also spray some carb cleaner around the intake plenum. I had similar problems a while back. Turned out to be the upper plenum gasket and a bad vaccum hose or two.

 

well i tried the fuel pump relay and it seems to be just fine, car still runs bad though, check wires, they are all good, but i did find some thing, i was near the battery just kinda checking out everything and i herd a sucking noise, after i investigated it i found a hose that was pulling a strong vacumm i attached a picture for you to see. Does anyone know what this is or goes to? could this be why my car is acting like this or is it just something minor that won't affect anything

guess it didn't show up if you wanna see a pic instant messange me on aim/aol at dxacer01

 

Sounds like a major vacuum leak at that hose. Stick a golf tee or bolt in the end to block the leak and see if that solves the problem until you get some info on where the hose connects to.

 

"It runs rough when I start it and runs very rough, vibrating, kinda feels like it is either not getting enough gas"


I wounder if the rubber in your balancer didn't start falling out. mechanice might of even yanked an extra piece out. To many shop create repeat business. But if they didn't charge so much, more people would pay to get done stuff. Low volume hi prices doesn't work as well.

 

But plug that vac line first and try that.

 

ok plugged vacuum line, still no improvement. I am out of ideas, i would upload this pic into the forum but its rather large so check it out

http://www.stevehardley.com/pics/hose.jpg

it also backfires now while idleing, not really a big backfire more like it blows a bubble sound lol

 

that goes to the Evap canister, the black round thing that yopu can kinda see in the pic actually.

The bubble backfire is an exhaust back fire. That is usually timing too retarded. I think that is it, cause advanced blows through an open intake valve shooting fireballs...

Ok...
Bare with this...
Just for giggles, make sure your spark plug wires are in the right order. Starting on PASSANGER side front as #1.
Also look at the inside of the cap and rotor, look for carbon trails.

This will be tedius, but remove throttle body, and upper intake and look for cracked, broken or missing vacuum lines. I say upper intake because there are a few that run under it that are hard to trace otherwise.

If nothing else, there are 2-3 vacuum ports on the TB.
You can plug all but one of them and do the following.
Run an appropriate sized NEW rubber line out to the passanger side of the intake. Install a "T". Run a line to the fitting on the distributor advance/retard port, the other to the fuel pressure regulator.
Now if your car is MAP, or requires a MAP sensor, there should be a line coming off the back of the intake about in the middle, run a new line from there to the sensor.

Having the Evap unhooked will not hurt anything. Above is the bare neccesary vacuum lines for a MPFI car.

Have you checked the timing on the car?
If not also do that. Just remember to unhook the EST plug, and air for 12-13*.

 

I don't have the tools or time to take the upperin take off, I may be able to find to the time to pull the throttle body and check all the out. I don't have the tools to check the timing unless there is an easy trick to it. But i will check on what I can this weekend if nothing else i will try to hook up the bare minimum vacuum lines that you said...

 

so you cant check timing???

id say timing chain is worn then. my 80 camaro kept losing time more and more often till I had to change it.

YOu can just play with the timing dude. Just don't go very far in either direction. Do it with the car running. Try to get it running smooth. Id rev it up with one had some say 2-3000 while you play wi h the timing. If it runs better, your better off then where you were timing wise. Time to buy a $20 timing gun. borrow rent one form auto zone.

 

checked vacuum, was about 15 all the way around on every hose i could find to try except the one that is coming from the the top of the charcoal canister, it read 0 is this correct

 

I'd check the injectors, it's very possible with a half assed job it can clog the injectors more than actually clean them. This is also the exact reason I wont bring my car in to get the fuel system cleaned.

Then again it also sounds like my car a week ago- the rotor and cap were shot and had a vac. leak to the tb (which i noticed my mechanic also fixed w/o charging me) causing a backfire. And the timing was off. Definately check the cap and rotor, if those are just about done for it will make a world of difference.