3 hrs of straight nonstop driving in both directions 200 Miles total door to door
and i must save i love these cars.......................

this was the first time I've really driven this car in almost 4 years
this was a planed trip so i had given her a almost complete tomp tune up
all i left out as the PVC valve timing adjustment and wheel aliment (need new motor / tranny mount)

the car drove great 100 miles and only used 3.5 gal's of gas each way
responds really well esp over 60 MPH

now for the bad..................... come on now you all knew it was coming

on the first leg of the trip right at the end to turns away from my aunts house she stalled on me in mid turn but luckily started right back up again
and she made it all the way home with out a problem but now over the last 2 days she's been starting to act up all over again

rough idle back to my crappy city gas mileage and now the SES light to coming on and off again

I'm going to make the same trip again this coming weekend so I'm getting ready to order the engine & tyranny mounts and am thinking about adding in a timing chain and maybe new injectors

tonight I'm going to try and pull some codes and maybe narrow down the SES light i just don't want to get stuck on the road like all the newer cars i passed going both ways

can you guy's think of anything else i should look at and maybe change
car now has 128XXX

but oh man did i love that ride window's down radio going and open road deff glad i kept this car and now i want to fix her up more then ever

 

If it has 128, and never installed a chain, that wouldnt hurt.

Unless you know for a fact the injectors are leaking, or plugged. I wouldnt really mess with them. Thats alot of money for a car it sounds like you dont drive alot.

Figure out what the SES light is. Odds are thats why it stalled on you, and why your mpg went down. Along with in-town driving that kills milage.



I got 33.9mpg....... outta my grand prix this weekend.

 

sounds like a sensor malfunction &/or vacuum problem. I had a similar experience. it happened to be a bad rubber connector end by one of the small plastic vacuum lines by the EGR. check for dry-rot at the rubber ends, there is one that connects under a sensor, and that's where mine was messed up at.

Also, when is the last time you used fuel injector cleaner?

 

yeah i now it's a lot of money but i do a lot of quick in town city driving
the mach just called and said he did some kinda test/reading and that the 1 & 2 cylinders are acting weird and that he has to check out a few other things and that he will get back to me

Dale for the past 2 years or so I've only averaged about 8mpg city so yeah I've pretty much just let her sit around esp during the winter but I've been driving her almost daily all summer but the was my first real run with her
and with gas prices the way they are now $50 a week/tank for only 150 miles
and reading that the stock injectors were not that great 2 begin with

i figure $200 and whatever the install cost is couldn't really hurt all that much

Scott thanks for the into I've got to track down a copy of the vacuum diagrams and i think I'll just replace all the lines I'm sure after 15 years they are pretty much done
as for the injector cleaner i toss a BLT in almost monthly

 

the vacuum lines will cost max of $15-20 literally. It took me about 6 foot of 1/4" line for the bigger ones, and 12 foot of the vacuum/windshield wiper line in a box (2 boxes of 6 foot)... I bought 3 boxes just in case though

Now, I still haven't replaced some of the deals that they connect to, that are really snug, and have the plastic connector piece to them, those will probably cost more. You will see what i'm talking about, open the hood and look at the vacuum canister, there should be a black rubberish deal stuck to the canister, and then a connector to that (plastic) and then a rubber vacuum line... but yeah, the vacuum lines help a lot

But, these are just the regular vacuum lines.

If you look near the EGR, trace all of the lines, pull them out and put them back in. if they crack, replace them. if they have dry-rotted, you may have found your problem!

Scott

 

OK the install for the injectors will only run me 110 but he asked if i wanted to install anything else while he had the car all apart? what do you think????? should i got for a little more HP

 

Scott i just found the diagram for the vacuum (emission hose routing) were all the lines 1/4" if not would you happen to remember the other size
I'd like to just stop off and pick them up tonight on my way home thanks

 

OK so the auto store wanted me to bring them samples of the vacuum hose so that i got the right size's so i guess that have to wait till tomorrow

and i just pulled a code 32
so now I'm off to do some research

(do you guy's have any idea how many post
popped up when i hit "code 32" )

 

code 32 is egr, and thats 200 bux.

8mpg city? YIKES, thats horriable. Now I see why its parked. I rag the hell outta mine and with a vac leak, I'm still getting 14.

I still dont think its the injectors.

 

ok dale i'm open to ideas
???????????????

 

plugs, wires, cap/rotor, timing, timing chain, O2 sensor, vac leak(could be sticking valve, to bad gasket), blown piston rings, alighnment, tire pressure, excessive weight in the car.

gas you put in it has a factor too, out in cali they put oxygenated gas in it which decreases your mpg.

You need to throw about every tester they have for our cars and throw it on it. I dont think 1 single thing will cause that kinda mpg, its going to be a combo.

 

plugs wires cap rotor 02sensor and tires are all new trying to get the timing motor / tranny mounts alignment and vac lines all done this week

I'm sorry please beer with me I'm good at driving but as I've said in the past when it comes to under the hood I'm totally lost

you mentioned testers
what kind / what do they do / $$$ / and where can i get some

all the local shops that I've been to about 5 or 6 all say that there is nothing wrong with my engine thats she's good and strong no pings or anything at all along those lines

I'm going to try and leave work early today so that i can start playing around with the vac lines

 

what general part of the country are you in?

testers, I'm refuring to data loggers, fuel pressure gauge, timing light, vac gauge. Also after one of your drives, lean down under the passanger side and see if you cat-convertor is glowing red. Vac gauge is cheap. timing light is "so-so", IIRC the fuel pressure one was expensive. Data loggers you have to have a laptop, buy a cable, download a program, and learn how to read it.

If 5-6 shops say your engine is good, I dunno. Should be getting more then 8mpg. Whens last alighnment, wheelbearings redone?

i know driving with the ses light on KILLS milage.


What are the specs on your car again?
year?
128k miles
auto/man?
bird/maro?
tire sizes?

 

Hey Dale how's it going man?

I'm in the Bronx New York
she is a 91 firebird 3.1L auto
15" stock rims

i took her out last night and finished off the tank of gas
and i averaged about 11mpg

the cat i replaced a while ago along with a cat-co high flow along with the dynomax kit

the muffler guy i went to said that i was running to rich and that i had melted or howled out the inside of the cat so i know i need a new one

I'm going to see about picking up the fuel and vac gauges.....

 

ok, so nyc. Thats alot of stop n go, so thats going to lower it.
Auto will lower it a bit also.

Running rich will make the convertor hot, muffler guy is right. So were back to orginal problem, why is it running rich.

Since I have a 91 helms manual, were going to play you got a code 45...

A. Fuel pressure to high.
B. Leaking injector (maybe they are bad, have them tested before you replace them though)
C. Elec. "noise" in the ignition system, or not enough spark(ie, weak coil)
D. Purge canister
E. Leaking fuel regulator
F. TPS problem
G. EGR sticking open

 

the only code it gave me is a 32

 

Code 45 is O2 rich IIRC, he's posting that list assuming that you ARE rich, so you can use that list to troubleshoot.
----------
Uhm, I gotta ask, why are we still discussing? Code is for EGR. Stuck EGR valve symptoms: Rough idle, stalling, poor fuel mileage....

What's to discuss? Unless you've already done a valve?

 

Uhm, I gotta ask, why are we still discussing? Code is for EGR. Stuck EGR valve symptoms: Rough idle, stalling, poor fuel mileage....

What's to discuss? Unless you've already done a valve?

 

OK stupid question what is the purge canister????

I just went and turned the car on for a few and got a really strong smell
inside the car almost smelled like skunk weird ok thanks for the punch List i thinking going to end up taking of Thursday and just spending the day playing around and trying to figure all this out

 

EVAP purge canister, looks like a coffee can. Filters out fuel vapors from the tank and routes them through the intake to be burned for emissions.

 

sorry Nixon - like i said b/4 all this is alien to me so please forgive me

Dale buddy thanks a lot for all your help I'll let you know what I find out

 

I'm not bitching or anything don't take it wrong, I'm just saying you have all the symptoms of an EGR valve and the code, so chances are

Only down-side is you have a digital EGR valve for your year, which is expensive and I dont think can be tested, not like the older vacuum-style valves

 

thanks Nixon I'm already looking into getting a replacement
just gotta shop around some

well I'm off to work

 

I'd look at the fuel pressure regulator if all else checks out ok

 

purge canister on a 91 maro is on the right side in the battery tray area next to where the air filter is to be.

 

Hey guy's i just wanted to thank you for your help

i changed out the VAX lines flushed the radiator and replaced the egr unit and the car is running 100X's better I've never seen her idle so smoothly

I'm going to take her out on the road this weekend after i change out the 3 mounts also have to change one of the pulleys and the belt

sometime next week I'll change the timing chain water pump

Thanks again

 

So now I'm more then ever b/c last week after the egr and vac lines she was running smother then ever everyone that help (i say everyone b/c I've got a long of friendly(noisy) neighbors could not believe how quite and smooth she was running.............................

OK it been only 1 2 tanks later week later

I'm not getting any codes or anything

engine shaking the idle is rougher then ever when in park and now I'm getting really strong odors inside the car

It almost smells like skunk coming out of the vents at times and others it's just pure gas

you can smell it both inside and outside the car

I still have not had the chance to have the mounts,pulley and belt put on that'll be sometime this week maybe Thursday or Friday

but what do you guy's think

thanks again for your help and time

 

Did you ever put a vac gauge on it.

What about compression test?

What do the plugs look like?