Don't click, lame sauce inside...

[GeekyTechyCool]

So, you've got a high voltage fault - engine temp. A low voltage fault - MAF.

And a "trans not in park or neutral during test" fault.

I'm thinking bad ground, or the PCM is toast (reference voltage is to low or is wandering around)

I'd have a look at the connection at the PCM first. Give it a good look and cleaning.

Really soggy up there in the great north west, may be corroded.

Random, unrelated codes often mean - Bad PCM

I will check the PCM at lunch, I'll clean and inspect it before the drive home and chime back in with my results.

Funny thing happened, on my drive into work this morning it ran like crap right up until the last 10 min or so. During that time if I was on partial throttle it responded as it should, anything more than that and it was horrible.

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

I'll be making progress on this later in the week, I'm borrowing a car for the next couple days. Work is piling up that needs done...

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

So before the drive home yesterday I pulled the PCM out and checked the connections. All seems well there, no corrosion, no build up, actually still has white lithium grease on all the pins. The case of the PCM has some corrosion though. I pulled the cover off the PCM and the board as well as all the components look clean. Plugged it all back in and...no change. Still runs like crap, and did so the whole way home. I'll pull codes again here in the next few days and chime back in.

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

I'm also going to check the Coil pack again to be sure it's within spec.

 

[FR-425]

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

Eat your popcorn you little smiley *******...

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

Well, I checked the coilpack per the manual and it checks out good across all tests. So I pulled some plugs (started with the drivers side rear of course) and well it's a nasty rusty deposited mess.



I've been dealing with a coolant issue for some time now, I thought I had fixed it with some new parts and a flush. Since then I've had some intermittent heating but nothing as drastic. Is this rust build up I'm seeing (and obviously a bad HG or Head) on this spark plug?

None of the other plugs on the drivers side look like this, they look normal with a little more of a gray or white residue.

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

Bumpity bump bump

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

After doing more research and checking with some local resources I'm pretty confident in a head gasket/head issue diagnosis. I've been loosing coolant and couldn't find where, it's been running rough for a while only to get worse in a very short time after my coolant flush and servicing. That paired with a wet/rusty/deposited plug and we've got our verdict.

Unless someone else has some brilliant idea about what else it could be, I'm going to move forward with some stop-gap type repairs to keep it running for now and then park it for a rebuild once I can get another daily driver.

 

[FR-425]

Actually that heavy black carbon and the red rusty looking color indicates "cold/rich"

That gap looks to be bout .090! way to big. So that's the "cold" fire right there.

If you were burning coolant the plug would have a heavy yellow white chalky look.

I think that plug is the whole problem. Probably firing intermittently as well. So there's your "rich" on that cyl.

Coolant is likely going some where else. I loose about a half gallon every two weeks. But it is just seepage at the radiator end tanks. Never even puts a drop on the ground. But I can see the green goop if I pull the shroud off.

You may be get'n ahead of yourself on the broken heads here. ... .

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

So what can pull a plug that far out of gap, all were gapped correctly when I did the tune up and it ran just fine for quite some time until it just started running like this?

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

Actually that heavy black carbon and the red rusty looking color indicates "cold/rich"

That gap looks to be bout .090! way to big. So that's the "cold" fire right there.

If you were burning coolant the plug would have a heavy yellow white chalky look.

I think that plug is the whole problem. Probably firing intermittently as well. So there's your "rich" on that cyl.

Coolant is likely going some where else. I loose about a half gallon every two weeks. But it is just seepage at the radiator end tanks. Never even puts a drop on the ground. But I can see the green goop if I pull the shroud off.

You may be get'n ahead of yourself on the broken heads here. ... .

BTW, thank you for pointing out the gap...I don't know how I missed that when looking at it. I think I went "worst case" and didn't look back...lol

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

Well I pulled the plug in question and it's gaped correctly. Manual says .054 and that's what it is. Not sure where to go from here...

 

[FR-425]

Two breaths, Ahhhhhhhhh! LOL

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

I'll do a compression test across the drivers side and chime back in a bit.

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

Breaths, not threads...lol

I'm just trying to keep whoever (including you my good sir) up to date on what I'm trying. Helps to have a computer I can post from in the garage though

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

Well compression test didn't go as planned, was borrowing a tester from a friend and it isn't the most accurate device I've seen.

Funny thing happened, I had to start driving this thing as the wife was getting fed up. So I checked all the fluids and coolant was damn low. Put some water in there and drove it the next morning. Got almost to work and it started to behave almost normal, on the drive home it behaved as it should. Full throttle response, good power, no hesitation "miss" all the way home. Get in it today, and it's back...until 15 min into my drive and then it's great...for a little bit...then it's back and forth with running correctly and running with a hesitation and miss.

So yeah, it's got me puzzled...lol

 

[Turdle]

I would start at the electrical connections for the ecm and fuel pump relays-then start re seating-cleaning all the connections from ecm to the engine harness. wd40 is excellent for cleaning and sealing connectors.

Take the cover off the ecm, check the solder and condition of the capacitors on the circuit board.

 

[GeekyTechyCool]

I would start at the electrical connections for the ecm and fuel pump relays-then start re seating-cleaning all the connections from ecm to the engine harness. wd40 is excellent for cleaning and sealing connectors.

Take the cover off the ecm, check the solder and condition of the capacitors on the circuit board.

In a previous post I talked about checking the ECM and it's connections as well as pulling the cover with nothing that stood out.

I'll start checking relays and such when I get time.

 

[sykojaz]

Kill it with fire

Do this, problem solved...

In all seriousness though, if you need a hand, lemme know.