Rough start after Intake Manifold Gasket Change

[Greenmachine123]

Hey guys so heres my story. Got a 97 ex 4.0L OHV about a year ago and has been running ok except that I had the dreaded P0171 and P0174 until about 2 weekends ago. I have been doing regular fluid changes and general maintenance to keep her going and have done a complete brake change, spark plugs and wires, and intake plenum orings, upper intake manifold gasket, and valve cover gaskets a few weekends ago. During the gasket change I snapped the ECT sensor on the right side (the one going to the computer I think) but replaced it the next day. Now heres my problem. After I changed the gaskets, the 2 previous codes went away (YAY!!) but had code P0118 until I changed the sensor, now I have code P0117 and she runs like S**T at startup with a cold engine, when she is at operating temp she runs great?? I reset the battery and cleared all of the codes for about a day. Since then I have put almost 1000kms on her and am still getting P0117, I havent done a continuity check on the sensor but I assume its good because its brand new. The only other things I can think of are that the sensor is either not getting power, I messed up during the gasket change, a Vacuum leak, or IAC, MAF, EGR, or similar issue. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Greenmachine123]

*bump*

 

[rbraden4]

I have personally installed new temp sensors and they were bad outta the box. You have all the symptoms of the temp sensor being faulty. Usually when those sensors start to go they read colder then what the actual temp is. The PCM seeing a cold condition will adjust timing and add more fuel for the cold start, but if its not really that cold then its hard to start due to the added fuel.

If the sensor isnt bad i would look to see if maybe you have a wire pinched to ground somewhere, check the resistance with an ohm meter across the terminals and compare with this chart. If the readings are pretty close I would suspect a bad wire from the sensor to the PCM

ECT Temp Chart
http://0.tqn.com/d/autorepair/1/0/I/A/41928895.gif

 

[Greenmachine123]

Great thanks I will have to do the electrical troubleshooting as soon as I can get a multimeter, appreciate the info