Frustration City - let me WHINE a little!

[S10xGN]

Well,

Nothing but problems again! I've been having problems with the d@mned thing running rich and fouling plugs, but NEVER consistantly. Follow along and see if you can figure this out!

Today, I removed the MAF and made a rubber-bushed mount for it, along with making a mount for dual WG solenoids (the BsTC is not in yet). Decided to pull some random plugs and check, as friends behind me last week said they saw black smoke coming from tailpipe. Pulled #2 and #5 - both looked like new (plugs have prolly 50 miles on them since the previous *rich* fiasco).

Fired it up to charge the A/C and it idled great! In fact, my shift light usually flickers randomly but didn't today (MAF mount?). Charged the A/C then turned it off because son was blocking the garage, washing his car. Twenty minutes later, started it up and backed out to wash it, started and ran great.

Washed and dried the truck, after 45 minutes or so, went to start it and huge clouds of back smoke came rolling out of tailpipe! Idled and ran like CR@P, barely made it back into the garage. Sat and revved the p!ss out of it and the EGT never got to 750°.

Could it be the injectors (bought new from PTE)? A pinched wire in the INJ harness? Inherent wiring problem from my swap harness? ECM (I have 2)? MAF (I have 2)? Coilpak/module (I have 2)?

I'm at a loss here... I'm seriously thinking about trashing the GN drivetrain and going with an LT1.

It's got to where after spending 10 minutes *working* on this thing, I don't feel qualified to change the sparkplug on my lawnmower!

 

[Turbojorge]

"I'm at a loss here..."

You don't lose until you quit my friend.

I wish I could help, but you got me, really. Try changing the wiring harness. Try something...

Hang in their.

 

[86gn]

It could have something to do with the ecm,have you noticed this problem before right after the truck got wet?It might be getting the ECM wet when it rains or a wash.if not the ecm it might be somthing else shorting when wet.

Dont give up when it comes together(Sometimes it takes a lot of head pounding)it will be worth it.My car has tested me a # of times but when it finially got worked out it has been great.


John

 

[KillrV6]

CHECK THE FUEL RETURN LINE.

a buddy of mine had a pluged up return line on his T type and it ran pig rich as a result. black smoke out the exhaust and all. took him a long time to find the culprate.

good luck

 

[TurboJim]

Heres a silly diddy...

Had an expedition at the shop the other day. Another tech was working on it. Couple months ago came in with a TPS code set. I threw in a TPS and all was well. Came back last week, same code. Now heres where it gets silly....

It was hot last week, came in AC was on. Tech turned AC off to diag the problem and prob went away. Hmmmm.... Turned AC back on and 10-15 mins later prob came back. Well, to make a long story short, one of the harnesses was rubbing on the accumulator and rubbed thru. Only the TPS return wire, and not like copper was showing or anything BUT, condensation from the wet accumulator made a short to ground in that wire. When the AC was off, there was no water, and there was no problem.

SO, I ask you this.... Is thre ANYTHING you are doing or CAN do, that can consistantly make the thing act up? ie: Does it only act up after you've washed it? Or used the AC, or pulled the ash tray out, or anything? Something you might not even think about, just be "automatic" that may give a clue to where the problem lies?

While viewing a scanner, is there anything that sticks out? Can you send me a file of the car running good, then bad? So I can take a look and see whats changing? Actually, didnt you send me a DS file way back? Do you recall if the truck was running well, or bad at that point? Do you have anything more current? Maybe me, or anyone else can pick something out of the data stream that is being missed by you in your panic.

 

[steve hughes]

Have you tried a new maf?

 

[xxninja]

whut kind of maf are you running
is it an lt1 or ls1 maf with a basic translator?
or is it a stocker?

mine woudl run way rich, but thats cuz i didnt know u you adjust the maf translator

i unscrewed the box and set my car to 10% lean at idle and all that start up fuel smoking went away
it always brought my BLM's up a bunch



just an idea...............

 

[striker_29]

Well I would try the other maf and ecm before I went and put a whole new harness on it. Keep it simple if possible. Jims advice is very good as usual, good luck man.

 

[S10xGN]

Thanks for all the ideas!

The little truck is a '96 so it's pretty well sealed - I'm sure it's not getting wet. As a matter of fact, this has happened before on clear sunny days with no "washing" involved.

I took a break today, but will pull and check the injector harness along with the EGR wiring for pinches, nicks, etc. next opportunity. THANK G0D it's not a daily driver!

On the fuel return line - wouldn't the rail pressure be up as a result? Mine stays at 37# running, 44# line-off.

I've tried (stock type) MAF's and ECM's before with no results. Unfortunately, it's running so cr@ppy now, I'm not sure I'd get anything out of T-Link, but will try for sure. The injectors bleed down after an hour or so, but I'm told that's not unusual with the 50#'s. They were newly flowed from PTE.

The plugs are prolly fouled silly - the third set in 500 miles. When they go, THEY GO! From "white insulators" to "not runnable" in less than 5 minutes. If I manage get it running again, will they clean up in the car, or will they need to be chucked?

 

[GNandGS]

change oil! And disconnect the MAF for a test.

S

 

[S10xGN]

What does disconnecting the MAF do? Is it driveable like this?

My son got home from work early yesterday and had time to pull and clean the plugs (all were carbon fouled). After the plug change, it cranked up and ran good - go figure! I REALLY need to figure out what is randomly trashing the plugs and making the thing totally undriveable. I'll do some more checking this weekend...

 

[GNandGS]

Just to see if it "changed" anything... I wouldnt really want to drive it like that.

Leads in to wondering of this is the result of a limp mode.... but you say nothing odd shows on the scan?

Assuming of course its not a pinched wire.

This wont help you any but a local car here would do similar - run great for a short while then dump in the fuel and run like crap. Its problem was electrical... but we never found the actual cause. Made it better by redoing some grounds.

The car had in a past life had the ECM removed by cutting the harness a short distance from the ECM. Might take a real close look at that - add any splices lately?

S

 

[S10xGN]

Yeah, it's odd how all the plugs were trashed - kinda rules out the injector harness. I'm sure the grounds are all good, but I did have a problem once with the ESC module "connector" having poor contact due to the terminals being deformed. Maybe when I put in the BSTC I'll pull, clean and redo all the ECM & sensor pins. That's really the only thing that makes sense...

EXCEPT! How about this: Startup Parameters

 

[lvega@bellsouth]

Check all your vacuum lines,make sure they are connected properly,i mean all of them,i had a similiar proplem,car running rich,fouling plugs,shutting off,my cruise control vacuum line was dissconected & i couldnt even hear a leak,also check all the vacuum lines running to your intake ports,one may be clogged or not getting a proper vacuum signal or enough vacuum,this will cause it to run very rich & erattic,good luck

 

[S10xGN]

Well, I found a MAJOR problem today while hooking up my BSTC controller - pin C16 in the ECM was not only sheared off, but completely GONE! That, my friends, is the "orange" power wire from the battery so I have no idea how it was actually running at all.

On top of that, the entire "large" ECM connector was completely corroded, yet the small connector looked "new". Needless to say, a "new" Advance (A1 Cardone) ECM will be here in the AM. I pulled the C16 connector from the shell (for inspection) and tried fitting the bare terminal to a pin - it was sloppy loose! Is there a way to "refit" these terminals? The factory manual shows every terminal EXCEPT the micropak (ECM)series... Also, what is the preferred method for cleaning the terminals (I used a 0.040" acetylene tip cleaning tool). It mikes the same as a pin (dia), but still fits too loose in the terminals.

Do you see any problem with me packing the sockets and connectors with dialectrical grade silicone? I have NO idea where the corrosion came from - there's no way moisture could migrate down (up?) the wiring harness as the ECM connectors are a foot higher than where the harness enters the cab. Water would have to flow uphill instead of dripping off the low point. Regardless, the entire footwell area was bone-dry with no signs of any past moisture problem... Even the A/C "drips" run to the outside of the firewall.

 

[striker_29]

I thought you said you already tried an ecm, I guess that was before this latest problem huh? I told you to try that first man, if its one thing I have learned its, keep it simple if at all possible Glad to hear things are looking up!

 

[John Larkin]

There is such a thing as bulb socket cleaner. Marine stores usually have it. Could work. The dielectric grease is a good idea for sure. I use that stuff all the time.

 

[RareT]

Originally posted by S10xGN
Well, I found a MAJOR problem today while hooking up my BSTC controller - pin C16 in the ECM was not only sheared off, but completely GONE! That, my friends, is the "orange" power wire from the battery so I have no idea how it was actually running at all.


I had the same exact thing happen to me 2 years ago. Amazing how it would even start, huh? I'm still baffled over mine.

Ed

 

[S10xGN]

Originally posted by striker_29
I thought you said you already tried an ecm, I guess that was before this latest problem huh? I told you to try that first man, if its one thing I have learned its, keep it simple if at all possible Glad to hear things are looking up!

Mark,

Actually, I do have a spare ECM and I did try it (for a few hours) with no different results. That particular ECM has a dead A/C driver though. I'm not totally convinced this is *THE* problem, but it is a puzzler! I (temporarily) swapped the ECM's around a month or so ago, and there was NO corrosion noted at that time.

John,

I can't imagine a bulb socket cleaner getting to where it would need to go - in a 0.040" hole! I'm waiting to hear what the ECM experts have to say about the silicone grease.

Anybody,

Are the ECM connectors supposed to face up or down? Due to the difference in vehicles and harness length, mine fits better with the connectors "up", but that may be an invitation for moisture to linger instead of running off.

 

[S10xGN]

Well, it finally dried up enough to get a run in. Would someone PLEASE look at these two T-Link files and tell me if anything looks out of place?

Startup from cold

Two short blasts

The "new" ECM refuses to run the A/C unit, so I'll have to troubleshoot it tomorrow (it calls for A/C, but the compressor won't cycle even with the LP cutout bypassed), and the O2 x-counts look crappy (killed another one - three in 500 miles!).

Also, my BsTC with two WG SOL's only gives me 17.5# boost? Guess I'll play with it too.

Thanks!