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intheshadows

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  • Your Pathfinder Info
    na
  • Mechanical Skill Level
    Screwdriver Mechanic
  • Your Age
    22-29
  • What do you consider yourself?
    Weekend Warrior
  • Model
    Other/Unknown
  • Year
    1989

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  • Location
    United States

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  1. The spark I'm getting out of the coil starts out blue and strong then fades to orange rather quickly. I have 2 coils and they both behave the same. I went and double checked the aftermarket ICM for spark, and I get no spark at the coil. Same coil that was just sparking with my old ratty ICM. Went out to the local NAPA for another aftermarket unit. Same thing, no spark. Aftermarket ICMs look to be the same manufacturer and the plug that fits into the coil just doesnt fit nicely but looks passable side by side with the old ICM. Could I have two bad aftermarket units or what the heck is going on with this no spark? I really want to try and swap the connector but I dont think theyll take it back as a return once I do that. I'm getting battery voltage at the ICM-->coil on all three ICMs across the two wires, but only the old ratty ICM creates a spark to feed the dizzy. I did the diagnostic from the FSM on the crank angle sensor in the distributor and it seems to be working fine. I did all the ignition tests from the FSM too and it passes only with the old ratty ICM, grounds, signals, OK. Still behaves the same, sputters and doesnt catch. What to try, go OEM on the ICM? Would a bad ICM cause a weak spark or is that the coils fault?
  2. Finally got back to this. Found all kinds of nasty blue copper wiring corrosion around the TBI unit for the TPS and injectors. Fixed what I could see and checked any connectors I could get to in the entire engine and cleaned them up like new. Injector O ring was crumbly and leaking, replaced and is OK now. Inspected wiring harness and SEEMS to be ok but I didnt tear all the way through. MAF replaced due to a broken filament with an OEM pull, TPS and harness/wiring (aftermarket) replaced due to heavy corrosion on the pins. Still no luck getting her up and running. Cranks mostly, catches sometimes, and it ran again ONCE after I did this work. It ran and sounded great for all of 5 seconds before it sputtered and died (RPMs were on the high side, have been fiddling with the distributor position and idle screw). It checks OK for spark to the distributor with some irregularities. Seems to cut out or act up randomly but I cant say for sure. Cap/rotor (aftermarket) swapped again. ICM and coil (aftermarket) swapped in and out with no noticeable difference. ECU also swapped in and out with no change. I'm out of ideas other than the distributor/CPS at this point. Any way to definitively test these guys out before I fork out more cash? I suppose the aftermarket parts could be pure junk as well. Very frustrating.
  3. Well it appears the problem is the mass air flow sensor (hotwire modulator?) on the side of the TBI unit. One of the filaments is damaged, so I'm guessing this is why she runs so poorly. Problem is, this part is hard to find and expensive! Got an OEM used one on order off of fleabay coming in and crossing my fingers.
  4. I figured that was the ICM, but my parts diagrams looks different. That little ICM box has been rusted and looking like crap since I got the car. She'll sputter for about 5 seconds after cranking before dying.
  5. Cranks strong, battery tests good, alternator tests good, fuel getting to the engine, no ECU codes.....gotta be ignition related right? Plugs newish, wires newish, rotor and cap newish, coil age unknown but looks like it was replaced before I got the car. She'll crank, run for a few seconds like its missing or the timing is terrible, then it dies. Gassing it will keep it running for a few seconds, but it pulsates and still dies. It ran like a boss until I parked it, and now this starting problem. I got it started and running once, and it ran and drove around the neighborhood normally but I havent been able to get it to start since. Also, my brake lights suddenly do not work. They worked yesterday, now they dont, both of em. Dont know if its a coincidence or not. I smell something burning inside the car maybe. Dont know if its in my head, but it didnt smell like that yesterday. I've been having terrible rust problems and this might be related. I yanked out my AIV after it rusted out everything beneath it, but I fear it may have done some collateral damage. I found this grounding strap on a rusted area, which probably isnt grounding too nicely, what is this for? I'm going to relocate it. That stuff is under the coil itself. Here's the coil resting on top of the intake, with the plug and the box that was connected to the coil. What is this, the transistor? Where the red outline is, its rusted like crazy, so this probably causing some problems. The broken brake lights and burning smell in the cabin I find hard to relate to this. Perhaps my ECU is fried; have you guys ever seen blown or leaky capacitors or ECU troubles cause this behavior? What do you guys think? Thanks!!
  6. My brake light would irritate me and come on sometimes. Just the brake light itself like its warning you of low liquid or the e brake handle is up. I cleaned off the little button switch under the e brake but that didnt help. Turns out a bit of the brake fluid leaked out and got on the sensor connector under the reservoir. Took some electrical contact cleaner to it and the light has gone away for good.
  7. I just got done fiddling with the timing, but I didnt play with the idle adjust screws. I inspected my vacuum lines and they appear fine, but theyre old and crumbly looking so I dont doubt there is a leak somewhere. Havent gotten around to that yet. My timing is sitting at ~14 BTDC. Seems to run slightly smoother there than 12 or 15, but could just be in my head.
  8. 89 here, but my gauge behaves like the OP. Gauge will read full only after I just filled my tank, then after about five miles, it will be at 3/4. When it gets to exactly empty on the gauge, I'll need 16 gal or so to fill up. Took it a little past E, but still no empty gas light. The low fuel like is like a mythical creature; I've never seen it with my own eyes.
  9. Finally got around to yanking out that cancer in my engine. Looks like the funny guy that owned this car before me tried to fix this up at one point (and the rust problem that it caused). Red arrows showing removed AIV components After unbolting and removing the tubing, these two metal pipes and a vacuum line should be capped. I used some bypass cap kit from oreilly. All junk out of the engine bay. The lower AIV component had a hole in it too, not just the main filter part. Capped, even though the rubber cap fits tightly, I put the hose clamp back on it just in case. Not sure what kind of pressure/vacuum these guys are under, just to be on the safe side. I just put a little rubber plug in the left over vacuum line to seal it off that was attached to the upper AIV component. I left the bracket for the lower component attached to the car, and removed the entire upper bracket. I might use that to attach something later in the future. Who knows? I also zip-tied the metal hoses to the most secure thing next to them so they dont clang around and wobble freely. I've got an auto trans, and when I would let off the gas at speed, the RPMs would wobble back and forth when the needle dropped and you could hear the engine kind of pulsating like you get when there is a vacuum leak. After capping these guys off, no more pulsating RPMs, but the RPMs do drop rather quickly when letting off the gas. All smooth though, and is a very noticeable improvement in daily driving.
  10. I was just going to post this as well, as my idle from a cold start is about 1750, which will go down to 1200 while in park after shes warmed up. I thought this was high My truck takes forever to warm up though, even when its 80F outside. You guys in the cold must have one hell of a time getting your pathys warmed in the winter. The second I throw it into drive, it will sit around 900-1100, cold or hot. Behavior is very predictable and she drives like a dream.
  11. Yea, this is sadly the case I've run into here. Living on an island, I dont have the largest selection of parts. Even if I did find one, I almost 100% guarantee its going to be jacked up like mine. Are all the 89's california models, or did I just get unlucky with this extra junk under the hood (CA emissions sticker)?
  12. Yuck, my AIV and case are in terrible shape. The case has a hole in the top of it and makes a ticking noise, and the AIV round box itself is rusted to all hell out the bottom and took out part of the wheel well with it. I'm really not in the mood for spending more money on this truck, but the truck kind of stinks of exhaust at idle. Cant find a good replacement, and seeing even Rob's price makes me cringe so I'm going to be giving the bypass/capping method a go and report back.
  13. Yea I had a new tensioner stud to go in, but the old one looked shiny and new (not so for the tensioner itself). I should have pulled it to double check anyway, as its a damn crucial part to the operation of the belt. When I pulled the stud out, there was no thread locker on it at all which seemed like a bad idea to me. Its now stuck in there tight, hopefully it will last for the remainder of this vehicles life. Heh thanks man, that would make my mom proud I'm sure
  14. So tore her apart again. Realigned the crank pulley harmonic balancer. Took a look at the timing belt, and it jumped a tooth. 40 split on the cam and 44 on the cam/crank. I was SURE I put it back correct, so I searched for why it jupmed. Seems the tensioner stud came loose! It allowed the belt to relax enough to skip a tooth I guess. Good thing it didnt bust anything in the process. I put the stud back with some loctite, the nut I had alreadyd loctited when I changed the belt last time but I didnt take out the stud and it didnt appear to have any locker on the threads. Is it supposed to? Anyway, this 89 runs like new again, except for that damn manifold ticking....
  15. I tried the easy things just doing the plugs/wires, and it didnt change. I sprayed a little mist around the distributor cap and the wires, and no arcing. Connectors/wiring have been cleaned and inspected. Must be the timing. I keep getting distracted and forget to pull any codes. I'm going to do that before I try anything else. Think I'll find any specific codes relating to the timing? My misaligned crank pulley is going to set me back some time realigning it, and while I'm in there, I'm gonna have another check of the tooth count. Think I'm more likely off a tooth or just need to tweak the distributor a little?
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