need help. car is dead at the moment?

[poncho1961]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

As someone already mentioned and you kinda checked, I would take another look at the cat. It should be pretty warm/hot I think if it has decent amount of flow through it. Less flow may allow it to run cooler. Try disconnecting the exhaust before the cat and doing your rev up. It will be loud, but if it smooths out or quits studdering.....

[junbug8]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

Today I pulled the cat and I'm assuming it's not plugged since I could see light through it. Not sure if I should reinstall it or delete it, but that really is a question for another day. Right now I am at the point of pulling the driver's side head and checking the gasket and head bolts(quick story: I had a blown head gasket about 2 years ago and replaced them without replacing the bolts. A half a year later the passenger side had 2 or 3 broken head bolts. I got a head bolt set and new gaskets, but only replaced the passenger side's bolts as the driver's side ones weren't broken). I've disassembled the top half of the engine so many times now it shouldn't take me more than a couple of afternoons to pull everything off and then replace it.

Blizzard: What fuel line was loose? Was it an internal line to the pump? I have replaced the fuel pump previously but I thought I was pretty careful about connecting everything tight before buttoning everything up.

One other thing. On another site dealing with repair questions, it was mentioned that the TCC(torque converter clutch) solenoid could be acting up and causing the converter to lockup way early and stall the engine. Has anyone ever heard of this happening?

[Blizzard242]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

I don't know what the fuel pump is like on a 3.4 but on a 3.8 within the gas tank, the feed line directly on my pump was loose. For the 3.8 pumps the line looks like one of those bendy straws.

[Firebirdkid96]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

3.4's don't have a MAF sensor for the record.

[junbug8]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

I don't know what the fuel pump is like on a 3.4 but on a 3.8 within the gas tank, the feed line directly on my pump was loose. For the 3.8 pumps the line looks like one of those bendy straws.

That's what the 3.4 looks like also. I replaced the fuel pump just under two years ago and that is what I remember. That is also why I don't think it's the fuel pump itself. The last time it went dead it was a sudden failure. I still have gas at the fuel rail and it idles for as long as I let it. It isn't until I put heavy throttle on it that it wants to sputter and die. Today I am going to place a gauge on the fuel line and see if I am getting full pressure. If not, it looks like I could have the same issue as you did.

Firebirdkid is right. 3.4s don't have a MAF sensor. They have the MAP sensor.

[EarlR]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

Every so often I get to the point in trying to diagnose a problem that I just have to say f** it. I'm a pretty decent mechanic, but I don't have the diagnostic tools or training on modern EFI cars to be able to find evey problem, especially if it's an electronic issue. That's when I let the professionals figure it out. Usually I'll take the car to the dealer, and tell them to call me with a quote before they do any work. When the call me and say "we have to replace x, y, and z and it's gonna cost you $900" I say I can't afford that right now so I'll have to park the car until I can get the money - then go ahead and fix it myself, assuming I can. They're still going to charge you for checking the car, but even if it's $100-$200 it will still be worth it to know what's wrong. The only potential problem with this is that the dealer will often want to fix stuff that may not even be related to your problem, just because they noticed it while checking for the problem.

[tkoforpresident]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

don't give up brutha

[junbug8]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

The saga continues, lol. I performed a fuel pressure test today and everything checked out good, I believe.Turning the key to engine run, and letting the fuel pump run for the few seconds it does yielded 44-45#. After starting the engine the pressure dropped to around 41# and stayed constant during an entire warmup in idle of the engine. Increasing the throttle slowly yielded a constant 41#. If I revved it heavy, the pressure jumped up a few # but settled out around 41#. At the time of engine cutout, the pressure was constant until the engine died at which time the pressure fluctuated. That was after the engine started the sputtering and dying. I think the fuel pump is good. Anyone think different? I pulled the ICM(one of the few easy to remove parts I haven't had checked or replaced yet) and am going to have the advance or autozone check it out. Again and always until I get it fixed, if anyone has other ideas I am more than appreciative of them. Thanks.

[junbug8]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

An addition to the above. Autozone tested the ICM(I had them run it through the test 6 times) and it checked out good. Not really sure where to go now other than pulling the top end of the engine off and checking gaskets. If anyone has other ideas before I get to that point, please let me know. Thanks.

[Blizzard242]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

Was there anything done to check the map sensor?

[junbug8]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

Was there anything done to check the map sensor?

No, I haven't done anything with that yet, though I am doubting it would have the effect on the engine like I am experiencing. Today I am going to pull the camshaft pos. sensor and have autozone check it out. By their website, they are supposed to have a test for it. The part description of it states that on failure, the pcm basically guestimates where it's position is and brings fuel and spark to the cylinders based on that. As I have already pulled the ICM, the cam sensor is right there for removal. We will see how this goes, but right now I am not too excited about it being the answer.

[Blizzard242]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

No, I haven't done anything with that yet, though I am doubting it would have the effect on the engine like I am experiencing.

How do you think the ECM knows how much fuel to give your cylinders?

[tkoforpresident]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

i was reading the haynes manual, and i forget what it said about the MAP sensor, but i remember thinking after reading about it "this things pretty friggin important"

[junbug8]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

How do you think the ECM knows how much fuel to give your cylinders?

Wouldn't that also have a big effect on the idle quality as well? When the engine is idling, it sounds pretty good. Today I pulled the cam pos. sensor.It was a major pain in the a**, as I broke off the plastic tab the hold down bolt goes through and had to purchase the new one anyway. After breaking the tab off, the only way I could remove it was by prying with a screwdriver AND pulling the wires to it. At autozone, the part failed, BUT: I don't know if it failed 1. In the car, 2. Because of how it was removed(pulling the wires), or 3. Because the guy at autozone didn't look like he knew what he was doing in performing the test. I have the new one so we will see how it does in the car. Thanks for all of the replies so far on this. I will keep everyone posted about how things go.

[Blizzard242]

Re: need help. car is dead at the moment?

I'm not saying that the MAP sensor is completely inoperative. Just like coils it could act up at different ranges of rpms. This is not something I know positively about but it seems like a viable problem.
Hopefully the cps is the problem since you're going through the trouble to replace it. If it's not I wouldn't just ignore the map sensor.