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Maintenance & Repair Idle or Stalling Problems - All Vehicles
446 messages, Last post on Jul 28, 2009 at 4:58 PM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
Sorry for the long post but I think the history might be important. It's a '99 Forester L with 176k miles on it. Here goes: A year ago the car started hesitating during acceleration and chk engine light came on, diag. said "misfire #3 cylinder". We replaced the plugs and wires, plug tips were black and engine ran perfect. This happened 2 more times in the span of a year and each time we replaced the plugs and wires and then it ran fine. The 3rd time however a few weeks after we replaced the plugs and wires the chk engine light remained on and I noticed one week that I had suddenly lost 100 miles per tank in mileage. Yes, I'm an anal engineer who calculates each tank:blush: . So I took it to the dealer and the computer read "bad air sensor and cat. converter not running at peak" or something like that:). I bought the sensor from the dealer and replaced it at home but forgot to disconnect the battery to reset the computer. The car immediately died after starting with the new sensor. We put the old sensor in and it ran fine. The next day we disconnected the battery, replaced the sensor and again it died, it would accelerate ok but as soon as you let it idle it died. So maybe a bad air sensor? We put the old one back in and this time it ran a bit rough while idling. So ordered another new sensor, disconnected the battery, replaced it and the car did the same thing. We put the old sensor back in and the car would idle for a minute then die, accelerating was fine till you let your foot off the gas. We gave up and brought it to a mechanic and he found a clogged cat. converter, it was glowing red right near the oxygen sensor. He cleared out the clog, ran it and it didn't immediately die but would die after 5-10 minutes of idling. He spent a week running it off and on to try and get a code and nothing came up. He replaced the oxygen sensor and still nothing came up. His thought is that the computer might need to be replaced? Any thoughts? I'm also trying to sell the car so really want to keep the repair cost down but would obviously don't want to sell a  !!
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Replying to: bearfuss (Jan 25, 2006 8:52 am) |
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Replying to: svmaine (Jan 27, 2006 5:54 am)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jan 29, 2006 2:50 pm)  , so I can only hope the problem is as simple as that. The strange thing is that it's not giving any codes at all, that's why he was thinking it might be the computer. Someone else suggested that the computer could be reprogammed? I just hope we find something else first.
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Replying to: svmaine (Jan 30, 2006 6:04 am) I don't wish to alarm you but from what you are telling me, your mechanic makes no sense...or you might have left out a few things? Exhaust systems don't "clog" (EGR valves do, however, so maybe that was it?) and timing belts can't really be "off"---your car would barely run, and then only enough to let the valves smash into the pistons. I dunno...from what you've said I don't have faith in this guy...
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My local Nissan dealer offers a pressurized fuel injector cleaning service for a special price of $60. Sounds good for my 76K Maxima but can anyone suggest what this procedure involves and does it do any good or will it cause any leaks instead? Thanks
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Replying to: dmaljunk (Jan 30, 2006 11:58 am)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jan 30, 2006 12:15 pm) Thanks
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Replying to: dmaljunk (Jan 31, 2006 8:49 am) |
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(I have also posted this message in Electric Gremlins) I'm a frequent poster on Edmunds, but have never had one as crazy as this. My car's check engine light came on a few days ago. The car ran well enough with it on for a few days. The light even went off briefly. However, this morning, the light had returned, and the car refused to shift out of first gear. Additionally, the input to the pedal did not directly correlate with the motor's reaction. Strangest was my fuel gauge, which now randomly meanders between 1/2 tank and empty and settles for awhile before wandering again (I have a little bit less than a half tank remaining). I took it to a local auto parts store where they ran the trouble codes. TPS was listed as one of the codes, and so I replaced it. The car now idles well enough, but still refuses to shift out of first, and the TPS trouble code refuses to be erased when clearing codes with the OBD II. The clearing of the codes appears to have settled my idle, and replacing the TPS has made my pedal input better correlate with the motor's reaction. Additionally, the fuel gauge problem appears to have righted itself, but the car still won't shift out of first. My friend suspects the problem lies in my Electronic Control Module, but he admits he doesn't know GMs all that well. I have the following questions: - Does anyone else think this is the likely culprit? - Would a repair shop be able to use their Snap-On Diagnostics to better pinpoint the problem? - Is there any sort of traceable relay that might be fouled between the computer and the transmission? - How likely is it that the problem resides in the transmission (I had it flushed a little more than a year ago)? I appreciate any thoughts on what's ailing my car. Thanks. |
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Maintenance & Repair Idle or Stalling Problems - All Vehicles
