jjsjak

Hey guys, this car is giving me a headache. Great running until a month ago. On interstate at 62 mph, I took of ramp and reduced speed to 35. Car started to stumble, check engine light came on and quit.had the car towed home. Tried to start and it ran at an idle. Gave it some throttle and it quit. Figured it was the fuel pump so installed a new pump with all the components including a new fuel filter. Started the car up and it ran at idle only. Died when I put on some throttle. Installed a new O2 sensor. Same problem. It was starting OK when first turning on the ignition, and as I said it would only idle kind of rough. Now when I try to start it, it has strong gas odor and will not start. Pulled some plugs and noticed that there was an oily appearance but also smelled of gas. Definately flooding. This car only has 90000 miles and the engine does not burn any oil. The oil is always very clean. Its got to be something very simple that I am not aware of. I am not a mechanic, but am able to do some minor repairs. As it stands now, I realize that I may have to have the car towed to a shop to get the codes read. I can only afford about five hundred dollars. What do you guys think. I am a senior citizen on very limited income. Desperately need help.

PeteCal

Well, I have a 1984 Chevy Celebrity. It has a carburetor so I don't have any experience with the FI. I do have a whole list of links that I have used to maintain my Chevy. They are listed below. Most important, your computer is what they call OBDI (On Board Diagnostics #1) and can be read out with out any extra equipment. Some of the links describe how to just jumper the two terminals of the connector under the steering column and read the codes. Some of the lists of codes disagree with each other so you sort of have to use all the lists at the same time and decide which might be applicable to your car.

By far and away, the AutoZone site is the best. Put in your make, model, engine, etc. Go to the repair guides. Great descriptions of all the systems in the car. Full wiring diagrams. Check the "Drivability & Emissions" section. There is even a set of 35 flow charts to follow based on what error codes you read out of the computer. I found the AutoZone instructions for reading the computer to be a little confusing so I used some of the other sites to better understand the process. Then I returned to the AutoZone site to follow the error codes.

Some of the links have all kinds of cautions about starting and running with the jumper in place. That is bunk, the trouble shooting charts have you doing various combinations of that all the time. The computer is programmed to do certain things depending on whether you jumper before start or after.

I had stumbling, stalling problems, etc. I used the trouble charts to find three broken hoses, one crushed one, and stuff out of adjustment. It helped a lot but still a little hesitation. After a few weeks time, most of that has cleared up and the car runs pretty good.

Here are the links I used:

http://www1.autozone.com/servlet/UiB...ginRepairGuide

http://www.troublecodes.net/GM/

http://www.4chevy.com/troubleshooting.htm

http://www.mkiv.com/techarticles/eng...bd1_codes.html

http://www.seanster.com/scantool/gm_codes.html

http://www.seanster.com/scantool/ecm-codes.html


Hope this helps.

Pete.

__________________
1999 Econoline 150
2005 Matrix (daughter)
2005 Elantra (son)
2007 Tucson (wife)

"I am not going to live long enough to do all I want to do"