1997 geo metro running problems

for all of you out there searching for the answer that has vexed us concerning this stop running problem, STOP! does anyone out there know how to pull up a technical seervice bulletin? i have found one that took about two hours to find but seems to hold promise. it is listed as tsb#04-07-30-013 "air filter-ses lamp on/multiple driveability concerns". if anyone can get a hold of this i would love to get a hold of it myself. if not, then i should have a copy of it within 24 hours. cross your fingers. :banghead:

Did you get it?

no! as a matter of fact, that site misleads you. when you type in tsb's for the 97 metro, a whole list comes up under that name but you can't access them until youpay 25.00 for the info. i paid the money, went back to the site and found out that the tsb was for the 03-05 hummers. there are only two that actually relate to the metro. lesson; go to the ntsb government site and check out tsb's. they are more straight forward with stuff. are you having problems with your metro? i have fixed some of mine (with no help from alldata) and at least no longer have the ses lamp on when i run it. i still have a problem with shut downs when it is warm. check out the thread i have on heat stressed part.

are you having problems with your metro?

Yes sir, I am having problems with my Metro.
Hope someone is still looking at this thread!
Specs: 97 3cyl 5-spd 130k miles on original engine @ tranny. Just starting this week, the idle is off. starts good, idles high for a bit, slows down to almost ideal, then revs back up a ways, and continues this pattern.
Previous work done: new exhaust from the headers to the tailpipe, done in May. After that, I got an intermittent heck engine light, and the code had something to do with the EGR. Haven't done anything with it, because I'm no mechanic, and I got raped on the exhaust work (@*&$!*$) I owned a 92 with the same engine, and sold it to a brother-in-law who did some work on the valves and head, or something. If I know what I'm talking about when I find a good shop, I think things will go over well.

Thanks!!!

Well, i'll toss a few "try it out" things out on the table. Cause i'm not super-familiar with the workings of the newer metros. First, is there any oil built up on the intake temp sensor? perhaps from a bad PCV valve? Also, the repair manual should give you a process to test the intake temp sensor. Probably suspending the sensor in warm to hot water, and taking a resistance reading at X temperature. If the sensor is working, you won't get a check engine code. The engine doesn't know it's malfunctioning if it's output is within range, even though it's way off.

"I got an intermittent heck engine light, and the code had something to do with the EGR"
There's a hint. If the EGR is malfunctioning the ECU is getting mixed signals and it could cause the eingine to "hunt" during idle.

had sort of same problem with a 92 metro, idle would run up and down by itself for about 3 minutes. turned out to be sensor in side of throttle body that measures water temp. replaced it and seems to have fixed the problem

Thanks for your replies everyone, I will have these issues checked out.

It definately sounds like a sensor problem. If the engine idles correctly without stumbling or anything, just surging up and down at idle, then it sounds like the engine is running fine, but the ECU is changing the fuel input to compensate for what it sees as lean condition due to faulty sensor data. I'd check the O2 sensor, as well as the water temp sensor and intake temperature sensor. Any competent shop could hook your car up to an OBDII compatible scanner and see real time graphs of your sensor data. I'd guess that if you looked at the short term fuel trim, it would be spiking up and down. This is usually caused by a bad O2 sensor or O2 sensor wiring, in my experience. Just another thing to check.

For what it's worth, you can get a scanner that allows you to interface your car with a laptop from autoenginuity or scantool.net for relatively cheap. I've found my scanner to be an invaluable tool in tracking down sensor problems, as you can see all the data that the ECU gets from the sensors. The autoenguity version comes free with SpeedTracer software that allows you to do fun stuff like quarter mile and 0-60 times with any OBDII compliant (96-2004) vehicle.