Grand Am Idle/ Trans

Great Forum
I have a 99 Grandam 3.4 auto. I had the check engine light come on in Dec. 06 and the trans starte shifting hard. Into drive and reverse. Only when car is warmed up. Also will not idle in park or neutral. Bounces from 400-1000rpm. and stalls sometimes. I had the codes pulled, and they are P0101, and P1404. I have tried different EGR valve. Cleaned the Idle air control and the throttle body. Replace Pcv valve. Any help in which direction to look would be great. thanks

p0101 may be then Mass airflow Sensor crapping out. Check the wires to to ensure they are making a good connection and are not damaged. The p1404 (EGR stuck open) since you R/R'd the valve, did you use a known good one and what happened when you tryed it? Did you clear the codes after you replaced it? you may need to drive the car a bit for the ECM to run several "tests" of the EGR circuit.

I tried to clear the codes by pumping the gas 3 times key on then off and back on. Don't have the scanner. Had Auto zone pull the codes. I believe the EGR Valve was a good one. Not 100%. Any idea if either one of these problems, could affect shifting??
I did notice that the idle is smooth with the pcv valve vacuum line disconnected. On the High side 1000rpm or so. but smooth.

Ok, Have a parts car so I tried a few things. I installed antoher map sensor, noticed one off parts car had GM on it and Mine did not?? Installed another Idle control vavle (cleaned it first) Check wires and connection on the mass air flow sensor. Still Check engine light, still surges. I also made all these changes with the battery disconnected for and hour +, not sure it that would reset the PCM?? Have a call in to see if parts are compatible. They off of an older 3.1 v6 and I have 3.4 v6. That is all so far. Driving me nuts. Car runs great other than surge and banging into gear. No missing sputtering etc...
Just surges to the point of dying at idle in park or N. Notice a little in gear but much more stable in Drive.

try it with it in park, and have the AC off.... check if it almost dies or does die

then turn on the AC and the engine idle will smooth out


thats what mine does at least.. when I start it I gotta put a little bit on the gas pedal to open up the throttle body... my IAC motor is pretty clean tho and so is the throttle body :dunno:

Sounds like a bad vacum leak. :grinyes:

Those 3.1 parts probly wont work right anyway.

You will need a scann tool to clear the EGR code.
Definatly since you replaced it.

and Welcome to AF kawyboy.

I thought vacuum leak, but why does it smooth out if I pull off a vacuum line?? Will have to get my hands on a scan tool and try resetting the PCM. No other way to do it??? Any special way to do it ??with the scan tool I mean??

I thought vacuum leak, but why does it smooth out if I pull off a vacuum line?? Will have to get my hands on a scan tool and try resetting the PCM. No other way to do it??? Any special way to do it ??with the scan tool I mean?? kinda sounds like the IAC is not functioning...

To clear the codes with the scanner you just clear the DTC's stored from errors.

It's So easy even a caveman could do it :D

Update:
I purchased a scanner today from my Matco dealer. Reset the MIL and let it run for about 30 mins or so. No MIL and no Banging when in and out of drive or reverse. Will See how it goes for a few days. Hopefully the EGR was the problem and all will be fine now. Thanks for the input guys.
Also anyone have any Idea why the trans would shift funny because of an Idle issue??

Vacuume leak?

ya a leak :uhoh:
should have been,
faulty emission or engine control systems :p

:lol: