1998 Lumina not running good after tune up

[MAD King]

Hello,

I have some problems with my Lumina after we replaced the manifold intake gasket.
We were putting everthing together, replaced the spark plugs, spar wires, PCV, Sensor on the head.

My buddy was to lazy to take the battery cable away again to mount the power cable to the alternator and he came on a metal and it was like he was welding.
Now the engine is not running smoth, feels like it lost power or not running on all cylinder. Another thing is, when the wire or plug is on the sensor, the fans are not running, if we unplug it the fans starts. I also got a clicking under the dash when I push the brake pedal and the "Engine Service Soon" light is on.

I bought a error code reader and it shows following codes wich I have no idea how to solve it and what it all mean:

P0118
P0122
P0300
P0118 pq
P0300 pq
MIL ON
Monitrs
CatLyst
EVaP
02 Snsr
02 Htr
EGR
Misfire
FUEL
Comp

Thank you for any help

[Scrapper]

your saying it will start if you unplug your fans? if so does it run good or dose it still miss? if it's not missing when you do this unplug fan deal unpluging fans. my son had a lumina and it was in the coil pack he had to replace them a few times and it was bad on trannys to. anyway you need to take neg cable off while your working on moter. your codes can be thrown off if one sensor is bad so what i'm saying i don't think you have all those problems and you may have fried computer or your module under coil pack or fan module. what i would do is either stop at the zone or advaced or call them and see if they can tell you all the codes showed up. also if your planing on driving that car for awhile i'd buy a haynes manual at zone or advaced it sould have all the codes in it

good luck.......

[maxwedge]

What engine?

[Airjer_]

Are you sure you have the coolant temp sensor plugged in? If its a 3.1 its in the lower intake down by the T-stat housing

[kevinb70]

check your grounds, fusable links (near the starter.. near that, the A/C compressor diode), fuses, electrical connectors (taking note of anything that looks melted). and check to see what current draw is with key off.

i will have assumed you checked all these in advance before asking us?



it sounds like your car is running in open loop / limp home mode ... ecm dead or not getting enough power. or a sensor dead preventing closed loop. does autozone check the pcm?


clicking might be your abs module/relay. there is an abs diode i would be concerned with as diodes don't like reverse polarity that much. also another diode but htink its behind the instrument cluster

[ladagosta]

might sound nuts but check to make sure all the plug wires are snug in.. this happened once last year on same vehicle and it turned out that someone didnt snug up the wires on the plugs.. threw half of those codes and once the wires were snug it fired up fine.. but that will only resole about half those codes.. check your fuses as well ,, let us know what it ends up being the solution

[serge_saati]

It was the upper or lower intake gasket? Are you sure gasket was perfectly placed on the manifold? Cause if a gasket is 1/8" out, a lot of extra air come in and mixture is totally wrong. And run rough. Check if you don't have vacuum leak with a gauge to see if it was properly installed. So you don't need to remove everything and restart the work for nothing.

Or it may be the PCM, like other said. But I don't know what had caused that.

About the temp sensor, you mean that fan doesn't work and engine overheat at idle? Normally, fans activate at 220°F on this model.

About the short circuit on alternator, it should affect battery only; not alternator, since engine was off.

[MAD King]

Sorry guys, but I did not receive a email on any response on my thread.

Thank you for your help. I will answer the questions one by one.

(Please do not look to much on the grammar or spelling, because I am a German Man in America)

your saying it will start if you unplug your fans? if so does it run good or dose it still miss? if it's not missing when you do this unplug fan deal unpluging fans. my son had a lumina and it was in the coil pack he had to replace them a few times and it was bad on trannys to. anyway you need to take neg cable off while your working on moter. your codes can be thrown off if one sensor is bad so what i'm saying i don't think you have all those problems and you may have fried computer or your module under coil pack or fan module. what i would do is either stop at the zone or advaced or call them and see if they can tell you all the codes showed up. also if your planing on driving that car for awhile i'd buy a haynes manual at zone or advaced it sould have all the codes in it

good luck.......

You missunderstood the part with the fans. When I unplug it from the sensor, than they start. But when I drive in town it gets about to 210 degrees but no fans starting for cooling, so I turn the heater on to get a little bit from the hot out of the engine.

With the transmission everything is fine.

What engine?

3.1

Are you sure you have the coolant temp sensor plugged in? If its a 3.1 its in the lower intake down by the T-stat housing

Yes. It is brand new. Even the low level coolant sensor is replaced.

check your grounds, fusable links (near the starter.. near that, the A/C compressor diode), fuses, electrical connectors (taking note of anything that looks melted). and check to see what current draw is with key off.
i will have assumed you checked all these in advance before asking us?

Yes of course

it sounds like your car is running in open loop / limp home mode ... ecm dead or not getting enough power. or a sensor dead preventing closed loop. does autozone check the pcm?
clicking might be your abs module/relay. there is an abs diode i would be concerned with as diodes don't like reverse polarity that much. also another diode but htink its behind the instrument cluster

The clicking I was told by the unfriendly Chevrolet dealer near me that the clicking comes from the Shift Interlock Solenoid on the steering column and is normal on that car and if I want to replace it I have to buy the whole steering column because it does not come separately from the steering column !!!! Cost around $900

might sound nuts but check to make sure all the plug wires are snug in.. this happened once last year on same vehicle and it turned out that someone didnt snug up the wires on the plugs.. threw half of those codes and once the wires were snug it fired up fine.. but that will only resole about half those codes.. check your fuses as well ,, let us know what it ends up being the solution

Good hint!! I thought I am asking my neighbour, he is an electrician for brighthouse, if he could check the wires if there is power going through, and guess what? One of it did not work. Brand new for $40 at Autozone. But they are nice so I could replaced it and the engine runs perfekt now. And all codes are gone.

It was the upper or lower intake gasket? Are you sure gasket was perfectly placed on the manifold? Cause if a gasket is 1/8" out, a lot of extra air come in and mixture is totally wrong. And run rough. Check if you don't have vacuum leak with a gauge to see if it was properly installed. So you don't need to remove everything and restart the work for nothing.

Or it may be the PCM, like other said. But I don't know what had caused that.

About the temp sensor, you mean that fan doesn't work and engine overheat at idle? Normally, fans activate at 220°F on this model.

About the short circuit on alternator, it should affect battery only; not alternator, since engine was off.

Are you sure about the fans activating at 220°F ? The engine is not getting hot a lot. Quite opposite: It takes a while till it goes around 140°F but when I stay in traffic e.g. it gets hot and I can smell it almost that it is short before exploiding.

Is there a possibility to let the fans starts earlier?

Beside that. The Engine purrs like a cat now, except a few things.

I was unplugging by mistake this thing (see pic No 1), plugged it back together and since I can not shift anymore except I do a trick.

When I push this thing what it is connected to the thing I unplugged right under the steering wheel, I can shift.
The order is: Start the engine, pushing the brake pedal, push this little nipple lol, slightly to my site, hold it and shift. As long I do not put the shift stick in the park possition I can shift in any gear.

Please see pictures 2-5

How can I fix this without bying the whole steering column together with the servo assembly, axle, wheels, brakes morrors ? (joking)

Thank you very much

[serge_saati]

Originally Posted by MAD King

I was unplugging by mistake this thing (see pic No 1), plugged it back together and since I can not shift anymore except I do a trick.

When I push this thing what it is connected to the thing I unplugged right under the steering wheel, I can shift.
The order is: Start the engine, pushing the brake pedal, push this little nipple lol, slightly to my site, hold it and shift. As long I do not put the shift stick in the park possition I can shift in any gear.

Please see pictures 2-5

How can I fix this without bying the whole steering column together with the servo assembly, axle, wheels, brakes morrors ? (joking)

Thank you very much

This is the transmission range sensor cable. Your lever is on the steering column?
To repair it, place the gear selector at the position it was when you disconnect it. Then Connect it and tight it properly so that it stay in place when you shift gear. I don't know if there's a clip in this model or something else to hold it in place. When you shift, only the inner part should move, not outer.

About the cooling fan, I'm sure. I have a Cutlass Supreme with same engine (V6 3100). Water thermostat open fully at 195°F and right fan at 220°F. Then left fan at 230°F. It's even wrote in my service manual.

I know, GM makes a design mistake about it, but it's not very important. It's not a problem.
If you really want to let it run at lowest temp, you have 2 choices. You can start the A/C system. It'll run. Or you can replace the fan switch contact by a no OEM one. Example, the one of Ford. It'll run cooler.

Also, you can change your thermostat. Because it warms slowly. This is not normal.

[MAD King]

Thank you. I will try to fix it. Hope I can. Where can I tight the transmission range sensor cable?



Where do I find this fan switch contact? Is this the selling name? Because I can not find it on Autozone or Adcance.

Is it this?

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...&parentId=63-0

[serge_saati]

Oh I just check for this car. There's no radiator thermo contact in this car. The fan relay is controlled by the PCM. The PCM detects temp from the cooling temp sensor which you shouldn't change. So leave it like that.

For the TRS cable, check your 1st picture. You see a white clip at bottom. And you see a cavity in the black cable. I think the clip should go on the cavity to hold the black cable on a specific place. Probably in the cavity of the rusted metal just above the clip. I'm no very familiar with the TRS of this car.

[MAD King]

Need to ckeck on it if I have some for tighten where you think there should be one. Let you know. Thx.

[ladagosta]

MadKing I am right here with you mine is running fine after sitting for the winter. I knew the battery was shot after replacing the plugs and didnt want to deal with it during the colder months.. but now after replacing the battery she fires up fine ...
I have the same issue of overheating, although my fans are kicking in but it runs towards the hot side. I also turn the heater on to addly remove the heat out of the engine.. but still until i resolve this bubbling roll of fluid and resolve my speedo from not working... I will not run it more than 20 minutes.. not worth an engine ...
I am waiting to hear the resolve.. I was going to flush it today and replace the thermostat... but instead I removed the cluster to see if possibly it was a wire not the issue on the cluster causing teh speedo not to function..
I am still leaning toward it not being the thermostat.. ask me why.. IDK>>> but I am leaning towards it being the PCM or the TSS..but I think I already swapped the TSS so I am thinking on the lines of the PCM being faulty,,, anyone else want to jump in here.. did you check all 3 fuse panels.. 2 in engine compartment and one on passenger side of dash....where the door closes.. could be as simple as a fuse blown in one of the compartments.. anyway let us know what it turns out to be... I am gonna post on mine about the speedo and the overheating once i figure it out. and good luck..

[MAD King]

@ladagosta

I checked all fuses and replaced the one who was looking bad. I am not a professional mechanic, so that's why I am here, searching for answers and help from those experts here.


@serge_saati

I looked everywhere and touched everything but I could not find anything to tight it.The only thing I felt was this black round thing is getting extremly hot and after I pulled a little bit on the cable I can now shift without pushing the brake. Funny.

[serge_saati]

Ok, so the cable you showing is not the TRS cable. It's the park mechanism cable (pic 2). Now it seems fixed. You have also disabled your brake shift interlock mechanism (pic 1), but it's not important. The black thing.

Everything is now working?