Well heres the run down lol....im new ive never had to actually ask for help i was always able to find the info i needed because most of my questions were already asked on here...but not this one i guess :\

I ve been doing work on cars since i was 12 so almost 10 years now ive been doing work on my cars or cars in family....also worked the past 2 years as mechanic....this one is a doozie....

Well first of all i was bangin gears in the 1996 sunfire and what would you know i hit second and SLOP in the shifter so i get it home wait about a week after tearing it apart and reading here about what to do with 3rd is the only gear you have.....so get the cables get it together in about 40 min and im ready to go....well i didnt test drive it for 2 days because i didnt have time and i get in and i notice as i pull out, i dont have anything on my speedometer....after poking around i see that i broke a wire on what im assuming is speed output next to where you service fill the izusu transmission. Well again it sat for another 2 days when i needed to go to pittsburgh (about 30 miles or so); and all was good im comfortable with speed just by watching RPMS since ive owned the car about 2 years. im about 3/4 the way to the new casino and Blip the *CHECK ENGINE* pops on....first ever this has ever happened to me in this car after 2 years....hrm no big deal must just be that out speed sensor short or something.....i get closer to town when i push in the clutch and the engine would stall while i was rolling....hrm thats something that happens when the map sensor is messing up.... whatever i get there and get home...next morning im under the hood and repaired the broken wire on transmission sensor that must have ripped as i pulled the cables through the car..... i get that all patched up and still nothing....i took it to get the codes read and there was 5 WTF?! So in order Map sensor low voltage IAT low voltage cam sensor low voltage VSS no signal maybe? and Idle higher than requested..... WOW thats alot for never having any codes! i change out a pair of shift cables and it went to S#(*$& really fast this is the first time ever ive ever had anything like this happen...i didnt even touch any of those except the IAT. Ive done like 5 or 6 lower intake leaks on 3.4s and 2 more on 3.8's where you manhandle the engine harness like a mad man and it never turned out like this.....



at the moment its not stalling while driving after pushing in clutch but i still have no speed, the CEL is on and im sooooo soooo lost on what could have happend...im at the point where i jsut want to replace the computer. i tore everything back apart (took the airbox out back to where i had it with the cables) everything is plugged in that i touched and im just really really p'oed.....


any ideas

sorry for typing so much i just wanted to be thorough


please help i absolutely love this car and dont want to get rid of it....
is there maybe a ground or something that could have got snipped as well..or maybe i shorted the computer..... at this point im so busy with school work i cant just dedicate the whole day to solve nothing i did what i can today..
let me know what you all think!

I know you did it already, but my best suggestion is to retrace your path again and see if maybe something was missed somewhere.

why was the VSS wire cut? I doubt that breaking a cable would rip that wire out... did you drive through bushes or something?
did you rip the cables out when you removed them? I know getting them out from under the hood is a bit of a bitch sometimes.. maybe the cable end grabbed and ripped something when they were coming out?


the codes are pointing you at those sensors.. they have to have something in common for them to all fail like that at the same time.
do you have a wiring diagram to go by to see what they all have in common?

did you mix up the plugs?
check fuses?

electrical problems are the worst.

if you're still stuck, sign up for www.alldatadiy.com for your car and go thru the information there.. its like a shop manual basically but its helped me out numerous times when I was rebuilding my 2002 and for troubleshooting a few friends' cars. its $15 for a year subscription, has pictures, part numbers, diagrams, everything.

thanks for the reply you are the only one haha but what i meant by cut is that when i was pulling the cables through i was being impatient and using my weight and that HAD to be when this broke because i was very careful to put it back together to make sure i didnt miss anything so i didnt have to take it back apart....failed....i didnt notice (i think its a purple lead) was broken off just right against the plug so everything still looked hooked up until I went looking around with a flashlight....its been like 4 days now after i cleared the codes and the CEL light is back on so.... i do have a haynes book even though the wire diagrams are vague and not every thing is covered... its just im so crunched for time...i think tomorrow morning im gonna take it to the garge with the lift and see if i can see anything from underneath.....thanks for your input....will keep updated just because i hate posts that just STOP and everyone else seems to just forget about what was going on....i know i screwed up...just glad it wasnt a customers car when i was in that line of work! this is definitely a first....im a clutz with my own stuff lol....

I would fix the VSS first. Since you obviously know that's a problem. I had my VSS unhooked before and it would stall once in a while when hitting the clutch. WIth it hooked up you notice that your engine idle will stay up until the car comes to a stop. It's not trying to hold the idle up and just stalling out since it already sees 0mph for the speed.

Once you fix that, see how it goes. I had a broken wire for my IAT and had 14 codes come up in the tool. For some reason, one sensor being gone will make the computer freak out and start tossing out codes.





i find it amusing that SHOoff has nothing better to do but follow me around & be an unhelpful dick in even cross-forum. - Jon Mick

wow 14 codes thats nuts i dont know what id do! lol I checked it out over the weekend and tore the harness out and relized i had no voltage still at the VSS (this was before i saw your comment SHOoff) and so i tried everthing

...well it turns out i broke it from the inside out if that makes any sense so theres voltage all the way to the plug but not at the leads on the plug...kinda wild.....never thought id ever see that! guess i pulled like rediculous amount on those cables

so after a bunch of headaches....and some research it shows that vss is a CAN OF DAMN WORMS! just like your IAT holy cow all kinds of fun stuff has happend in the mean time...

.. The pigtail comes in tomorrow its been like 2 weeks with no jbody driving so im excited to HOPEFULLY have everything work again...and even though no oddometer is kinda cool so i can lie to myself later and say wow it only has 120XXX miles still lol its harder than i thought driving without a speedo!

Illl keep the followers of this post updated! thank you for all the helP!

P.s. to DaFlyinSkwirl

the entire time i was underneath it on the weekend...lol the only thing i could think if is how you said did i hit some bushes or something lol it just kept making me laugh lol

LONG story short.....i got the vss permanently fixed by buying a new connector.... kinda pricey if you ask me at 36.66 acdelco pt120..... and boom everything was back....apprently i had voltage in the wires for the vss but not at the plug and that little sensor caused a lot of issues! everything is back and running and its better than ever i just wanted to make this complete so incase someone else has this issue they have some idea what to do!