Ok, so I have a 1993 RS/VL 2.2 manual transmission. The cat is new (February), starter is new (February), spark plugs (Saturday), and plug wires (Saturday) and I thought that the plugs and wires would solve my problem. But they haven't. Sometimes when I'm driving the car and am stopped, it starts to shake and act like it's going to stall out and die, but it doesn't. It just lacks serious power to move, but it still moves. I've posted this on another forum and no one has responded to it yet. So I'm trying here as well.
Thanks for all your help!
When was the last time you cleaned your fuel system (treatments in the gas tank dont count, you need to go through the vaccum lines with an airator drip system...) ...
if your fuel system has been cleaned w/in the last 20,000 miles, consider fuel injectors, or fuel pump (which is pain in the ass to replace (cut exhaust and drop tank) so this would be the last thing to consider)
also consider the Ignition Coils, and the EGR Valve/EGR purge solenoid,
ThaCensoredOne(XtrmeDelusions) wrote:When was the last time you cleaned your fuel system (treatments in the gas tank dont count, you need to go through the vaccum lines with an airator drip system...) ...
if your fuel system has been cleaned w/in the last 20,000 miles, consider fuel injectors, or fuel pump (which is pain in the ass to replace (cut exhaust and drop tank) so this would be the last thing to consider)
also consider the Ignition Coils, and the EGR Valve/EGR purge solenoid,
as far as i know the fuel system hasn't been cleaned. i have no maintenance records on this car other than the things i've done to it. the car sat for nearly 9 months before i bought it. i am going to test out the coils this weekend to see if that's the problem. my problem right now is i don't have the money to drop into it as far as a mechanic goes, but am willing to learn how to do this all myself. i had a 2.0 sohc sunbird before and this motor is new to me. hopefully it's just the coils. i really don't want to drop the fuel tank. if the coils check out ok i'll go to the egr valve/egr purge solenoid next and then to the fuel system. process of elimination........this is going to be a busy weekend.
thanks for your help!
I just did the EGR on mine a few months ago... it wasnt all that expensive IIRC.
but ya definitely do the coils first because coils start to fail intermittently.
And consider the fuel system cleaning. Find a place local that carries Wynn's products (in my opinion they have the best system cleaner, and all the dealerships in my area use em as well as few mom and pop mechanics shops) and let them do it (a reputable shop will charge between $70 - $110), i wouldnt recommend doing it yourself because it requires a special tool, and if you don't know what you are doing, you can easily hydra-lock your motor.
Ive gone to hell and back with that motor, and it can be a pain in the ass at times... if ya need anything else... feel free to pm me...
id pull the idle air controll motor out and clean the passage out and spray the plunger off. this gums up with carbon and restricts the airflow at idle, causing a low, rough idle
ok, well the check engine light came on this morning on my way to work so i'm going to stop off at autozone tonight on my way home and have them read the code for me. i'm meeting up with a fellow 2nd gen owner, from what i hear is well versed in the 2nd gens, on sunday. hopefully this little problem will be take care of then. from what i remember from my sunbird, the cavalier is acting the same way the sunbird did when the coils went out on it. hopefully the code doesn't clear while i'm at work today and i can get it read later this afternoon.
thanks for all your help guys! any other suggestions are welcome!
Even if it does clear... the freeze frame data should still be in there... i didn't know autozone could test ODB1 .. o.O
ThaCensoredOne(XtrmeDelusions) wrote:Even if it does clear... the freeze frame data should still be in there... i didn't know autozone could test ODB1 .. o.O
yep......as far as i know they can. i'll let you know what i find out tomorrow. what year did they switch to ODBII?? 1994?
some cars 96 ... but all cars from 97 on up
there are a lot of OBD 1.5 1996 vehicles (ODBII hook up... but its basically ODB 1) out there though... becomes a pain in the ass cause most people dont know why the scanner doesnt work on most 96 GM Vehicles
My Saturn was a 1996......had the ODBII reader inside the car below the steering column. The code will be read in about 2 hours, so, back to work I go.
well let me know what code it threw....
with a 2nd gen its easy to pull the codes. just take a paper clip and jump it from pin A to pin B. turn the key on and the ckeck engine light will flash the code. you will always have a code 12, its normal. it would flash once, pause, then flash twice. it will repeat that 2 more times (a total of 3 times) and then will move to the next code. here is the link to v6z24 were they have the full instructions
http://www.v6z24.com/howto/codes
sharkey wrote:with a 2nd gen its easy to pull the codes. just take a paper clip and jump it from pin A to pin B. turn the key on and the ckeck engine light will flash the code. you will always have a code 12, its normal. it would flash once, pause, then flash twice. it will repeat that 2 more times (a total of 3 times) and then will move to the next code. here is the link to v6z24 were they have the full instructions http://www.v6z24.com/howto/codes
yeah, i'm part of that site too. and like i said in my post on there, andrewz24 and i are going to get together sunday to take a look at it. it'll be parked from the time i leave work today until sunday since i don't have any plans this weekend and am trying to save money.
i didn't get the code read last night. i got a phone call yesterday afternoon about a job offer and i had a wake to go to for a friend & co-worker that died yesterday at 1am. it's been a busy week and i hope i get this all taken care of before i head to vegas for a few days.
i have a v6 account too... my BMW headlight swap how/to is stickied in appearance...
but due to lack of time and that my 93 is sitting in the driveway waiting for me to finish the body work... and that i've received more technical support for the 2.2 here... and more custom body support for the car there... i havent really posted in forever.
ive been working on my 2000 Z a lot more recently too..
as of now i barely have time to run my own site... www.j-body.tk ...
ok, so andrew came over yesterday and we ran the codes, he said the car is running rich. he said with the code it's giving and the way it's acting, we took it for a little test drive, that it's probably the knock sensor or the ignition module. he suggested changing the knock sensor first #1 since it's the cheaper of the parts and #2 it'll more than likely solve the problem. i'm also going to replace the drive belt. if the knock sensor doesn't fix it, i'll head out to buckner and help him replace the ignition module. fun fun!
sounds like a plan... let me know what happens
ok, so autozone's online "repair" manual says that "this motor doesn't have a knock sensor"......yeah, ok, so i'm going to check the REAL repair manual later today. i don't know why thye bother with that crap, they're usually wrong anyway. and just what i wanted to do......90+ degrees outside all week this week, 90+ % humidity, and no garage to work on the car in........
my friends are going to think i'm crazy for doing this, but i don't care........it needs to get fixed. i'll keep ya updated
**UPDATE**
did some checking around and confirmed that this motor does not have the knock sensor. for some bizarre reason, gm switched it up and put the knock sensor on some but not others. so, mine doens't have one. i'm meeting with andrew on sunday to put the new ignition module on.
thats interesting to not have a knock sensor.. yay GM ... not... =P
imma go look on Alldata in a little bit to verify that myself...
yeah, i thought so too. apparently gm decided in the middle of the 2nd gens to do away with the knock sensor. and those were my exact same thoughts about gm doing that.....although i had a few more choice words
well good luck with the coils... they are located directly on the back of the engine, and not the funnest (though its not all that hard) swap to do...
ThaCensoredOne(XtrmeDelusions) wrote:well good luck with the coils... they are located directly on the back of the engine, and not the funnest (though its not all that hard) swap to do...
hmmmm, kinda like they did with the saturn......coil on the back side of the motor.....very hard to get to. and not to mention the alternator on those as well. anyway, i don't mind it, but with the 8 legged creepy things my friends and i found in there when we changed the plugs and wires, i'm not so sure i'll be sticking my bare hand on the back side of the motor to change the coils. i'll have gloves on.
thats interesting how the 1.9 twin cam (saturn) has a different ignition setup from the 2.2 Twin Cam (Pre-Ecotec Saturn Ion (pre 2002) but the EXACT same engine as the Eco), 2.3 Twin Cam (Quad 4), & the 2.4 Twin Cam (LD9) ... on all three motors the coil is right above the plug with about an inch gap for a boot to bridge the two together...
OFF TOPIC: im extremely pissed at myself right now... i snapped a fuel injector in the process of swapping over my oil/air separator on my 2.4 ... i gotta wait over night to get my new one and drive again cause no one had one locally today...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:41 PM
so update????
did swapping the coils help??
