General running issue

Let me find out if a 1998 sensor is the same part number and if so, I'll send you one.

Ryan,
monsterpartsonline.com show's them as the same P/N.
Give me a couple of days and I will ship you one.
PM sent.
OOPS, AC Delco shows the 95 and 96 the same but later years as different.
Let me check with my local parts guy to make sure what I send you will work and not further screw up your readings.

Well one her way to work she called to tell me the car did the "dying thing" while driving, again. This time a little longer- a few seconds... Then it sputtered back on.

She just called me now. She went out to her car after work and it wont do anything. Power locks dont work. Wont start. Nadda.

This car does have an after market car starter someone installed. THe guy I bought it from said it didnt work anymore so we dont use that remote and I forgot about it.

Im thinking this thing may be the problem... Or part of it.

Im getting to car home tonight (if I can) and Im pulling that starter out and tossing it in the trash...

Make sure all of the important electrical connections are tight. This could be something as simple as a loose battery cable.

Ok.

I got up there. Opened the hood to check the battery voltage up front at the connection point. No voltage. I tried 5 different ground points, nadda.

I went back and tested at the battery. The voltage was "moving" all over from 12.26 to 11.8 volts constant movement.

I put the key in, jiggled it a little and tried. Started right up. The air conditioning system came on also. Car ran like poop and stalled. Started it again, same thing. I shut the A/C system off and car loped a bit, then evened out.

I drove it home without issue.

Its apparent at this junction its an accident waiting to happen so I wont let her drive it anymore until its fixed. Luckily the two times it died out were in a straight line on the highway, not in a turn or stopping motion...

Im baffled.

Im going to disconnect the wires running into the air compressor since its no longer needed. Might pull it off the car also. After that Im ripping that remote starter system out.

Remove the wiring to the Remote Starter for sure and check your wiring to the Alternator.
Make sure the large terminal is tight and the 3 prong connector is good, clean and making contact.
I also recently loosened the nut at the underhood connector where the alternator wire and battery wires come together and found corrosion between them.
Took them off and wire brushed and re-assembled just as preventive maintenance.
I've been experiencing low voltage at idle and am looking at all connections before I install an overdrive pulley on the alternator.

Will do.

Tonight I will probably get that compressor out. Got less than 45 mins daylight left

Ok I got the compressor out.

Someone before me disconnected it electrically. No wonder the rear shocks failed... Oh well those have been replaced some time ago.

Tomorrow morning Im diving into the remote starter mess. Im scared at what I might find. Being into Car Audio I know how some "installers" hack stuff up...

Im just going to wire it all up original. The ONLY thing I might do is to wire some resistors in to get rid of the chipped key issues.

You removed the Level Ride Compressor, Why.???
I know you said someone had already disconnected it, but why remove it. Are you going to replace it.?
Do you still have air shocks in the rear or did you do something different. A separate air supply, maybe.?

I replaced the shocks with stock replacements. Its a sealed system and I have the inflation adapter in the trunk. So no need for the compressor anyhow. Im guessing the check valve failed and that led to the ultimate demise of the rear shocks...

So I can now cross one possible culprit off my list of electrical demons...

Ryan from Ohio wrote:

Ok.

I got up there. Opened the hood to check the battery voltage up front at the connection point. No voltage. I tried 5 different ground points, nadda.

I went back and tested at the battery. The voltage was "moving" all over from 12.26 to 11.8 volts constant movement.

Stop, you don't need to be disconnecting any other non-related systems! If you had no voltage at the main "jump-start" connector under the hood, then the only things involved are the battery and cables.

If the voltage was moving around at the battery terminals, it sounds to me like you have loose/dirty side-terminals. These things are notorious for loose connections if they get removed/installed more than once.

Please remove the terminals and clean them if necessary. When re-torquing them, try to do it in a different position than they were, e.g. 7 o'clock instead of 5 o'clock. Also, check the other end of the ground cable where it attaches to the body. That's another distinct possibility. As we've found on this board before, people sometimes assume problems are complicated on modern, complicated cars, and then find that they've got a simple, classic problem...

"Good luck, Jim"

I was just having this discussion a few minutes ago.

The positive terminal has been replaced with a brass one for car audio by previous owner. Im going to Advance tomorrow morning to get the proper terminal. I will just replace both of them then.

The car has a brand new battery. The terminals are clean, no corrosion.

I intend to clean the connection point up front as mentioned. There is some corrosion up there but nothing major.

Will report back in the morning.

Ryan from Ohio wrote:

I was just having this discussion a few minutes ago.

The positive terminal has been replaced with a brass one for car audio by previous owner. Im going to Advance tomorrow morning to get the proper terminal. I will just replace both of them then.

The car has a brand new battery. The terminals are clean, no corrosion.

I intend to clean the connection point up front as mentioned. There is some corrosion up there but nothing major.

Will report back in the morning.

Just to clarify, the last thing I said was about the NEGative cable, where it attaches to the body in the back...

Eldo wrote:

Ryan from Ohio wrote:

I was just having this discussion a few minutes ago.

The positive terminal has been replaced with a brass one for car audio by previous owner. Im going to Advance tomorrow morning to get the proper terminal. I will just replace both of them then.

The car has a brand new battery. The terminals are clean, no corrosion.

I intend to clean the connection point up front as mentioned. There is some corrosion up there but nothing major.

Will report back in the morning.

Just to clarify, the last thing I said was about the NEGative cable, where it attaches to the body in the back...

But given the modifications to the positive terminal... you should triple check both!! Confirm voltage at the jump-start terminal under the hood. That will confirm the battery cable as well.

Thanks guys. I will inspect all four points. Remove, clean, reinstall.

Boy oh boy would it be nice if thats the real problem.

Ok its been a wicked day!

I replaced both batter terminals crews with proper replacements. I cleaned the positive terminal before putting the bolt in, slightly corroded. The ground wire was replaced at some point in time, visibly newer than the positive. The end where it bolts to the chassis ground was corroded. The paint was never taken off- so I took care of that. I also cleaned the connection point under the hood.

I used Dielectric grease on everything.

The car still had lope issues. I went under the hood and there it was. One of the vacuum lines to the bar sensor came off. Not a very tight fit either I might add, came loose over time. While putting it back in I seen yet another hose laying there... That went to the intake manifold...

The check engine light is still on and it still was running rich.

So I took it out to the shop for my free re-scan.

This time it came back as knock sensor0 p0325

So looks like Im in for a new knock sensor and everything "should" be golden after that.



Thanks for the help and advice guys!

Did they clear the code and light for you.?
It may have been an intermittent issue with the Knock Sensor.????? And is gone now.
There are more than one knock sensors on these engines, aren't there?????
Let me look in the FSM for that code and the knock sensors.
Ah, shit- all I have is the 98 manual, don't know how much difference there is.?

There is a front and rear knock sensor. I can't remember which is 0 and which is 1 though. Check for a disconnected wire! One of them is right above the starter...

The non supercharged engine only has one.

Ya he cleared it and it came on right after I started the car.

I checked the voltage and had 2.4V at the plug.

Couldnt really test the Ohms as its to far up and I couldnt get to it.

So the car is actually running okay now?
The battery cables took care of the electrical problems and the hoses took care of the lope, and you're just chasing rich codes?

Yes thats where Im at now!

Happy to be at this point also

Well had it replaced yesterday.

Service engine soon light still remains on.

Runs good, just rich according to mechanic. However we havent had it scanned again, yet.

Hopefully Saturday morning.

Ryan,
With all that you have gone through maybe a code reader or scanner of your own would be very helpful.

Ya Im thinking of picking up one of those cable deals off E bay.

Trouble is I live on the 2nd story and I dont have a laptop...

So who knows...