Originally Posted by sofakingdom

Do that NOT by looking at some "number", but rather, PUT IT WHERE THE CAR RUNS THE BEST. Don't fixate on the "number", not least because, it's almost certainly WRONG.

A certain GOAT in a completely unrelated field said something one time when someone asked him something about "how can you tell whether it's good or not". His answer, had he been working on cars, would have been:

"If it RUNS good, it IS good."

How simple is that? The keys to HEAVEN, right there in 7 easy words. The procedure to get there is simple:

Get in your car. Drive it. Measure how well it runs somehow; could be a stopwatch on how it accelerates up your favorite uphill freeway ramp, could be your ET at the track, could be your butt dyno, could be ... ANYTHING that's important to YOU. Once you get that "baseline", get out of the car and adjust it. Make sure you adjust it A WHOLE BUNCH. I'd suggest starting out in the direction that advances it (no idea which way you turn the dist on a 6-cyl to accomplish that butt I'm sure somebody can tell you). Run the same test under the same conditions, near as possible. Does it run better? or worse? OK: better: adjust it some more the same way. Worse? adjust it back, and then some more. OK: Better / worse? and so on. Keep doing it until the car runs as good as you can possibly get it to run, as far as that particular adjustment is concerned. Then, once it's there, it's as good as it can be, no?

"If it RUNS good, it IS good." Don't outsmart yourself over some "spec" out of "book". You don't have to be a slave to that.

The car should idle at round 600 - 700 RPM or thereabouts, like EVERY OTHER car on the planet, as indicated on a piece of REAL test equipment. NOT the wavy-pointer "trim package" the factory put in the dash (or not? we are talking about a 6-cyl car after all) to make it "feel" "sporty" even if it's only a 6-cyl. 1000 is WWWWWWWAAYYYYYYYY too high.



Almost certainly a cylinder that isn't firing. That's about the only way for raw fuel to come out the exhaust.

THIMK for a minute about how the ECM works. It uses the O2 sensor to monitor the exhaust, and then, based on how much O2 - OXYGEN - it sees in the exhaust stream, adds or removes fuel from whatever it would otherwise feed under the circumstances. THIMK CAREFULLY! it's an OXYGEN sensor; NOT a "mixture" sensor, NOT a "rich/lean" sensor, NOT a "fuel in the exhaust" sensor. It is a sensor for ONE THING and ONE THING ONLY: OXYGEN. So, THIMK what happens if a cyl misfires. It dumps a load of raw unburned fuel into the exhaust, which YOU smell, but the O2 sensor DOES NOT; and it ALSO dumps a full load of OXYGEN into the exhaust (since it wasn't consumed by burning some fuel), which IT smells but YOU DO NOT. Which means, paradoxically, that YOU smell fuel, but the ECM is busy dumping in MORE fuel, because IT smells OXYGEN. Its "nose" (the O2 sen-sore) CAN'T smell fuel; only OXYGEN.

Fix the misfire. Yes, you have one, whether you realize it or not, whether you like the idea or not, etc. THEN, get the idle speed under control.



1. No
2. No



Clearing a "timing" problem is EEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZYYYY. See AND FOLLOW the above advice, BEFORE posting more about it or arguing pointlessly. Using a timing light and all that crap is WRONG for this: mostly because, the "mark" system on the engine, is NEVER right. But also, because the factory's "spec" is based on emissions, CAFE, compatibility with the fuel that the car was expected to be fed 30 yrs ago (not the same as today's), emissions, CAFE, complaints from grandma about NVH, emissions, ability to run in every climate from Yellowknife to Miami to Phoenix to NYC, emissions, ability to run at every altitude from Death Valley to Vail Pass, emissions, and ... oh, sorry, I forgot to mention, the single biggest determinant of the factory's "setting" was, EMISSIONS. That was (by LAW) the single biggest concern they had to deal with; without that being in line, they couldn't offer the car for sale to the public. Has NOTHING to do with "right", "ideal", "runs the best" (see the above quote paraphrase), fuel consumption, or ANYTHING ELSE. their concern was EMISSIONS.

For the IAC, once you get the misfire taken care of, follow the minimum air procedure, which is how you adjust the "at rest" throttle opening to a point at which the IAC is within its "expected" range.

Originally Posted by Tuned Performance

You might look at ect reading and iac steps cold start. Have you cleaned the tank vent valve ?

Originally Posted by KITT87

I think renting a scan tool from O’Riley’s is the next step. I know to look at the IAC steps and ect reading, but is there anything else you would suggest specifically looking at/checking for?

Originally Posted by blacksunshine'91

Instead of renting the scanner from the parts store, I would recommend just buying the cable to connect your laptop to the ALDL port. Download TunerPro and record what your car is seeing. That way you aren't guessing or assuming. You see what the car does. It will be way more helpful now and in the future than borrowing a scanner.

Originally Posted by KITT87

Sounds like a good idea. Looks like there’s a few different cable options, do you have a specific one you recommend? Might take me a second to purchase it

Originally Posted by KITT87

Well, on the way home from the hospital I notice the engine doesn’t feel like it’s accelerating correctly and the pump is whining super loud. I pull off an exit and boom, car gets super splotchy and running awfully. Pump doesn’t prime when the key is turned on. Seems to cut on randomly whining really loud then back off.

So I think the pump is bad.