GTS is experiencing....technical difficulties. :(

[Subliminal]

Hey guys,

So I drove my car home for lunch today, and she drove fine. Parked it, got outhad lunch, got back in, started it, and she started all lopey like. Like it was very out of tune. Anyway, I drive about a mile from my house, and then turn around and bring it back home and park it again.

It's very slow to rev and, like i said, it acts lopey like it's out of tune. Not quite like it's missing, but maybe. It even shut down on me one time, which felt like overboost shut down, but couldn't have been. I think the LM I'm using (GLHS Stage 2) has a 10 second delay for shutdown, and I hadn't had the gas down for more than 2 or 3 seconds at the time.

Any ideas of what could be wrong?

I looked under the hood for a detacthed vac line, pulled the intake tube off the turbo and stuck a finger in there to feel for looseness, checked all the wires I could see, and then jumped in the truck and came back to work.

I figure when I get home I'll pull the plugs and maybe give it a quick compression test. Hope I didn't kill a piston...that would be more work than I really want to do in my driveway this weekend. Head gasket wouldn't be too bad, but it didn't seem to be smoking any more than usual.

[The S is Silent]

Timing belt jump a tooth? Check your cam timing and ignition timing before anything. I don't know why they would all of a sudden jump out of whack, but I'm going to suggest this as a starting point.

[Subliminal]

Roger that. Will add that to the list.

The list of things to check so far includes:

Plugs
Compression
Timing

It does feel like it's out of time, but I don't know how it would have gotten there. Stupid gremlins..!

[turbovanman²]

I bet the belt did jump, if it was loose, the sudden tension of stopping and starting could have let it jump.

[Subliminal]

Nope, belt is nice and tight, and the plugs looked fine, and the compression was where it has been (between 95 and 110).

Not saying that's not crappy compression...lol..but it certainly isn't anything different than it was yesterday.

I also changed out the HEP and that made no difference. I feel like it isn't getting enough gas.

It also has an old school 1 wire o2 sensor. I'm thinking that it could be that or it could be the fuel filter...but i believe the filter at least to be semi new.

Man. Silly car, tricks are for kids.

[cordes]

No codes?

[Subliminal]

Haven't had a chance to check that yet. Lunch time, I'll check...

I get home at 4:30, I pop the hood, check a few things, the wife comes out and we argue over getting a new dog for 45 minutes. Now the light is fading and I have to run up the road to my cousin's house to borrow a compression checker. Talk for a few minutes about the rims he's polishing, look out the window and see it's darker than when i got there, so i run home. Get home, check 3 cylinders, and my neighbor comes over to BS. While we're talking, I check that last cylinder, then it's dark.

sigh...poor GTS. Now I'm back in the lightning gettting 13 mpg again...

[The S is Silent]

My horizon did this when I was in Illinois. I cruised into Joliet to go to the bestbuy there. On the way home, I was flooring it to maintain 65 mph on the highway. The car was absolutely gutless. I had no idea what was wrong...timing belt looked good to me. I couldn't figure it out, so I had a mechanic take a look at it.

It eneded up being the timing belt and jumped a tooth on the cam sprocket. Line up the marks and see if it's off.

How's the compression test look?

[Subliminal]

The timing looked good. I checked that.

The compression was kind of shitty, averaging 100 across the 4 cylinders...but it's been that way since I bought the car. That can't (I assume) account for the change yesterday.

It does feel like a car with the timing jacked up, though...

[ludwig340]

Did you check the logic module connectors when you were having trouble before (right after you bought it)? Check them, clean if necessary, plug/unplug...check all your grounds...do you have an A/F gauge on it?

[Subliminal]

No A/F. Haven't check the LM connectors. I will check those this weekend.

I didn't go home at lunch, I went and bought a dog. Sigh. Women...

Anyway, I don't have an A/F or a boost gauge on the car. i run what I brung, baby...

[ludwig340]

Well, hard to say, but sounds like O2 is a definite possibility. Good luck with it. Scrub those connectors well w/ contact cleaner if they don't look nice and clean - I had bad ones on both my H's (that both caused problems!).

[Subliminal]

Cool. Will do!

I bought my wife a puppy, so no work tonight...and it's supposed to be REALLY cold outside this weekend...oh well, soon.

[Subliminal]

Well, I changed out the fuel rail and injectors/rail harness/regulator. No luck

i checked/fixed the timing. No luck

Checked compression. Good enough

Checked for fuel. Lots.

Checked for Spark. Looked good.

Checked codes: Code 26, I believe, dealing with the injectors... Might have popped up when checking compression with injector harness unplugged

Checked connections at LM. They were fine.

At this point I'm really baffled. Anyone have any other ideas?

[looneytuner]

Check to see if shutter wheel is loose on plastic mount. It WILL run like sXXt if the plastic rivets have come loose. It is held to the plastic base by two melted "rivets". Since you are working out side, the repair is to take dist inside to warm up and use jb weld or fresh epoxy to tighten to attachment.

[Subliminal]

You mean the HEP?

I forgot to mention I switched that out too.

Sigh...I hate problems that are hard to diagnose!

Thanks for the ideas though...keep em coming if you have any more!

[Rattlesnake]

You mean the HEP?

I forgot to mention I switched that out too.

Sigh...I hate problems that are hard to diagnose!

Thanks for the ideas though...keep em coming if you have any more!

Check the brake booster and the one way valve, I had a similar problem and it was that the one way valve was defective, it was flowing both ways when I tested it. I put 2 in series to avoid any future problems. Desconnect the line to the brake booster and plug it and see how it runs. Also check all your vacuum lines.

Reinaldo Moloon

[looneytuner]

You mean the HEP?

I forgot to mention I switched that out too.

Sigh...I hate problems that are hard to diagnose!

Thanks for the ideas though...keep em coming if you have any more!

No, the shutter wheel is UNDER the HEP. The shutter is metal and the mounting on dist shaft is plastic. It comes as one unit with the dist shaft.
I got a TC for $1895 because it ran so bad. It was just the loose shutter wheel.
If it's loose the computer is hunting for tdc cause it's moving around.

[Subliminal]

No, the shutter wheel is UNDER the HEP. The shutter is metal and the mounting on dist shaft is plastic. It comes as one unit with the dist shaft.
I got a TC for $1895 because it ran so bad. It was just the loose shutter wheel.
If it's loose the computer is hunting for tdc cause it's moving around.

You know what. I was just driving back to work after lunch, thinking about what could be wrong with the car, and I actually realized that when I changed the HEP, I didn't check the shutter wheel underneath it. I need to do that when I get home. Thanks again for the suggestion! I'll report how that goes this evening. That would be sweet action...I have an extra dizzy or two around here somewhere.

[Subliminal]

Check the brake booster and the one way valve, I had a similar problem and it was that the one way valve was defective, it was flowing both ways when I tested it. I put 2 in series to avoid any future problems. Desconnect the line to the brake booster and plug it and see how it runs. Also check all your vacuum lines.

Reinaldo Moloon

I'll check that too. What do you mean with the 'one way valve' You mean the PCV on the back on the valve cover? If so, I checked that, and while i could blow through it both ways, one way was so close to closed that I figure it couldn't possibly matter. I mean, it was tight, but not 100% sealed.

d