Code 42 help!

[turbovanman²]

This is getting frustrating to say the least.

I previously had issues with the engine randomly stalling and sometimes would restart, sometimes not, the CEL light would flash and everything would click, finally got codes 42 and 53, had a bad computer, so replaced that and all was fine for a week or so and now its stalling again, it dies and the CEL comes on and then it catch's itself and off I go, today it died, clicking away, had to wait for 10 mins then fired up.

So far, figured out I am loosing power or the feed to the ASD relay which is why it dies then catch's, also explains the relay clicking. I ordered a new relay today, I tried a known good used one and barely made it home. So what does the computer do with the sense wire? I know its the power wire for the pump, coil etc so why do they call it the sense wire? Does the computer turn this on or simply monitors it?

[turbovanman²]

Thanks for the help, sheesh.

Changed the relay, cut out twice so its better. While changing the relay, I noticed the fuel pressure is lower and the needle is bouncing? Unplugged my inline pump and lost fuel pressure so I might have found it, the intank pump could be dead, so it might be overloading the relay. I might have time to play today.

[RoadWarrior222]

I seem to remember you were running a custom fuel filter now (or got confused with someone else) if it's very fine micron filtering it might be clogging quicker than you're used to... and either overworking your in tank pump or contributing to it's death. So I'd figure you should probably check/clean that while you're at it.

Guess it sounds like you were burning up the ASD contacts, and they got oxidised and glitchy.

Good luck in finally nailing it... (I don't have to remind you to be anal about cleaning the grounds just to make certain do I?)

[RoadWarrior222]

Just found out why it's quiet in here, bad news dude, code 42 is recently become symptomatic of a mutant strain of SBEC chicken AIDS and no-one else wants to catch it...

Just kidding, how's it going?

[turbovanman²]

Ordered a new stock pump from Global Automotive on Ebay, $21.95 shipped with a sock and install kit and lifetime warranty,

[turbovanman²]

Another update, its been ok for a few days then started getting worse again, so I unplugged the rear pump and it didn't do it again.

Today, went to install the new pump and of course, its the wrong friggin pump, I forget what they look like, its been awhile, the new pump has a flat bottom, old pump has a raised portion for the sock, so f*ck, I had to install a new 255 that I had kicking around for projects. I wanted to put a stock one in locally but they want $175? , my cost? So I'll get Global to sent me another pump and I'll remove the 255. I don't need 2x255 fuel pumps.

I'll report back as I put some miles on but so far, so good.

[turbovanman²]

Well my day from hell continues, started doing it the other day then today, almost left me stranded in rush hour traffic, managed to limp back to the shop, and now, its was happening every few minutes. Again, check power to the relay, good, checked the ECM relay control, appeared to be fine, scanned data and it was weird sometimes, but wouldn't cut out like before indicating a bad computer. It finally did its CEL flash and the relay stuttering-power was fine but the computer's signal was messed up, if I manually grounded the relay, it was ok. This is aggravating, So undid the chip extender and its fine, so called Aries_Turbo, we agreed to put the chip directly into the computer, and I rechecked powers and grounds to the SMEC, again, good. Drive home, didn't hiccup once so looks like my van, for some reason, doesn't like the Ostrich or chip extenders anymore?

[ShelGame]

Well my day from hell continues, started doing it the other day then today, almost left me stranded in rush hour traffic, managed to limp back to the shop, and now, its was happening every few minutes. Again, check power to the relay, good, checked the ECM relay control, appeared to be fine, scanned data and it was weird sometimes, but wouldn't cut out like before indicating a bad computer. It finally did its CEL flash and the relay stuttering-power was fine but the computer's signal was messed up, if I manually grounded the relay, it was ok. This is aggravating, So undid the chip extender and its fine, so called Aries_Turbo, we agreed to put the chip directly into the computer, and I rechecked powers and grounds to the SMEC, again, good. Drive home, didn't hiccup once so looks like my van, for some reason, doesn't like the Ostrich or chip extenders anymore?

I'm guessing the Ostrich and chip extenders don't like electrical noise...

[turbovanman²]

I'm guessing the Ostrich and chip extenders don't like electrical noise...

Well thinking back, it was doing the same on an 87Z I was tuning, didn't put 2 and 2 together until yesterday. Maybe they are getting damaged being under the hood?

What electrical noise? I had them inside the car on the Z. I started another thread asking if anyone else is having issues as this was also happening with the Ostrich.

So far so good, and I was stuck in traffic for an hour today, usually has me grimicing that its going to die,

[MiniMopar]

I assume this is your '89. The "sense" wire is there to check the output of the ASD relay. The SMEC knows that when the ASD relay is closed, it should see 12V there. If it goes away for any reason, it throws the code. Most of my experiences with code 42 had nothing to do with the ASD relay and everything to do with the power feeds that feed into it. That's why I made this page:

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/ele...tml#enginefeed

Looking at that diagram and the ones before it, a code 42 and an intermittent loss of power could be cause by:

- Bad ASD relay
- Bad J2 splice (there are sometimes more than one) or broken wire
- Bad ignition switch
- Bad connection in the bulkhead connector (if there is one)
- Bad J1 splice (at the fusible link)
- Bad fusible link
- Intermittent accessory connector
- Bad battery terminal or terminal connection

The other possibility is a short. One time I had the O2 heater feed, which comes off of Z1, brushing up against the swing valve. It would just occasionally touch, so it wouldn't blow the fusible link for the longest time. Eventually it did, though.

[turbovanman²]

Thanks Russ. The code 42 went away with the new computer.

So far, it hasn't skipped a beat, so I am going to email Craig at Moates and see what's up.