throwin codes

[IndianaVX]

well,
i kinda expected to have to shake some things out after i got the truck back, and i am.........
the truck did run better after getting the egr hooked back up, but it is still lacking that definate punch when giving gas, and the airbox sound is alot louder than i remember.........

i have not ever thrown a code since ive owned the vx. well ive caused a code when i didnt have things hooked up....but anyway........

i got a PO300, multiple cylinder misfire......im pretty sure i got this one nailed down, the shop replaced my factory plugs with champion:rolleyes: double platnium plugs. i am going to try to get my old ones back, (plugs) but i doubt that will happen....i need to get some irdium plugs, and i think this code will be history

PO137 o2 sensor low volume......ya got me ive checked all vacume hoses, egr sprayed brake cleaner around the intake etc, and found no leaks. but in my opinion, there is too much air comming into the engine, and not enough fuel. I should note, i DONT have a super charger

P1171 Fuel System Lean During Acceleration i dont know on this one either, but this is the noticeable one that i miss. i have no passing power, bogs down trying to go up hill while accelerating. i havent had ANY problem with acceleration till after i got the vx back from my timing belt/head replacement

so, as in the other threads ive read, do you think the root code thrower is the 1171, which causes the other codes?? im taking the vx back, AGAIN, to the shop but want to know as much as possible. im sure they will try to pass it off as nothing they did, but i want to know for myself befor i take it in.

again, i hear HUGE amounts of air, but have sprayed brake cleaner all around the intake, airbox, maf, throtle body, and no change in the engine speed.
and i DONT have a bad idle. it runs really well at idle, its just going down the road, i have no "punch" and im getting AWFULER gas milage, really really awful......

as always, you all are the best of the best, of all the car forums i am, and have been in, this by far is the friendlyest, most helpful, caring, funny group of people ive been associated with online, and real world:)

THANKS A BAZILLION MILLION

PS. im also very worried about burning up a piston.......i am keeping all my driving under 50 mph at this time. only punch it during diagnostics should i worry like i am???

[JHarris1385]

P0300 could be the plugs or may not be. I have changed my plugs since I was throwing that. Also changed my MAF sensor due pep boys saying it was the cuase. Both didnt fix it. BUT what did fix it was a fuel pressure regulator replacement. Easy install of $70 part after you get the tough bolts off the chamber. The part was $60 less than the MAF. But your talking about a lot more air flow failure than gas flow. I just threw this in there so if they replace something you still throw that code you what it could be. But I DID have rough idle, bad gas, and lots of exhaust.

[IndianaVX]

hey john, good to hear from ya

well, im just baseing my opinion on what has changed in the three months. obviously, i had the head replaced, but the plugs i think are suspect. (side note, i priced the plugs they put in, and they were 1.79 a piece, i was charged 63.72!!!!)
im not sure whether sitting for so long may have messed with the maf, or the fuel regulator, or not. in my twisted way of thinking, i have a good steady idle, no exhaust problems, no bad smells or anything. as far as just driving around town, it runs fine, but i hear the "air" sucking sound more than usual. it is only on mild to extreme (which i only do for checking) accelerating that i feel the difference. just mildly pulling away from a stop seems normal, with the exception of the air sucking noise.........*sigh*
my only simmilarity to your situation is, what you said "bad gas" which i take as bad gas milage, and not old funky gas, i have, (or had) a full tank of gas
speaking of which, i got 100 miles on a half tank of gas..........ugggh

thanks for your post though, i will keep it in mind as i work thru this

david

[Ldub]

hey john, good to hear from ya

well, im just baseing my opinion on what has changed in the three months. obviously, i had the head replaced, but the plugs i think are suspect. (side note, i priced the plugs they put in, and they were 1.79 a piece, i was charged 63.72!!!!)
im not sure whether sitting for so long may have messed with the maf, or the fuel regulator, or not. in my twisted way of thinking, i have a good steady idle, no exhaust problems, no bad smells or anything. as far as just driving around town, it runs fine, but i hear the "air" sucking sound more than usual. it is only on mild to extreme (which i only do for checking) accelerating that i feel the difference. just mildly pulling away from a stop seems normal, with the exception of the air sucking noise.........*sigh*
my only simmilarity to your situation is, what you said "bad gas" which i take as bad gas milage, and not old funky gas, i have, (or had) a full tank of gas
speaking of which, i got 100 miles on a half tank of gas..........ugggh

thanks for your post though, i will keep it in mind as i work thru this

david

Open your air cleaner box to make sure they remembered to re-install it, if they forgot, that would explain the louder suck. Also, check all the connections between the air filter box & the throttle body.

I was throwing the same codes even after replacing the intake gaskets, in my case, cleaning th sensor wires inside the MAF sensor with electronics cleaner was the solution. (Big Thanks to Jerry Lemond) :cool:

Hope any of this is of help to you.

[IndianaVX]

Ldub, my brother.......

lol, yeah, thats the first thing i did, was to check and see if there was even a filter in the air box......there is, but man, it sounds like there isnt.
i was thinking of cleaning the maf with the cleaner, and didnt have time today. so i guess i may check it tommorow, or let the shop figure it out.
thanks for the reply though.....i was just getting ready to log off...........
hope all is well with you.....

david

[Triathlete]

Have you cleaned the fuel system/injectors? Just a thought.

[IndianaVX]

billy,
hey, no i havent cleaned them, but i regularly use lucas top end lube and injector cleaner, and befor all this, the truck was running great. i was thinking about puttin my noid light on em, and see what that told me, but my time was ate up today. granted, there has been alot taken off, sittin around, and what not, but dont know if all of that would shake some crud loose, or not.....and then clog something or whatever...
thanks for the input......something else to consider.
take it easy,
hope your training is going well,

good luck in all you do.

david

[etlsport]

man you are one level headed cat to be able to put up with all this and still stay so upbeat.. half of my post would have been $#(@@( ing by now haha..

im not really sure what the problem with the sucking noise could be.. but I just recently started getting a similar sound at idle and while starting off, sounds like theres another giant fan somewhere when i first start the truck and first start to get going, once i get over about 3k rpms i either dont hear it or it goes away.. but usually when i get to a light or stop sign the sound is gone... and i definitely am not feeling a loss in power.. hehe

anyway i started getting that sound after coverting to mobil1 in the oil and putting 1 bottle of seafoam into the gas tank, 1/2 bottle into the oil the crankcase (oil has been changed since and still have the sound) and 1/2 bottle dripped into the intake through the hose coming out of the block about 2-3 inches back on the passenger side.. so i guess what im saying is check those types of areas for a possible cause of the noise

[Ldub]

man you are one level headed cat to be able to put up with all this and still stay so upbeat.. half of my post would have been $#(@@( ing by now haha..

im not really sure what the problem with the sucking noise could be.. but I just recently started getting a similar sound at idle and while starting off, sounds like theres another giant fan somewhere when i first start the truck and first start to get going, once i get over about 3k rpms i either dont hear it or it goes away.. but usually when i get to a light or stop sign the sound is gone... and i definitely am not feeling a loss in power.. hehe

anyway i started getting that sound after coverting to mobil1 in the oil and putting 1 bottle of seafoam into the gas tank, 1/2 bottle into the oil the crankcase (oil has been changed since and still have the sound) and 1/2 bottle dripped into the intake through the hose coming out of the block about 2-3 inches back on the passenger side.. so i guess what im saying is check those types of areas for a possible cause of the noise

David,
Sorry for the thread jack, but Etl's problem might be the fan clutch.

Now, back to your sucking noise... :rolleyes: ,it's possible they didn't connect the elbow between the air box & the fender well properly if they had the air box out when they had it all apart.

[IndianaVX]

dub,
man, &*#@@*!!! WHATS UP WITH THE ^&$#@## HIJACK...........lol im just kidding, you know that, and i dont mind if it helps someone else out.......
i will check the airbox again, but it seemed to be connected correctly....

etl,
ill take that as a complement.....lol i figure i could cuss up a storm, kick the cat, stomp, storm around, throw rocks, have people mad at me for being the meanest 6'9" customer to walk thru the door at the shop, and my truck would still not run right.....
i am upset, but more tired of it all. i just miss my truck running the way it should.
i dont even want to drive it anymore running like this
when given the choice, i never thought i would CHOOSE to drive my old chevy van over the vehicross, but thats where i am at. its that miserable and embarassing to drive the vx, and its lack of performance at this point. this too shall pass........

thanks for the continued help, it means alot

david

[catskilljay]

My apologies for resurrecting this 5+ yr old thread. But I have been reading and picking brains on board for weeks now trying to solve my issues. And this one seems to be exact with no end or update:( So I can putt around town with the Featherfoot and that's fine. But if I step on the old girl she chokes out, spits and spuders and has major loss of power, the engine rattles, can barely make it up hills, starts to overheat etc. thanks to this wondrous forum Ive change all of the plugs, Gone through all of the intake, new filter, swap and clean MAF and sensors, switching parts from parts car, EGR, new AIC, TPS. Have not done the fuel pressure regulator yet. I spent a night cursing and swatting mosquitos on that dreaded back bolt (practiced on old rusted parts car) finely got it, then decided to buy new... and I bought some seafoam a new fuel filter but haven't put on yet. The old filter is less then a year old and I always use marvels mystery oil in both tank and engine along with other Intake cleaners and stuff almost every if not in between tanks. Also I have sprayed brake cleaner all-around intakes and manifolds and don't see no sign of leakage or vacuum problems...... First I was throwing codes 0137 and 1171 then after I changed the plugs (double platinum) I started getting the 0300. I am aware it could be the oxygen sensors but they seem so hard to get at.... Please have a suggestion or answer for me:)

[bartmanS4]

Youve been checking the air side of things are you sure you're getting fuel? A clogged fuel filter or faulty fuel pump can give those symptoms. I get the same from time to time just without all the codes. You mentioned filter in your post but didn't specify.

[catskilljay]

Youve been checking the air side of things are you sure you're getting fuel? A clogged fuel filter or faulty fuel pump can give those symptoms. I get the same from time to time just without all the codes. You mentioned filter in your post but didn't specify.

Okay thanks Bman. Yes I bought new fuel filter, looking at putting it on tomorrow as well as changing FPR If that doesn't work. So you mentioned you get the same from time to time? That means you just change fuel filter and you're back up and running? I really appreciate the reply. I've been glued to my phone/laptop reading up continuously on old threads gathering DIY knowledge. Don't know where I would be without this board and it's passionate members!!

[catskilljay]

Well not the fuel filter:( Getting ready to curse at the FPR... Yes I am shade treeing it, in 90+ degrees! Fun fun. Then I might be swapping some oxygen sensors anybody have any suggestions? Other than banging my head on something?

[IndianaVX]

Hey jay,
Sorry I didn't post the solution to this problem, and glad you brought it to my attention. It's like reading a great book, and the story is building up to some great ending, only to find the last pages missing and never knowing how it ended.
This thread is a continuation of my nightmare with one of my cams. What I THINK was the solution ( it's been a while) but my catalytic converters got plugged up from fuel getting dumped when the pin sheared that kept the cam indexed with the timing belt. I'm not sAying you have a busted cam, but I am saying you may have clogged cats! A decent muffler shop will be able to either remove o2 sensors and check pressures before and after the cats. Or they may also drill small holes before and after the cats, do their test, and then weld the holes shut again. I can't check to see what the codes you are throwing, but if there is extra fuel being dumped down the exhaust, it could be melting down the honeycomb in the cat, and restricting the exhaust. Slow speeds, less pressure, higher speeds, more pressure. And seems that is what I was hearing, that extra pressure escaPing thru the filter box, not a sucking noise, but a blowing noise, and crappy acceleration.

Like I said, it has been a while, and I regret not posting the solution when it was fresh in my mind.
I would quit throwing parts at it for now, and get it to a muffler shop to check the cats. 02 sensors can trigger some codes too and cause poor driving also. And they are not horrible to replace, just something you have to be patent with.... And not do when it's 90+ degrees!

[Scott Larson]

FWIW, platinum plugs are not a performance-type plug. Platinum is a long-wearing plug but its really quite poor, performance-wise. Gold palladium or iridium plugs are the choice for performance apps as they have the lowest resistance/voltage loss. I'm not saying this is your problem, but it could compound it...

[catskilljay]

[QUOTE=Scott Larson;283869]FWIW, platinum plugs are not a performance-type plug. Platinum is a long-wearing plug but its really quite poor, performance-wise. Gold palladium or iridium plugs are the choice for performance apps as they have the lowest resistance/voltage loss. I'm not saying this is your problem, but it could compound it..

Well thanks for the tip Scott I appreciate it. I did however read somewhere here not to use the iridium one's... hence me getting the double platinum's. well they'll be staying for now. but I'll be sure to pick up some high-performance next time!!

Got lucky this morning and after towing the parts car up on the ramps I discovered some new O2 sensors gunna be a fun night. AutoZone loaned me the special sockets to remove/reinstall. and if that's not it I'll have the cats checked like Indiana suggested. With any luck I'll be returning the FPR... Thanks for all the help Fam! I'll be sure to report back :P