What Mysterious Problem did the Tbird in this time

Phillio99

Registered User
The car has been sitting with out running for about 3 weeks now. I replaced my thermostat with a 180 and new gasket to try to stop the leak, and i also reinstalled the computer in which i loaded up an emissions tune from my eec tuner. Got the car started right up and idled fine, so i took it for a spin to warm it up and see if the thermostat gasket was leaking. Car ran fine no issues. Got home, went inside and came out 5 mins later to find the top rad hose wasn't held down in the right place and had sprayed coolant everywhere. Wipe everything off, make sure everything is in the right place, then started the car to make sure that it wasn't leaking again, it wasn't. I turned off the car, and got some paper work for the emissions test got pack in the car and started it. Little delay on the start but nothing hugely noticable so started driving, noticed what seemed like a little bit of a bog/ loss of power but nothing huge, barely noticable. Got to an intersection where i needed to make a turn and bam car falls on its face, idling like its got vac leak, no power, stumbling. I managed to get it home and I reload my previous tune that I know runs fine and I swapped out my coil pack with my extra one, no difference.
Im going to take a guess and say that some coolant got on my crank sensor and fried it, but that seems pretty far fetched. It's not a vac leak because I didn't touch anything that would have caused a vac leak this big so Im leaning towards incorrect timing, ala crank sensor. What do you guys think?
Thanks,
Phil
 
Went out to start it again tonight to move it, takes a long time to turn off. Feels like the battery is draining. Maybe that has something to do with it.
Thanks,
Phil
 
Pulled eec tuner off, car acts like it did before. It will start, takes awhile to crank and then starts runs real rough, sounds like it has a miss and then dies. Now that i think about it, a crank sensor seems unlikely being there is no issue with a no start and i get no upshift arrow when i start it. Feels like timing is off, or a bad vac leak. Possible cam sensor but the car doesn't have a no start condition one out of four times and the tach was working fine. Possibly a DIS module? Any other thoughts?
Phil
 
you say the rad hose sprayed coolant everywhere. How hot did the car get? Cooling problems can cause nasty things with SC's...
 
Not hot, temp gauge never got to N in normal, I don't think it was overheat issue. However, the starting is progressively getting harder, i just tried to swap a different DIS module on and nothing changed other then its very slow to start and will not run now. Perhaps a crank sensor after all? Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks,
Phil
 
hhhmm....MAF? try taking out the electronics out of the MAF housing and clean them up or if possible swap the electronics out for some that you know work.
 
Nah, I don't think its the MAF i did the key up the engine twice thing then start test and made no difference. Getting progressively worse, harder to start will not stay running anymore. Getting the upshift light now when i start the car so Im really leaning towards the crank sensor now. What do you guys think?
Phil
 
Upshift light + Starting = crank sensor. I had to replace mine when I first got the car. It would sometimes start up and run like junk, but when it wouldnt, I got the light. Turns out my Harmonic Balancer broke and took out the sensor, so take a really really good look at your balancer while your in there. Chances are its toast.
 
If coolant sprayed out, chances are it got into a connector or 2. Unplug everything around the DIS, inspect and clean. Likewise with the coil pack and crank and cam sensor connectors.
 
Hopefully it will just be a faulty connector, but if its not any tips on changing the crank sensor, I have a 5.5mm socket but its 1/4 and Im worried its not going to be big enough to break it loose. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Phil
 
if it revs real slow and feels like timing is off , it is off because harmonic balancer is bad and turned
 
No signs of bad balancer, well see when I get down there but it had been replaced with a stock piece 1k miles ago. Bolt is still there and solid. Any advice on changing crank sensor?
Thanks,
Phil
 
Update

INstalled the crank sensor and the car starts right up. After about 3mins of cold start idle the car starts stumbling and running rough. Also it is running very rich. Pulled the plugs yesterday and plan on installing them today, they were very fouled and the gap seems to be bigger then it should be. Anyways, Im going to get everything bolted back up and see where we are at, I have not reinstalled my tuner board so Im going to load up a tune I know works and go from there. Any ideas what this could be?
Thanks,
Phil
 
Phillio99 said:
INstalled the crank sensor and the car starts right up. After about 3mins of cold start idle the car starts stumbling and running rough. Also it is running very rich. Pulled the plugs yesterday and plan on installing them today, they were very fouled and the gap seems to be bigger then it should be. Anyways, Im going to get everything bolted back up and see where we are at, I have not reinstalled my tuner board so Im going to load up a tune I know works and go from there. Any ideas what this could be?
Thanks,
Phil

Keep us posted, good info and reading.
 
Plugs went back in today as did the tuning board. Car starts but will not remain started. I pulled the tuner board, car starts and runs roughly and barely keeps itself running. Im farely familiar with big vac leaks and this doesn't act like one. Still running rich. Checked the fuel pressure regulator, no sign of any leakage. Any ideas? Im leaning towards computer issue, but no codes are being thrown and its kind of a jump in logic being that there were no issues with it before the crank sensor went south. What else can cause a rough/no run situation?
Thanks,
Phil
 
Forgot to mention, I did pull the Mass air sensor connection when the computer had the tuner board in it, car smoothed out a little then stalled.
I want to say this seems like an eletrical problem, possibly stemming from the coolant spraying out as well. Are there any other essential electrical harnesses near the crank/cam sensor and DIS harness? Also, from loosening the EEC harness maybe ive jarred loose a ground or connector on the passenger side kick panel? Anything there that is essential I should look for? Has anyone with an EEC tuner experienced problems going back and forth from having the board in and out? Any other thoughts?


Thanks,
Phil
 
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