[Shotimes] ECC Codes...

[Rich Edelman]

It didn't make sense that I wasn't getting any codes when the car would stall 
and didn't want to start again. Finally I DID notice that when the car 
stalled I wasn't getting a check engine light and the CEL would only 
sometimes come on when trying to start the car. At that point, I started with 
the battery cables. Made sure they were nice and tight, clean, etc. I checked 
the ground strap on the engine. After a few more tries to start the car and 
having it stall and not throw any codes, I realized I forgot about the ground 
on the strut tower. Saw it was loose, tried to tighten it and quickly found 
out it was stripped. I don't know what I would have done if that ground wire 
wouldn't have happened to be the problem.

I just wish I would have realized sooner that the CEL wasn't behaving 
properly, and it would have saved me 2 days of being without a car, again.

Rich

On Thursday 25 November 2004 06:14 pm, Kevin & Cheryl Airth wrote:
> Rich:
>  How did you find this? Good job on the troubleshooting!!
> .
> .
> .
>
> > Replying to myself here, but my problem is solved...
> >
> > It turns out the self tapping screw for the computer ground that goes
>
> through
>
> > the strut tower was loose, and stripped. So the ground wire kept flapping
> > around, the computer would cut, and the car would die. That's also why I
> > wasn't getting any codes. The shop didn't find this at all, despite
> > having the car for a day and a half and supposedly having many people
> > look at it.
>
> At
>
> > least they didn't even TRY to charge me a diagnosis fee.
> >
> > So, I fixed the stripping by putting a real bolt and nut through the
> > strut tower. Immediately I got back a bunch of codes:
> > 636 - Trans Oil Temp Sensor Out Of Range
> > 539 - AC or Defrost on
> > 117 - ECT circuit grounded
> > 118 - ECT circuit open
> > 157 - MAF circuit below min voltage
> >
> > Well, I stopped and got a new ECT and installed that. I had a spare MAF,
>
> so I
>
> > put that one on.
> >
> > I'm ignoring the 539 and the 636. I did accidentally have the heater on
>
> when I
>
> > ran the test, and running the test again without the heater on didn't
> > show that code. As for the 636, the car wasn't at operating temperature
> > at all.
>
> In
>
> > fact, it's 36 or so degrees outside. After I got the ECT (took all of 10
> > minutes) and MAF on, the car started right up, ran fine. I let it idle
> > for about 10 minutes to warm up, re-ran the KOEO test, and got 111, just
> > what
>
> I
>
> > wanted to see.
> >
> > Thanks for everyone's help on this one, and have a great turkey day.
> >
> > Rich
>
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