it's not the map sensor and not the EGR

JeffnTanya · March 3, 2001

As most of you have been reading my posts with my little problem I will not explain the whole story again.. I replaced the EGR last night and right after replacing it I got in(engine still cold) and it started right away. I thought oh it must have been the EGR (wrong). I tried it this morning after stitting all night and my same problem is still there.. long crank time and rough idle t'ill it warms up. the only thing I did last night when I changed the egr was disconnect the fuel return line so I could get my wrench in there a little easier. why would disconnecting the return line and then reconnecting cause it to start instantly? could it be something electrical that I may have touched when I was under there?? could it be a weak pickup coil in the dist? my buddy lent me a module that goes in the distributor. I will see if it's the same and try that out today... Any feedback would be greatly appreaciated. If I don't figure this thing out soon it's going to kill me.

MountaineerTom · March 3, 2001

Man, I feel sorry for you because I know how aggrevating it can be trying to narrow down a problem and I know you've been working on this a long time. I don't really have any advise. I hope you get it running like you want.

JeffnTanya · March 3, 2001

thanks for the sympathy. ... the thing that ticks me off more is that I have one friend that works at a garage and he's stumped as well. I also know all they mechanic's at the local chev dealer as I service most of their pc's. they are all stumped and want me to call them as soon as I figure it out. I just finished installing the module under the dist. cap.. funny thing is all the contacts on the cap had white flacky stuff on them. the connector from the pickup coil to the module had some kind of yellow sticky stuff on it.. is that suppose to be like that? also the module barely had any dieletric grease left on it.. I put some new grease on the module my buddy lent me.

MountaineerTom · March 3, 2001

Quote: from JeffnTanya on 2:41 pm on Mar. 3, 2001
funny thing is all the contacts on the cap had white flacky stuff on them. the connector from the pickup coil to the module had some kind of yellow sticky stuff on it.. is that suppose to be like that?

I'm not sure. I would think the white flakey stuff would be corrosion, and that should be cleaned off. I had a "missing" problem once on my old '91 Silverado and when I took the distributor cap off, it had some white flakey residue on the contacts. I replaced the cap and rotor and it fixed the miss that I had. I don't know about the yellow sticky stuff.

JeffnTanya · March 3, 2001

yeah I cleaned of the white flacky stuff and sprayed some contact cleaner/lubricant.. truck started ok but I had it running 3 hours before that.. now that the module is changed I will let it sit t'ill later tonight.

Shaners · March 4, 2001

I thought for sure the Egr would have fixed your problem... You've pretty much changed everything else out... Did you ever spray a little WD-40 on the distributor??? It sounds like there may be some moisture/salt accumulating around it?? You live up North right??? If there is not a tight seal on the distributor then it could accumulate moisture and flaky cucky stuff inside... Ickkk!!! Let us know how it starts in the morning.

JeffnTanya · March 4, 2001

GUESS WHAT........ IT STILL STARTS THE SAME WAY>.

I REMOVED THE DIST. FROM THE ENGINE.. I tested the pickup coil and it's giving me 750 ohms.. haynes book said it should be between 500 & 1500.. so that looks good.. but the connector has some corosion in it and the plug is all cracked and very britle. still looks originalfrom '88. I will replace it anyway because it's inexpensive and the clip is cracked as well. I still don't think that will fix my problem though..

jimbello · March 5, 2001

Well I guess the ECM change that helped my old 88 S10 didn't cure it....

By any chance.....Maybe it could be something mechanical causing the problem???

JeffnTanya · March 8, 2001

well for all of you that have been trying to help me solve my winter long cold start project.. it appears to be fixed!!! after replacing the p/u coil it seems to start up much better on first start.. it hasen't been very cold since I replaced it but the long crank times are gone now.. thanks a lot everyone for helping me try to figure this d*mn thing out.. all these problems caused by a ? part..

don't go too far ... knowing me I will find another problem to try and figure out..

THKS

Shaners · March 8, 2001

Finally!!! Go figure!!! A ? dollar part that cost you hundreds by the time it was solved. The good thing at least is you have alot of new parts on your truck that would've probably needed replaced sooner or later, and since it has all been done you should be in good shape for many happy miles. Congratulations!!!

MountaineerTom · March 8, 2001

Glad to hear you got it fixed!

jmcoop5 · March 23, 2001

I had the same problem. To verify the ruff idle goes away.. unplug the vacuum hose leading into the EGR value and stick a golf tee in it. The truck should run very smooth, but it will cause the "check engine light" to alert. To repair this issue, replace the EGR solenoid... That's what worked for me and the engine runs smooth will no error lights...

Hope this helps... Later...