I've had a stalling issue for sometime. I tried a few things, but decided to take it to the mechanic a couple days ago. Today I spoke with the mechanic and he suggested that the diagnosis is still not as clear. For your information, I have a 3s-fe engine. However, he did give me some information which I would like to relay to you now. Before I do, I want you to know that I consider myself I novice with car repair. I hope that I recalled what he said correctly, but if there's anything unclear, please inform me and I'll speak with the mechanic and get it corrected, thanks. I also plan to relay any thread conclusions/information to the mechanic. The things he said was: - There was no electrical signal or current going to the injectors (I believe) - That the positive current was there, but the negative (or ground?) was not. - He suspected the computer to be the cause. - Also, he mentioned the ignitor could be suspect. Thanks in advance for any feedback/comment.
Were about do u live? Auto or manual?...... change out the igintor and see....check ur main grounds.......any loose wires around the back of the block?
Cool. I live in San Diego. My car is at Smart Severin Auto Repair in the El Cajon suburb. Hector is the mechanic and his phone is (619) 334-5620. Good shop, I've done work there before. There yelp link with address is... http://www.yelp.com/biz/smart-auto-repair-el-cajon My car is a manual. Thank you. I'll be relaying the information to Hector.
I spoke with the mechanic today and I need to correct something, sorry. In my first post I said that the ignitor was suspect. Instead, it was the fuel injector resistor (that 3x3 inch box in the center back of the engine just below the windshield). He said that the ignitor (located in the distributor) had already been replaced and issue still persists.
i belive the general consensus here is that ecu's dont go bad. ever. igniters and coils however have seem to come up more recently, maybe an age thing? nate. auto/manual doesnt make a difference to the ecu. auto trans has an extra box mounted with the ecu for trans control.
Thanks for the continued attention to my thread. Well, the issue persists and the car is still at the mechanic. Here's an update... The mechanic says that there is still no ground (or negative pulsation signal?) going to the injectors. If I understood him correctly, the car is not turning over. The mechanic tried putting in a wrecking yard igniter box (the external kind located below the windshield, which I incorrectly named in a prior post as a fuel injector resistor), but issue persisted. The last we left off, was that the mechanic would do further tests to see if the cpu is suspect. As I've learned from this thread, I have mentioned to him that the cpu rarely goes wrong. This paragraph mostly likely has no relation to the issue at hand, and may I remind that I consider myself novice with car repair. Anyways. The fuse to my dashboard lights and taillights has burned out two times within month. Also, someone on the road told my left brake was out (I suppose not a fuse but a light bulb). Perhaps only a fuse/bulb issue, but thought to mention it because of the electrical aspect. So recapping... Q1) What could cause no ground going to the injectors? Is that a complicated question/answer? Could it be several things? Q2) The mechanic is giving it his best shot, but does anyone know any repair shop or individual that's qualified for this particular issue, in San Diego? I live in this east county area, but am prepared to go wherever. Thanks
The most common problem I have found is that the igniter is not properly grounded to the firewall but that is for a 3sge not sure if its the same for a 3sfe or not. This is the diagram for a 1988 3sfe I have looked at the 3sfe diagram for the injectors but it does not make much sense to me. Only 2 wires are coming from the ECU to 4 injectors and those 2 wires connect to each other under injector # 4 so I don't know how only 1 injector is going to fire at a time. As far as I can tell all 4 injectors are going to fire whenever ECU #10 or ECU #20 sends out a ground signal. I just don't understand why you would ever want to have more than 1 injector squirting gas at one time. The 3sge has a separate wire for each injector going to the ECU. The ECU is going to get its timing signal from the distributor and thats what is going to tell the ECU which injector to fire so I would check the continuity of wires G1 NE & G- and inspect the distributor itself
Thanks st165-2765! The mechanic has your post information in hand and is looking at the car today. Thank again.
Hello again and sorry for getting back so late. Hope everyone recalls what my issues were. Also, please know that this is a little bit of a long story. I'll do my best to be brief. One reason for getting back late was because car my was in the mechanic shop for a while (3 weeks plus), but I've also now had it for sometime too, test driving etc. With regards to informing you of what was done, unfortunately, I am not so sure what exactly was done. But I will try to relay what the mechanic said, recall his process, and begin by saying what he told me, "This car was challenging". The process went like this: - replaced with used distributor, issue persisted. - replaced with new distributor, issue persisted. - then I mentioned that I installed a fuel pump cut off switch. He checked the wiring and sure enough the wires had come loose. However, after fixed them, the issue still persisted. - this is where the mechanic began to feel challenged. The electrical signal was still not there. He began to suspect the new distributor, so he replaced the new distributor and with the used from before, and sure enough, the engine work better (turned over or something). To be clear, a new faulty distributor. There was still however stalling. - he then discovered a short in one of the battery cables, and after fixing it, the issue (stalling) was fixed. That was a good day and I got my car. There's more however. After two days of driving, I was putting it into first gear from a stand still. It wasn't however such a smooth gear shift, but not too abrupt either. When it went into gear, the engine jump some and then a popping sound occurred. In short, my engine mounts were shot, and consequently, my water pump broke. So back to the mechanic, and the following was done: - new water pump - timing belt - engine mounts It's been a costly past few months, and there might be some lingering minor issues, but the car has never been more fun to drive. Thanks again, sincerely, Breck
I do not know which mount the mechanic replaced. I do not have the water pump which was left with the mechanic. Just to be clear, these repairs have been already done by the mechanic. Thanks.
What symptoms lead your mechanic to replace the water pump, timing belt and motor mounts? Clunking noise when accelerating is possible with bad motor mounts, it's happened to me numerous times on various vehicles. What I'm finding disturbing however, is why did he replace the water pump and timing belt 'as a result of a failed motor mount'. On a S-series motor, the water pump is driven by the timing belt. All of this happens to be underneath a cover. Here's a picture of my old 3sgte motor. The black plastic you see is the timing belt cover. With the covers removed, here is what it looks like (of course, your car may be slightly different but same overall principal). See the shiny silver thing in the upper right corner? That's the water pump and pulley. No part of that sticks out of the timing cover area. If your mechanic said because of the bad motor mounts that your water pump and timing belt failed, he is seriously full of bullshit (in my opinion). I have yet to see a a water pump become damaged when a motor mount fails. If it had an external pulley, I can see the possibility of mounts failing and the pulley coming in contact with the frame. Even then, that would need to be quite an epic failure to have that happen and the motor would have to pivot a couple inches which there would be more damage than simply the pump. My 2002 Mazda 626 has an external pulley for the water pump. I was able to take the mount off, pivot the motor and still reach down with a 1/4" socket and remove the timing cover, water pump pulley and tensioners without coming anywhere close to the frame. I hate to say it, but I'm going to anyway.It sounds (to me at least) that your mechanic is taking advantage of your inexperience and lack of mechanical knowledge and taking you to the cleaners with unnecessary repairs.
although that isnt to say that the waterpump wasnt bad before then and he just decided to tell you about it now.
notice how the motor mount in the front (well in our case passenger side) is right beside the wp...maybe that mount broke? but that's like a one in a million chance to happen...
Hello again. It's been a few months since the last thread post, but I would still like to address some unanswered questions, thanks. Questions Including: Is it possible that a broken/weak motor mount caused a water pump failure? Why did the mechanic replace the motor mount, water pump, and timing belt.? Which motor mount was replaced? Before going further, I'd like to say thanks, 4thgenceli, for mentioning concern whether I have been taken advantage of. Of course, I can only that not to be the case, but the caution is appreciated. Cheers. So, since I don't feel knowledgeable in discussing the practicality or functionality of the a fore mentioned car parts, I believe it would be best to recap the car break-down experience for your review and diagnosis. In other words, what had occurred that had me bring the car to the mechanic. Break-down experience: - The car was at a near stand still. I put it into to gear, but I may had let the clutch out to quickly, but not that quickly. However, quick enough to cause a little jolt and a small/moderate popping noise. - After that occurred, I got out and looked under the car. This next part I don't think I mentioned in prior posts (apologies). When I looked underneath the car, there was water coming out of the engine. The mechanic said the water pump broke. He also said the timing belt had never been replaced and thought it should be replaced. As for the motor mount, he replaced only (I believe) the front motor mount. Does/Could that make sense? Thanks
In defense of the mechanic...The motor mount at the top right is right next to the plastic timing cover. On my 3sge my motor mounts were sooo bad, that the the cover actually rubbed against that mount. I replaced them all a few months ago and all was well. A while later when I replaced the water pump (and timing belt) I discovered that there had actually been some friction caused by the earlier bad mounts and the timing belt which was relatively new had some noticeable damage along the edge. All is well now, but I can relate to what his wrench did to his car. Vicdat
Great. Sounds like there were similarities with the wear and tear of both our cars, and how the wrench could be used. Good to know. Thanks.
