Problems after exhaust install and 02 harness

Would an exhaust leak from the headers to the h pipe cause this issue. It's the only thing I can think of. I can feel by the ball and socket that one side of the flange is tighter than the other. So far I've checked for vacuum leaks found nothing but I don't have a smoke machine(never touched any lines when changing the h pipe and o2 harness though), checked timing with no luck, tried unplugging the mass air, O2 harness and iac no change. It's starts right up, surges up and down till it gets extreme then stalls, strong fuel smell and has trouble starting again without the help of the accelerator.
 
Sorry you haven't been able to get it squared out,if i lived near you i would offer to help but im several states away, no, a exhaust leak wouldn't do this, it would sound funny and yes,the car wouldn't run totally perfect but it wouldn't do what you mention,cars run fine with exhaust leaks all the time, have you unplugged your vacuum line to your regulator and see if you can smell fuel? i know you said you checked vacuum lines but have you checked under the intake with a flashlight? ,sometimes lines there get brittle and crack.

Kinda sounds like a fuel issue,be nice if you could check and see how much fuel you are getting at the rails.
 
Can anyone tell me what these connectors go to? The first pics are of a plug with a 2 wires green with black and black with yellow, it's near the coil area. The second plus is also 2 wires grey with yellow and red and it's near the passenger side fuel rail attached to another 2 wire plug. Just wondering if one of these not plugged in might be a culprit or not.
 

Attachments

  • 20260705_125751.webp
    20260705_125751.webp
    227.4 KB · Views: 2
  • 20260705_125817.webp
    20260705_125817.webp
    280.8 KB · Views: 2
  • 20260705_125840.webp
    20260705_125840.webp
    206.8 KB · Views: 2
  • 20260705_125848.webp
    20260705_125848.webp
    237.4 KB · Views: 2
Also something new just occurred now the car will surge like crazy but if I keep feathering the gas to keep it alive after about 2 minutes it will stable out and idle at about 750 with no problems whatsoever then after about a minute of idling smooth with no issues it'll start to hunt again until it dies. Don't know if that helps anyone rule anything out? Oh and it's dumping so much fuel out will make your eyes melt....
 
Last edited:
Those are the plugs for your charcoal canister (emisions), i believe they should be plugged together , unless the system is not there anymore, on my 91 last year i put all that stuff back on,it had been off for decades and i just got tired of the smell of gas in my garage and while driving.

Reading your comment a bit more carefully I'm certain picture number 3 is for the charcoal canister because that connector and the one for the temperature sensor for the PCM are wired very close to each other and it plugs in to a plug identical to the other pictures you show.
 
Yeah, thats what those connectors are for,no worries there, thats not your problem, that was a great idea Aero suggested, clean that mass air meter, its a simple procedure, i can take mine off without taking the mass air system of the car,just unplug it,take your screws off, i believe they are torx and VERY GENTLY pull the unit up and out of the housing and spray a Qtip and gently clean the sensors and put it back together, those sensor can get pretty dirty.

Sometimes when we do a repair on our cars something else just breaks and its pure coincidence that happens to something totally unrelated to what we were working on originally, been there, done that,it happens, not saying this is the cause but have you ever had your computer out and looked at your capacitors? these cars are getting up in age where the computers are failing,most of the time will be a fuel pump that will stay running constantly or idle issues etc