SATAN STRIKES AGAIN! Surging/Power Loss, Part II

I appreciate the offer, but again, I just put in a reman'ed distributor not even a week ago. I did manage to get one that appears to have the PIP replaced, as well (most of the reman units I saw had new gears and such but the OEM pickup coil still in there), so the thing's almost 100% new.

O2 sensors are new.

Fuel injector O-rings are all new. Nothing leaking at all. Only thing about the injectors that I've suspected is that one or more of them is sticking "open" and dumping too much fuel, causing a rich condition.

Fuel pressure, again, is good. Already checked it. Already have a gauge. I do NOT wanna mount that thing anywhere in my passenger area, though; I worry enough, already, about getting a minor leak and resultant engine fire from a rail-mounted fuel pressure gauge, but mounting one inside and risking having fuel sprayed right in my lap/face and then touched off would be ... well ... an easy way for me to score a nice, crispy, Freddy Krueger sort of skin texture.

As far as the exhaust ... it depends on what you'd consider "massive." It was bad enough that I could put my hand near the header flange and feel enough gas pushing out of there that it felt like someone blowing on my hand. Massive enough that I needed to fix it. So I did.

I notched the tranny crossmember today and wiggled and fought with that cat'ed UPR X-pipe 'till I reached a nice compromise between getting it to seal up, keeping it from knocking against the crossmember, and not letting it hang two inches off the ground. Everything is now nice and sealed up, quiet and squeak/rattle free, decent amount of ground clearance (though another 2" would be nice, I still scrape speed bumps like mad), and the car is comparatively quiet as a mouse in calm roundabout driving. (Under WOT, it friggin' ROARS. Much love. Bwah-hahahaha... )

FOR THE MOMENT ... symptoms are gone. As ever before, I am reluctant to call this thing "cured" (or exorcised, as the case may be). This crap has come and gone as it's pleased for months, and its last happy spell lasted about 30 days. Driving distance to work has tripled now, since I've been reassigned (finally out of the ghetto, huzzah!), and so I'll have more opportunity over the next day or so to see if this has, indeed, evicted Satan from my engine bay ... for good, this time.

But if it still ain't fixed ... any chance that a throttle position sensor can read .99 volts and still be bad? I haven't replaced it, but it does check out good, numbers-wise...

Two days gone by. No symptoms. No surging. No sucky power loss. No Satan. And new tires. I'm a happy camper.

Now, I get to move on to the two last biggies: lower ball joints (if/when I get a day off to do 'em) and selecting/swapping the transmission.

Many thanks for the replies!

Gaaaaaaarrrrrrghhhhhh!!!!!!!!! amnit: crapola

Same crap. Different day. Surging, exhaust popping, power loss ... the usual. I'm just about convinced that there is NOTHING that I can ever do to this friggin' car that will cure it of its bizarre and infuriating ways.

Shall I flip a coin? New MAF sensor and TPS, or new injectors?

Really don't wanna mess with the ECU unless it's absolutely the final, final thing left, being that getting the right one could very well prove to be a nightmare. Heck, for all I know, perhaps that's what the problem is, in the first place; the car was converted from AOD to a T-5, so maybe they never changed out the brain and it's freaking out over some missing sensor, or manual shifts, or something like that...?

Leaning towards doing the MAF and TPS, simply because they cost half of what the injectors do (and because they're easier to get to). Anyone know what the symptoms are of a defective Air Charge Temp Sensor? Whatever it is, it's causing the car to throw "Running Rich" codes, still...

I almost wanna say that, now that I'm driving three times the distance to go to/from work and actually can get the car up to proper temps/speeds, the symptoms only seem to occur within the first 4 miles of driving. No problems within the first mile out, but then it kicks in with the surging/power loss, and it finally finishes its little hissy fit after about one solid mile at 45mph. I get a minor reoccurrance of it (not as lengthy) another mile later, and then it's all smooth sailing. Coolant temp sensor failing to tell the ECU when to go into closed loop mode at the right time(s), mayhaps? Might explain the rich-running problems.

Can't rule out injectors completely, but the regular intermittancy (an oxymoron, I know) of the symptoms really seems to point to a sensor issue. Previously, it never seemed to have any real sort of rhyme or reason to its occurrance, but now it's sort of taking on a pattern.

NEW LIST!

- Coolant temp sensor
- MAF
- TPS
- ECU (no, God, nooooooo!)

I feel like an absolute 'tardo with this. Sure, I can diagnose anything else on anyone else's car, but something so small and minor on mine, and it's gotta be a neverending saga of drama and ever-growing debt...

Tomorrow and Thursday: new ball joints, MAF, TPS, coolant temp sensor, and a nice n' thorough wash/vacuum (and paint sanding in prep for a dose of Rustoleum! I shall scare Satan out of my car with an even more hideously crappy paintjob! Mwah-hahaha... )