Hi everyone. Let me start off by saying sorry for what will be a long post and please be somewhat detailed in responses as I am just about clueless where certain parts are in an engine or their abbreviations.
I have a 2001 Grand Prix with a 3.8 engine - no modifications but has California Emissions Standards. I have had a few problems in the last year and some that started up just today and am not sure what to do about them.
I live in Western NY and last winter my blower stopped working along with the seat warmer. I noticed it would intermittently work at times but not sure how or why it started working. It progressively became worse and now the blower will only work on 5 only if it is set to 5 before I turn the car on. During last winter I also noticed the day time running lights were not turning on even at night - I would manually have to turn the lights on - and my wipers would stop in the upright position, and the key would not disengage from the ignition. Please note that no Service Engine Soon light had been on at this point. I have done some research and associated these problems to the the ignition switch and plan to replace sometime within the next month or two. Does this sound correct? I don't believe these problems happened all at the same time.
Early this past summer smoke started coming from the engine just one minute out of my driveway and an awful high pitched sound was coming from the drivers side of the hood. No check engine light was on. I noticed a black plastic cap had melted near the firewall that has a hose leading near the wheel well. I forget what the melted cap was, but I picked one up at a junk yard and replaced it. The catalytic converter went and the hot gases backed up and melted the cap. It wasn't until I drove the car off the wheel ramp when the SES light came on. We pulled it to the dealership and they replaced the converter but the SES light was still on. I got around to checking the SES light and it was P0140. Some air pump problem. I believe the high pitched sound was the air pump seizing up.
The car was running fine without a fix until early August maybe. I have been getting worse gas mileage and the car started to violently jolt on the thruway. The engine also started revving by itself when it jolts. It also occasionally stalls out after 10 minutes of driving, but not every time. When it does rev up It fluctuates - it will rev and then relax, rev, relax... It will sometimes relax to a point where it drops under 1,000 rpm and I have noticed when it does that it will likely stall. I however try to rev it with the gas pedal when it wants to drop this low. I have also tried giving it a lot of gas to kick it out of its sluggish state.
Just yesterday I started the fix for the P0410 code. I checked the fuse under the hood and sure enough the "AIR" fuse was blown. I replaced it. I then took out the air pump and heard the dreaded water in it. I took it apart and let it dry. I hooked it up to the battery and it ran great. I used an air compressor to blow out some of the gunk that was built up near the plastic fan. I also blew out a couple of hoses since they had water on the sides of them. At some point during the disassembly I tried starting my car while jacked up on the front driver side. It only made a click and wouldn't turn over. I figured the battery may be slightly loose as I was loosening it earlier. I reassembled the car and noticed a faint gasoline smell but couldn't pin point its location in the engine. I un-jacked the car and it stared right up and no more SES light!!!!! I figured I had solved the worlds problems!!!! That is until I turned the car off and started it again... the SES light back on!!!! - Oh great!!! I checked the "AIR" fuse and it is okay.
I went to AutoZone today and they pulled the following codes:
P0102 - MAF or Vaf A circuit: Low Input
P0446 - EVAP Emission Control Sys. Vent: Circuit Malf.
Are the two new codes related? Are either new codes related to the air pump code? Any suggestions? I have heard the check valve can go bad and let water into the air pump, where is the valve located? Any pictures?
Thank you if you have made it this far!
...UPDATE...I cleaned the MAF with some MAF cleaner and reinstalled yesterday evening. Took the car to Advance Auto to clear the codes as well. So far no problems. I will keep praying.
...UPDATE...Well... not even 3 minutes into driving home from work this evening and the SES light came back on. I will be going to back to advance auto tomorrow to pull the code.
