Originally Posted by
kwk6564
Background:
Alright, so I just wanna chronicle my whole experience with this car for anyone who might care, if you don't feel like reading but still wanna help with my questions they're at the bottom.
Here's the story. This is my first car, I bought it around 3 years ago because I liked the color. It's orange and black, and the paint job is pretty much the only thing that has ever been good about it. The guy I bought it from lied his ass off, although I had no idea at the time. The body is from a 97 gt, but the dude blew the original motor and swapped in what he told me was a 2002 gtp engine. The crazy rats nest of wiring under the pcm (which was just sitting in the engine bay, no air filter box or anything) should've been enough to make me reconsider buying it, but not knowing anything I assumed whatever was wrong with it would be an easy enough fix.
The check engine light was on, but when I asked why the guy plugged in his OBDII tester and showed me that the code was for the engine coolant temp sensor, assuring me it was easy to replace. So I bought it. The car started, ran and drove fine on the half hour drive back to my house. Once I got it back I immediately realized something wasn't right because of the crazy amount of heat pouring out of the engine compartment.
I found the ECT sensor, and the previous owner had unplugged it. I plugged it back in and the temp gauge read extremely hot. My friend, who has a lot more experience with cars, suggested it might have been a cracked exhaust manifold. I got the guy I'd just bought it from on the phone, I was extremely angry and yelling at him, he finally admitted to me that the real problem was the radiator fans. They botched the wiring job and the fans don't kick on, ever.
I drove the car for a while, like 3 months, by jumping the two fan relay ports in the fuse box with a busted apart relay that I'd stuck a paperclip in. If it wasn't my car it would've been hilarious, it was to everyone else. I had to pop the hood every time I drove and plug the jumped relays in so the fans would stay on. Even still, the car overheated sometimes and I had to drive with the heat on when it was hot outside.
On 90 degree days It was probably 110 in my car. After three months of that, I finally got tired of it and gave up on the idea actually being able to fix the problem. My friend and I spliced in switches, so my fans are run off the battery and I've got switches to control them right in front of the shifter. That made driving a lot easier, but the car has been slowly breaking down on me. Oh, and the second day I had the thing my friend's sister, now my girlfriend, busted the already half-broken rear driver's side door handle all the way off. I have a new handle, but the paint is some custom color and although the previous owner said he had leftover paint, I'm not exactly on good terms with him after some angry drunken phone calls I made.
The problems didn't end there though. I don't remember exactly when, but about a year after I bought it the key stopped coming out of the ignition, I use the release to get it out, and the shifter only comes out of park using the release too. I had to replace a rear trailing arm that broke on me, new ball joints, finding that my ABS sensor had been cut off altogether, and deal with a trans cooler line popping off and basically emptying all the fluid out of the trans all over the bottom of my engine while I was 45 minutes from my house.
I took it to my buddy's shop a month ago after it started shifting really oddly and idling badly, like it was gonna die. It has been over revving and slamming into gear or missing shift points altogether. When I plugged in the shop's nice big Snap-on scanner, my car was throwing 9 unique codes, which brings me to...
The Problems
CODES:
P0122 - TP or APP Sensor 1 circuit short/low
P0141 - O2 Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 2
P0452 - EVAP Pressure Sensor Signal low/Short
P0719 - TCC/Brake Switch 'B' Circuit signal low/short
P1122 - TP Circuit Intermittent low voltage
P1651 - Fan Circuit Relay 1 or QDM 'B' Fault
P1652
P1653
P1665 - EVAP Solenoid Control Circuit
P1676 - EVAP Purge Driver Circuit
P1811 - Maximum adapt 3 long shift
For anyone who didn't feel like reading the depressing short story about the hot garbage that is my car, I have a 97 Grand Prix with a 98 (I think) supercharged 3800 series II
My Questions:
Question 1: So I want to get an entirely new engine wire harness and possibly PCM, the harness that's in my car right now is spliced like a bad joke. There are two tranny plugs, disconnected wires leading nowhere, you get the point. The PCM is for a 1998, even though I was told the engine was an 02. Where are the id numbers/date stamp on my engine block so I can determine what year the engine actually is, or else how do I figure this out? What harnesses will fit correctly on a 98 engine and PCM? Can I use anything from 97-02? Should I get a new PCM as well? and lastly will i need to pull the engine to swap harnesses? I believe this may fix a few of my problems, the fans, O2 sensor and TCC switch I hope.
Question 2: I got two used floor shifter assemblies from the junkyard and plugged them both in, with no success. The car still doesn't shift out of park without pressing the release. I know that the key being stuck in the ignition and the car not shifting out of park are both related, what could the problem be if it isn't the BTIS solenoid in the shifter assembly? Could it be a solenoid in the steering column?
Question 3: Not really a question, but any advice about what could be wrong with my EVAP system/what to look for or replace first would be appreciated because I know very little about EVAP and it's killing my gas mileage.
I drive this car every day. I was an idiot to buy it in the first place, but I'm stuck with it now. I'm broke and in college, and the only way to sell the thing without taking a big loss (and having no money for a new car) would be to lie my ass off and hope the prospective buyer is as dumb as I was. I decided against doing that, so now I'm stuck with this thing and limited money to fix it with. Any advice, help, or condolences would be greatly appreciated, and thanks a ton in advance to everyone who reads and replies.