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Everything is electronic and I don't like it!

WarStryker13

WarStryker13

I break things.
So I'm replacing gaskets and flushing coolant, and once everything is back together I go to drive home...but I have no throttle control. I stomp on the pedal, turn it off and back on, and nothing. Engine sounds beautiful compared to what it was before, but I get nothing higher than idle. Finally get home, after having a friend push my car with his... and it sits in my parking spot for almost two weeks as I pull the throttle body off, put it back on, pull almost every fuse, scan and clear fault codes hundreds of times.... until I finally pull off the MAF clip and Voila! I get a response. until the car realizes that its not plugged in and kills the throttle control. So while I'm waiting on a new MAF to come in, I have the gracious opportunity to reflect on why an air flow sensor would affect the movement of a butterfly valve.... then I realize that since everything is controlled by a computer less powerful than my cell phone, the car will be stupid and eliminate all possibility of functioning until every freaking sensor works perfectly. And the only reason why I managed to figure it out was by smelling the un-burnt fuel in the exhaust and deciding to check the real time data from my trusty Torque app on my tablet... the MAF was reading 18 at idle. That was what led me to search and find ONE thread with a similar problem... almost bought a new throttle body because of that. But now that I get to ask for rides to work, I have very little chance of finding a decent replacement at any salvage yard anywhere close, because for some reason nobody over here likes American cars. It's very upsetting to not have the option of junkyard parts. Very. But anyways, I have two things done that were simple and easy, my K&N filter is breathing for my car(it does sound better, even being an N/A GP) and the flipped dogbone mounts make that hideous growl feelable in my butt. That makes this retarded car slightly more bearable right now...I just need that MAF to get here so I can really make her scream.

P.S. I would be perfectly happy with a carb and distributor, because this electronically controlled everything bull-honkey to just up and ramdomly quit working without warning... its for the birds.
 


No need to get rides to work, the car will run ok with the MAF unplugged until you're replacement arrives.
Car obviously won't like having it unplugged while running, disconnect your battery and unplug MAF then reconnect battery and start car and it will relearn and fall back on the ppogrammed info it has stored in the pcm to run without it.
Drive the car easy and stay out of WOT until you've replaced the MAF.
 
Well... After getting to spend a few months in a foreign country I finally got back to working on the car. It was the idle adjustment screw...... -_- turns out somehow the retaining nut had been knocked loose when I (kinda) dropped it (on accident) (across the room)...... Lol. Tard of the year award runner up right here. But I also finished my intake box project, 4in K&N cone filter fits inside it nicely, and it almost looks like it's still stock. :D I'm still trying to think of the best way to fit a top swap and headers without making it look like i changed anything...

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Agreed about everything being electronic, which puts a lot of things "behind the curtain" (wizard of Oz reference) or in some inaccessible black box (unless we want to spend $xxxxx on fancy computers).
 
Any cheapy scanner that will show you data will be a huge help.

I believe the $12 deal that Scott suggests will do throttle % etc. That would tell you that the pcm wasn't seeing the request etc.
 


Old guys are funny when it comes to fuel injection. I grew up at the end of the carb era and beginning of the fuel injected era. I wasn't old enough to drive as fuel injection came in, but I was still in the garage helping my dad and all that. I remember his attitude toward it and remember how looking at is simply that it is really all the same.

My uncle is the same way. In his late 50's and complaining about how "difficult" cars are while my cousins and I are working on something. We just laugh and let him carry on.
 
I'm 43.. grew up driving a carb or two. The onset of any technology isn't always the best time to want to deal with a car. The 80's FI's were not all that great. Now... a 3800 with FI or DBW, to me it takes so much off the table.

There's no way to setup the distributor 180* off, no way to setup the carb incorrectly or fight the fuel pump bringing fuel up from the tank. So many little details that keep you from starting.

Now... if you hook up most stuff, it'll start.
 
BillBoost37 said:
I'm 43.. grew up driving a carb or two. The onset of any technology isn't always the best time to want to deal with a car. The 80's FI's were not all that great. Now... a 3800 with FI or DBW, to me it takes so much off the table.

There's no way to setup the distributor 180* off, no way to setup the carb incorrectly or fight the fuel pump bringing fuel up from the tank. So many little details that keep you from starting.

Now... if you hook up most stuff, it'll start.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but oh... Changing springs in the distributor and screwing with the carb was so cool... Quick as lightining throttle response!
:D
 
Little reading up and so is tweaking a couple lines in the computer. :th_winking:

I never dropped a spring and screamed obscenities with my hands on the keyboard.
 
Started out on a 75 Chevy pickup with a 350 that had a mild cam. Quadrajet don'tcha know.

There was a delay when I slapped it down and you could hear the primaries open. But holy fun when they did.
 


I don't mind dealing with electronics, except that so much is "out of reach" without expensive and fancy computers (i.e. problems with the CANBus thing). Fortunately in general they are pretty reliable, but there is an intuitiveness about telling Bill he should have adjusted the accelerator pump and maybe switched to mechanical secondaries etc... I could change my shift point with just some springs, and change my timing curve with a few simple springs and weights and a timing light. SO simple.

In fact I have a Buick 455 which I first fuel injected in 1993, and upgraded in 2001. But almost everything about the system is user-adjustable. I'm not frightened of new technology - as long as I can access it.

I wish that the DIC could display the error code (including CANBus) and some "internal" parameters that would sure help with troubleshooting. The capability is completely there, but GM decided to hide the information so I either have to get all computery or be a slave to their dealership. Arrgh.
 
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