Trip east.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Going to head east Thursday morning. Will try and see if we can get ThomS car back on the road after the alternator wire short. Projected path will be:

Coolidge
Albuquerque
Amarillo
Tulsa
Joplin
St. Louis
Indianapolis
Cleveland

If you see a Blue 10AE trying to set the land speed record, wave, beep or send up a smoke signal. The new JIC's ought to allow me to up the 139 on the GPS. :)

I will make the same trip in reverse at a more leisurely pace Monday. Hope to stop and visit on the way back. Tulsa for sure. ;)

Pop me a note if you are on the path home.

Kathleen won't be with me on this trip so I will be able to keep in touch on the PDA as I drive up I-40.

[Banshee]

Wow, that's some service.
Tom,
I didn't realize you did your own mechanical work, I thought the shop did all the dirty work.

[99mx5]

LMK if you stop by LC :) dinner on me :)

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Wow, that's some service.
Tom,
I didn't realize you did your own mechanical work, I thought the shop did all the dirty work.

They do but they don't travel. :) Besides, his is a 2002. How dirty can it be? ;)

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

LMK if you stop by LC :) dinner on me :)


Unless they recently moved Cleveland south a ways, not too likely but I appreciate the offer. At your place I would be tempted to break my diet and have a beer or two.

[chuckerants]

Now THAT'S a housecall. :D

[ThomS]

Wow, that's some service.
Tom,
I didn't realize you did your own mechanical work, I thought the shop did all the dirty work.

They do but they don't travel. :) Besides, his is a 2002. How dirty can it be? ;)\Dirty no, its probably the second cleanest 02 in the state.

[chuckerants]

Have a safe trip Tom.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Made it safe and sound. 37 hours portal to portal. 31 driving, 5 hours in a motel in Clinton OK and 1 hour sleeping as I crossed Missouri. Don't know if that hour counts in the driving column or the sleeping column. ;)

BTW, most of you know of my constant rants about how miserable AZ91 octane fuel is. Well, I take it all back. There is worse fuel. Eastern Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma have 90 octane premium. I have to admit that it is considerably worse than AZ91.

[Banshee]

did you fix the car?

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

LOL. Not yet. I just crashed for 7 hours of much needed sleep. Now I'm up and showered and off to Thom's. More later.

[Banshee]

Oh, I thought you meant that you went to his house and now back in AZ.

[chuckerants]

Oh, I thought you meant that you went to his house and now back in AZ.

I'd liek to see that trip meter on his GPS - 1000 MPH!!! :D

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

2100 in 37 hours is one thing but 4200 plus repairing an intermittant problem and then 2100 miles back in 37 hours is out of my league .

As for the repair, :) and more info tomorrow . Now off to a concert in the park.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

It appears that the miscellaneous CELs were caused by the VTCS and Boost Sensor vacuum hoses being swapped. The engine shutdown was caused by a broken wire to the factory alarm system shorting out randomly and thinking he was stealing the car so it shut off the fuel. Just goes to show the old adage "drive it like you stole it" doesn't always apply. ;)

[ThomS]

Does anyone know what a Oil control valve unit will cost?
Can't find one on the net. Not a popular part. It seems that mine is not working right. When it is pluged in after driving it for a short while it seems to shut the car down and when you unplug it that car runs fine so replacing seems to be the answer for this point in time. Also this part gets very hot even hotter than the valve cover it self.

[Serpico]

www.partsgroup.com

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Looks like I spoke too soon about finding the problem. Turns out we were down to one CEL and I thought it was fixed but it came back. CEL 010. It says that there is a problem with the OCV (Oil Control Valve) for the VVT. We have determined that it is either an intermittant in the two wires from the ECU to the valve or the valve itself. It is like it gets too hot and then gets sticky. That causes the VVT to oscillate in a jerky manner which appears to drive the A/F nuts and causes the engine to buck violently and then die. It appears like the ECU can't get the valve under control so it gives up and shuts down the fuel and/or ignition. To test, we simply unplugged the OCV and went for a long drive. Ran perfectly. If it wasn't for the CEL, which appears to be information only CEL, we could just leave it disconnected as it ran that good. Worse case is probably a loss of a couple WHP.

In any case, with it doisconnected, the car runs without problem. Other codes went away with the correction of the two vacuum lines.

[chuckerants]

So you just have to replace this valve and Thom is back to 150%?

Looks like I spoke too soon about finding the problem. Turns out we were down to one CEL and I thought it was fixed but it came back. CEL 010. It says that there is a problem with the OCV (Oil Control Valve) for the VVT. We have determined that it is either an intermittant in the two wires from the ECU to the valve or the valve itself. It is like it gets too hot and then gets sticky. That causes the VVT to oscillate in a jerky manner which appears to drive the A/F nuts and causes the engine to buck violently and then die. It appears like the ECU can't get the valve under control so it gives up and shuts down the fuel and/or ignition. To test, we simply unplugged the OCV and went for a long drive. Ran perfectly. If it wasn't for the CEL, which appears to be information only CEL, we could just leave it disconnected as it ran that good. Worse case is probably a loss of a couple WHP.

In any case, with it doisconnected, the car runs without problem. Other codes went away with the correction of the two vacuum lines.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I hope so but my confidence level is not 100%.

[99mx5]

Try a continuity testor for the connector, I had a wire break inside the insulation at the connector. I had to disassemble the connector and resolder the connector lead to the wire and reasemble the connector for the IAC valve.
Hopefully, the wires arent severed in the main harness. That would mean you have to trace it to find the break.

[chuckerants]

It looks like Tom is on his way back. :)

Veni, Vidi, Vici.

[ThomS]

Well Everyone Tom is a KING OF KINGS. He is really an outstanding gentlman . You can watch him and just see his brain working on the problem. He has solved most of the preoblems in about 3 to 4 hour total.
The last problem well it just kinda had to sneek up on us. We worked on it for about an hour when I think he had it figured out. We tested it and we would of had it fixed and tested if we had thje part in cleveland. HE got more done in 4 to 5 hours than was able to get done in 6 weeks.
Tom I will forever and always be in your debt.
So Thank you.
This man is the Best. You were right Chuck

Thom

[chuckerants]

Congrats on getting car back on the road. Now tell us how the car drives with the blower!!!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Well, made it as far as west of St. Louis but I'm done for the night.

You are very welcome. I just hope the new valve cures the problem. If not, I suggest a wide piece of black tape over the CEL and leave the valve unplugged. :) It ran awful sweet with the valve unplugged.

[ThomS]

Well, made it as far as west of St. Louis but I'm done for the night.

You are very welcome. I just hope the new valve cures the problem. If not, I suggest a wide piece of black tape over the CEL and leave the valve unplugged. :) It ran awful sweet with the valve unplugged.

True but the Emissions test wont undersatnd if you know what I mean.

[ThomS]

Congrats on getting car back on the road. Now tell us how the car drives with the blower!!!
Ask Tom he can tell you better then me. But it feeLs GREAT BUt it will run even better when the OCV is fixed. again Tom can explain it better than me. Thanks for asking Chuck.
Hope to meet you soon. IF not this year we are coming out there next year for sure.