Good evening all! My first time here, and only desperation has brought me to this "new home"! Ongoing for a few years now I have had an issue with the "check engine" light coming on. Used to be after a few stops after work, mostly about 4-5 stops, the light would come on, and then the truck would start to intermittently skip, buck, burp, fart, etc. (Well, at least the first two, but I digress...!) And in the morning, I would then start the truck up, and the light would go off after about 30 seconds or a mile, which ever came first! Took it to the local dealer here in Southeastern Ct. sometimes having it for up to two weeks, to no avail! Seemingly they just wanted to give up on it. At the time it had about 230,000 +/- on it. (6 cyl engine) At times the light would come on and off within 30 seconds to no avail. Sometimes stay on for a whole ride, with no seeming hesitation. Other times very rough! It has only gotten worse over the past year. The new and interesting wrinkle, (as if I need another one!) Getting worse, one day I pulled over as it seemed to be almost jerking, and shut the truck off. Waited 5 seconds, started it up....and it was like NOTHING HAD EVER OCCURRED! And now whenever it happens, I will pull over and do the same thing, and it is like something is re-setting itself! I did manage to get a code reading at one point. It was a "25" I believe, and as it is an OBD1/older sensor vehicle, I was told it COULD be from one to about 8 different kind of things! This was not a help! Nor was it ever solved. I would just like it pinpointed by someone knowledgeable, other than the "experts" at the local dealership! Vehicle now has about 254,000 on it! Can ANYONE give me possible concrete explanations/help? Would be most appreciated! Thank you one and all! Good day!
Unless your dealership has guys that have been working there since your truck was new, they are NOT experts. I've worked at dealerships and you know how much training I had (dealer specific anyway)? zip. Granted I'd worked in shops before and gone to school for auto tech but NO mfr specific training. If I'd stayed there longer, I would have gotten some but it would all be on the brand new stuff. Anyway... Id does sound similar to ignition module failure on some vehicles except that usually it takes longer to cool down and start working. ICM or ECU are definitely high on my list of suspects but I have nothing firm to tell you before trying to swap non-returnable parts. I do have a spare harness and ECU from a 93 sitting on a shelf. If you want to try it, I'll look up the part number on the ECU to make sure it matches yours. email me kamesama980 at yahoo.com I don't get on here often.
Ok! So in checking this answer out, I see where the code 25 also includes "injector faults". Now, more than before when I get near the truck, I smell gas. This would SEEM to tell me that I have a possible injector leak/fault? Not a mechanic unfortunately, but I'm trying to problem solve this issue going from the least cost fix, and then go up the line, if I need to. Any corroborative evidence here with the smell/injector issue? Thank you!
Kamesama980 has a good point icm heating up I also suspect ecu failure or intermittent failure ecu gives the injectors there firing sequence if it fails to do so properly it will act up and kick and buck possibly source a ecu from a junkyard or reliable source and try it to see if its either your injectors failing or actually the ecu making the injectors fail
Well not being a mechanic to begin with, 1) what might be the best way to detect if the injectors are failing? 2) The ECU is....what? 3) potential cost for either of these issues? Thanks for any and all help here gentlemen!
Well it might be hard to detect a injector problem if that's even the problem do to the problem itself being somewhat random and sporadic and corrects itself after being shut off wich leads me to think your having ecu < engine computer problems or icm < ignition control module overheating like mentioned above High mileage original icm? could be getting tired when heated up causes misfires Ecu could be faulty or have corrosion on the circuit board causing failure and incorrect or sporadic injector firing times Original injectors ? 230k
