3500 issues

[eastcoast]

I am on another GA forum, but have so far been unable to find the answer. So here is a quick history of the problem.

99 GA 3400 130k miles

I had a blown HG, had that fixed, then two months later the camshaft went at end of May. So after the car sitting for a couple months, opted to put a new engine in. In Sept-Oct the 3500 swap was done. The car would not start with the MAF sensor plugged in, although with it out, the car would run, but would at times stall in stop and go traffic for long trips. Took it to a AAA shop, they diagnosed bad LIM gasket and the O-rings needed to be changed on Fuel Injectors on 3500 (62k). The company offered me a new engine, although I'd have to pay shipping, I opted it would just be easier to do the LIM gasket, and from the advice of others. So did the LIM gasket, the car would drive better, but still not with MAF sensor plugged in. I took it to another shop, and they diagnosed bad O-rings again (apparently i just dont know how to do them lol) the shop did those, and could not find out why the car still would not run with the MAF plugged in. In between of those two shops, a different one snipped the Yellow wire, with that wire snipped, the sensor can be plugged in and the car runs. The final shop said diagnosed a bad PCM, i picked the car up as I am unsure what to do next.

Before the 1st O-ring job, I tried a brand new MAF, and a refurb one. Car had same problems, the final mechanic had the car for about 3 weeks, in which another customer had an identical MAF, which he "borrowed" to put it in my car to see if it would work (so we knew it was a working one" and still nothing. I am going to call tomorrow to see if he tried another MAF after the injector o-rings were done.

I am lost, do not have much more $ to keep trying things. Besides it taking 2-3 seconds for car to start up, once it is driving you have no idea anything is wrong, except it idles slightly high in park (about 900).

[Superdave]

are you sure you didn't damage any wiring when you swapped the engine? it sounds like something in the MAF harness is just shorted.

I'd get the wiring diagrams and at least check everything.


You have to put some oil or grease on the injector Orings when you install them, if not there is a good chance that they won't seal and you'll have a vacuum leak.



good luck!

[MidnightriderZ24]

most maf vehicles also use throttle postion, and map barometric reading to calculate desired maf rate and compares actual data. might have a wiring or terminal tension issue

[eastcoast]

Hey well after I read it, I forgot a couple things. One, a shop "snipped" the yellow wire going into the MAF sensor, with that snipped, you can plug the sensor in and drive it, and it drives pretty good. The mechanic has insisted it is the computer.

Yes the wires have all been looked at, we have unplugged some sensors to see if it made a difference and made none (when he unplugged the ICM) oddly it threw no codes. There are no codes in the computer. And today the battery was dead, which over the last 2-3 months has been a semi-regular thing. The car will virtually out of nowhere, will be unable to start because of a dead battery. It happened about 2-3+ times over the course of 2-3 months to me, then while the mechanic had the car, he had to have it jumped a couple times. Oddly enough, the battery,alternator both checked out to be ok, and have had the battery charged multiple times. Mechanic told me today the computer has a short it in, and could be causing the batter issues.

If the alternator was bad, I think this would happen more than once every 2-4 weeks, other times it starts no problem.

Have had a few people tell me to replace the ECM, others telling me it could be something else. Just trying to see if i can make a decision, without having to pay another shop to try to figure out whats wrong with it.

Thank you on the O-ring help, mechanic had told me that after he did them. Hopefully I will do them right next time :P