Fixkick, I humbly request your assistance before I roll my tracker off a cliff!!!!! No but seriously, I'm really glad I found this board. I've been using a lot of the resources you authored to help me learn more about my vehicle and fix the little issues along the way. I was very, very relived to see you are still active somewhere, because I think I may need your level of expertise to get me through this.
So anyway buckle up because this is a hell of a read...
It all starts when I picked up a 1998 tracker, to replace my super rusty 2003. This 1998 is from the desert in the southern US, so it didn't suffer the same salty fate as trackers/sidekicks did here on the island of Newfoundland. It's a 2 door 4x4, 16valve. Has 115k on the clock but it was a tow behind rig, just took the old tow bar off it last week. Previous owner think about 20k is tow miles, and she bought it off someone who did the same thing.
When I test drove it, it started and ran perfect. It had a CEL but it was just a p0135 and p0740 so I wasn't too worried. It's 100% rust free and very clean so I pulled the trigger.
Now the second day I had it, it starts to get this weird stumble at idle. you can feel a little shake, and see the rpm drop for just a second. And the next day it started to stall sometimes when it was put into park or neutral. This is essentially where it is today, even after everything I've done to try and fix it. Some days it's very bad, and some days it hardly ever happens. Today it wasn't so bad, but only because I was trying to take some videos. If I had no camera it would be way worse. I think it's alive.
Currently the tracker is off the road, mainly because I don't want it out in the road salt, but also because I don't like to drive it with the stalling. It will also sometimes stall when you give it a tiny amount (5%) of throttle in gear and quickly let off the throttle, which has lead me to stall on left turns, which could also kill me. So I want to try and fix this before spring.
So here is what I have done so far:
-Spark plugs (gapped to .028")
-PCV valve
-Air filter
-Dist Cap
-Dist rotor
-Repaired exhaust manifold crack (done properly. drilled, preheated, nickle rods, cooldown, also put exhaust putty over weld)
-Upstream o2 sensor
-cleaned the Idle air control valve.
Also did a compression test (#'d from front to back)
- 1=190psi
- 2=180psi
- 3=180psi
- 4=185psi
When I took the plugs out, #1 was black. Stuck open injector I thought, especially considering I got a p0172 code after changing all the above parts (p0135 is fixed now, enters closed loop dead cold in about 30 seconds)
I swapped in a known good injector and fired her up, no change.
Then I went ahead and swapped in the IACV, TSP (whole throttle plate actually, didn't want to mess up TPS), #1 spark plug wire, and the injector harness you guessed it, no change.
I'm not sure what codes will come from this as OBD is still not ready since I disconnected the battery while messing with the above stuff. I'll try see if I can ready it tomorrow.
For the hell of it I went and put the IACV, TPS/plate, #1 injector, plug wire and my injector harness on the parts sidekick I have, you guess it again, runs PERFECT. This rust bucket has 2 year old 10% ethanol 87 crap gas in the tank and it runs perfect, while my good tracker still won't run right. alas I'm at my wits end.
After all this, I found a can a seafoam on the shelf and gave it a whirl, especially after seeing inside my TB. Put about 100 ml in the brake booster vac hose and mixed 10L of gas about 40:1 and put it in (it was almost empty). Can't tell if it made an difference. I am not a professional so I like to try snake oil sometimes :p
I only have a little scan gauge now, but I did pull some values. I'm waiting for my elm327 dongle in the mail to get the real good info like fuel trims and fancy graphs.
Now here is many videos of the issues I'm having, words are great but i feel like some people would rather watch/listen
As it runs today (notice the surge at 0:22): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...VVTjA/view [35s]
As it drives today (great power, shifting): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...Z3bWc/view [35s]
Shifting today(stalls flat on it's face): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...pqR3c/view [30s]
EGR Stall test today, doesn't shut off but it wants too: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...RBdEU/view [1m02s]
Cold-start and warm up, shifting and stalling on feb 13th(WARNING LONG AND BORING): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...RqQ28/view [29m55s]
Hot start, feb 13th(wasn't doing this too bad today,comes and goes): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...J1MlE/view [28s]
Stalling after letting off 55 throttle in gear, late December: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...wyaTQ/view [20s]
Parts sidekick with all the good tracker parts that i thought were causing the issue, running perfect: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...9VUVU/view [1m]
Photos:
plugs on feb 13th, these are new about 2 hours on them
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...0RYQ2ozbVE
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...mxSb0w5bFU
Serious carbon on throttle plate, cleaned it up
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...nR5ZXdCbW8
slight difference in throttle plates. Left is white good tracker, right is parts sidekick.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...0FiSE1PMTg
gunk on brand new PCV?: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...ktncnB6Ync
But wait, there's more! Bonus WTF story. This white 98 tracker never had daytime running lights (DRLs) since I bought it, but it has the green indicator on the dash that comes turns off when I lift the handbrake and the red brake lights come one, and turns on again when the brake light goes off when I lower the handbrake.
well...
today after messing with the IACV, injector harness, and TPS plate I NOW HAVE DRLS?? How? and then when I was moving it around an hour or 2 later they are OFF AGAIN?!?! There is no way this could be related is there? I hope not...
edit: here is the info from my little scanner while I wait, these were taken after I swapped the parts and connected the battery.
Closed loop (open when WOT, normal?)
ignition 8
intake temp 45f
load 19
map 4.5psi
RPM 800
tps 0
coolant temp 185f
So anyway buckle up because this is a hell of a read...
It all starts when I picked up a 1998 tracker, to replace my super rusty 2003. This 1998 is from the desert in the southern US, so it didn't suffer the same salty fate as trackers/sidekicks did here on the island of Newfoundland. It's a 2 door 4x4, 16valve. Has 115k on the clock but it was a tow behind rig, just took the old tow bar off it last week. Previous owner think about 20k is tow miles, and she bought it off someone who did the same thing.
When I test drove it, it started and ran perfect. It had a CEL but it was just a p0135 and p0740 so I wasn't too worried. It's 100% rust free and very clean so I pulled the trigger.
Now the second day I had it, it starts to get this weird stumble at idle. you can feel a little shake, and see the rpm drop for just a second. And the next day it started to stall sometimes when it was put into park or neutral. This is essentially where it is today, even after everything I've done to try and fix it. Some days it's very bad, and some days it hardly ever happens. Today it wasn't so bad, but only because I was trying to take some videos. If I had no camera it would be way worse. I think it's alive.
Currently the tracker is off the road, mainly because I don't want it out in the road salt, but also because I don't like to drive it with the stalling. It will also sometimes stall when you give it a tiny amount (5%) of throttle in gear and quickly let off the throttle, which has lead me to stall on left turns, which could also kill me. So I want to try and fix this before spring.
So here is what I have done so far:
-Spark plugs (gapped to .028")
-PCV valve
-Air filter
-Dist Cap
-Dist rotor
-Repaired exhaust manifold crack (done properly. drilled, preheated, nickle rods, cooldown, also put exhaust putty over weld)
-Upstream o2 sensor
-cleaned the Idle air control valve.
Also did a compression test (#'d from front to back)
- 1=190psi
- 2=180psi
- 3=180psi
- 4=185psi
When I took the plugs out, #1 was black. Stuck open injector I thought, especially considering I got a p0172 code after changing all the above parts (p0135 is fixed now, enters closed loop dead cold in about 30 seconds)
I swapped in a known good injector and fired her up, no change.
Then I went ahead and swapped in the IACV, TSP (whole throttle plate actually, didn't want to mess up TPS), #1 spark plug wire, and the injector harness you guessed it, no change.
I'm not sure what codes will come from this as OBD is still not ready since I disconnected the battery while messing with the above stuff. I'll try see if I can ready it tomorrow.
For the hell of it I went and put the IACV, TPS/plate, #1 injector, plug wire and my injector harness on the parts sidekick I have, you guess it again, runs PERFECT. This rust bucket has 2 year old 10% ethanol 87 crap gas in the tank and it runs perfect, while my good tracker still won't run right. alas I'm at my wits end.
After all this, I found a can a seafoam on the shelf and gave it a whirl, especially after seeing inside my TB. Put about 100 ml in the brake booster vac hose and mixed 10L of gas about 40:1 and put it in (it was almost empty). Can't tell if it made an difference. I am not a professional so I like to try snake oil sometimes :p
I only have a little scan gauge now, but I did pull some values. I'm waiting for my elm327 dongle in the mail to get the real good info like fuel trims and fancy graphs.
Now here is many videos of the issues I'm having, words are great but i feel like some people would rather watch/listen
As it runs today (notice the surge at 0:22): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...VVTjA/view [35s]
As it drives today (great power, shifting): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...Z3bWc/view [35s]
Shifting today(stalls flat on it's face): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...pqR3c/view [30s]
EGR Stall test today, doesn't shut off but it wants too: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...RBdEU/view [1m02s]
Cold-start and warm up, shifting and stalling on feb 13th(WARNING LONG AND BORING): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...RqQ28/view [29m55s]
Hot start, feb 13th(wasn't doing this too bad today,comes and goes): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...J1MlE/view [28s]
Stalling after letting off 55 throttle in gear, late December: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...wyaTQ/view [20s]
Parts sidekick with all the good tracker parts that i thought were causing the issue, running perfect: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqDCfp...9VUVU/view [1m]
Photos:
plugs on feb 13th, these are new about 2 hours on them
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...0RYQ2ozbVE
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...mxSb0w5bFU
Serious carbon on throttle plate, cleaned it up
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...nR5ZXdCbW8
slight difference in throttle plates. Left is white good tracker, right is parts sidekick.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...0FiSE1PMTg
gunk on brand new PCV?: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzqDCf...ktncnB6Ync
But wait, there's more! Bonus WTF story. This white 98 tracker never had daytime running lights (DRLs) since I bought it, but it has the green indicator on the dash that comes turns off when I lift the handbrake and the red brake lights come one, and turns on again when the brake light goes off when I lower the handbrake.
well...
today after messing with the IACV, injector harness, and TPS plate I NOW HAVE DRLS?? How? and then when I was moving it around an hour or 2 later they are OFF AGAIN?!?! There is no way this could be related is there? I hope not...
edit: here is the info from my little scanner while I wait, these were taken after I swapped the parts and connected the battery.
Closed loop (open when WOT, normal?)
ignition 8
intake temp 45f
load 19
map 4.5psi
RPM 800
tps 0
coolant temp 185f
1998 Chevrolet Tracker, 2 door, 3 speed auto, 4x4