QuestionQUESTION: 1992 New Yorker starts and stalls after few seconds of running. The fuel pump went out 8 months ago change it but now it will not stay running. By pumping the gas it will run a little longer but still will stall. The car sat for the 8 months.
ANSWER: Hi Joe,
Is there an anti-theft security system on the car? Could it be in a false alarmed state, because it will behave this way (run for up to 3 seconds then die) if that is the case? If so, try lock/unlock both front doors using the door key.
If that doesn't solve it, I would try to get any fault codes from the engine computer. "On-off-on-off-on and leave on" with the ignition switch, doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light to see it begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat to assure as accurate count of the flashes. Then group the counts in pairs in the order they appeared to form the 2-digit fault codes. Then write back with the codes and we'll go from there, or go to www.allpar.com/fix/codes.html for a code listing that may say if there is something wrong in the engine spark or fuel systems. If you write back with a code, tell me which engine you have.
Roland
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: 1992 New Yorker starts and stalls
The only two codes 12 And 55. I have a 3.3 engine. There was no battery in the car for the 8 months. No anti-theft that I know about did the lock/unlock but did not help.
ANSWER: Hi Joe,
It is possible that your egr valve is stuck ajar which would cause what you are experiencing. Look for it to be installed in a small pipe that runs from the right side exhaust manifold back to the intake manifold throttle body area. It's body is bolted into that pipe, mounted sideways, it has a round vacuum actuator on top with a vecuum hose and a flange in-between those two parts. Look inside the flange and you will see a rod with a circuferential slot. That is the valve stem. Try levering the stem back and forth with the tip of a screwdriver inserted in the slot. It will try to close under spring action. If it doesn't move freely and come to a full stop at the closed positon then spray some WD-40 on the stem where it enters the valve body and move the valve stem back and forth until it moves freely. Then try and start the engine.
The next step would be to verify that the spark isn't dropping out, so if you can get a spark plug tester (basically a spark plug with an aligator clip that you can use to attach to the engine metal and power it with one of the spark plug caps removed from one on the engine, have a helper start the engine while you watch to see if the spark is maintained while it is struggling to start and continues even as it is dieing out. If so, then the spark system is ok. I would then test the fuel pump pressure and see if that is around 48 psi by tapping a gauge into the access port on the fuel rail. After that it may be something subtle that affects the mixture.
Roland
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Never did find the egr valve. I did disconnect the map sensor and it would run a lot better. Once I would connect it back up the engine stalled out. So I’m guessing it to be the map sensor. Maybe 12 was a 13 code I hope. Thanks for all your help Joe. P.S it was the map sensor, thanks
AnswerHi Joe,
That 12 (battery disconnect) code may not have been a 13 (MAP sensor not reading or changing), but in any case you seem to have hit on the solution. In point of fact, I personally had the same sort of no idle/no start with my '89 2.5L engine wherein the MAP sensor was inaccurate as to its pressure reading but not so much as to set a fault code. It was only diagnosed by means of a DRB II which showed it to be saying the ambient pressure was at 10,000' feet above sea level whereas the car was near sea level. So the fault codes for sensors with parametric variables are not necessarily going to give the answer on issues such as mixture until things are way out of order.
Thanks for that report.
Roland
