QuestionQUESTION: My 1998 Neon (SOHC) has begun to start hard and runs poor for the first 2 minutes and then runs great. I can drive the car an hour, turn it off and then right back on and it will again take 2 minutes to run well again. I'm trying to figure out which sensor (crank, air temp, TPS) might be the cause. Any thoughts?
ANSWER: any codes in the computer? with out that info U will need to have some one look at it to see what the sensor readings are.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I had the code read today and they don't seem to help much. First was P0141. O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Malfunction (Bank 1 Sensor 2) and P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected. Any thoughs as to how I should proceed?
ANSWER: replace the down stream o2 sensor to start with
then make sure the plugs and wires are in good shape also make sure they are champion plugs.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I replaced the O2 sensor this past weekend. I also checked the plugs and they all look good as well as the wires. I will replace the plugs as you suggest just to rule them out. If it were a plug I would expect the problem to continue after the car warms up. I had the codes read again today and it still has the P0300 Random/Multiple Misfire Detected. I now have a P0171 System to Lean (Bank 1). Could this be a bad injector?
AnswerP0171-1/1 FUEL SYSTEM LEAN
When Monitored and Set Condition:
P0171-1/1 FUEL SYSTEM LEAN
When Monitored: With the engine running in closed loop mode, the ambient/battery
temperature above 20 deg. F and altitude below 8000 ft.
Set Condition: If the PCM multiplies short term compensation by long term adaptive and
a certain percentage is exceeded for two trips, a freeze frame is stored, the MIL illuminates
and a trouble code is stored.
POSSIBLE CAUSES
FUEL PUMP MODULE DEFECTIVE
TPS VOLTAGE CHANGE NOT SMOOTH
TPS VOLTAGE < 0.92 V
FUEL INLET STRAINER PLUGGED
ECT SENSOR DEFECTIVE (OUT OF CALIBRATION)
MAP SENSOR DEFECTIVE (OUT OF CALIBRATION)
ENGINE MECHANICAL PROBLEM
FUEL FILTER/PRESSURE REGULATOR DEFECTIVE (HIGH)
FUEL FILTER/PRESSURE REGULATOR DEFECTIVE (LOW)
FUEL PUMP CAPACITY (VOLUME) OUT OF SPECS