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Well Fred seems like he’s having some tough times.
The first thing I would do is take Fred somewhere and have the charging system checked. To me this sounds like a battery/alternator problem where turning things on is causing your voltage to drop below 10 volts, which is what your ignition needs to operate properly.
Well Fred seems like he’s having some tough times.
The first thing I would do is take Fred somewhere and have the charging system checked. To me this sounds like a battery/alternator problem where turning things on is causing your voltage to drop below 10 volts, which is what your ignition needs to operate properly.
if you’re getting shuddering/shaking that disappears when you step on the brakes it would also be a good idea to check your wheel bearings for any play. I believe it’s explained in the video above, but you basically just grab the top and the bottom of the tire while it’s jacked up and wiggle it. There should be NO play.
if you’re getting shuddering/shaking that disappears when you step on the brakes it would also be a good idea to check your wheel bearings for any play. I believe it’s explained in the video above, but you basically just grab the top and the bottom of the tire while it’s jacked up and wiggle it. There should be NO play.
if you can get your hands on a smoke tester it’ll make finding your vacuum leak super easy to find. Otherwise just take some starter fluid and start spraying it around your vac lines to try and pinpoint it.
as far as your low oil pressure goes it’s a little tougher. Personally the first thing I would do is hook up a mechanical oil pressure gauge if you haven’t done so already and really verify that you have low oil pressure.
Also, since the oil pump is gear-driven off of the camshaft through the distributor, it’s possible that if you have a lower-than-normal idle due to your vac leak that it would cause a low oil pressure condition, but since I don’t actually know what actual pressures you’re seeing it’s pretty hard to call that one.
Some extra information would more than likely help a lot. Oil pressure readings, if you have a stock or aftermarket camshaft, what kind of oil pressure gauge you’re using, etc.
It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to get your hands on a junk distributor and take the cam gear off of it so that you can turn it with a drill and control the oil pressure “remotely”. This way you can send a bunch of pressure through the little passageways and such without the engine running and try to force out any kind of blockage that might be anywhere.
if you can get your hands on a smoke tester it’ll make finding your vacuum leak super easy to find. Otherwise just take some starter fluid and start spraying it around your vac lines to try and pinpoint it.
as far as your low oil pressure goes it’s a little tougher. Personally the first thing I would do is hook up a mechanical oil pressure gauge if you haven’t done so already and really verify that you have low oil pressure.
Also, since the oil pump is gear-driven off of the camshaft through the distributor, it’s possible that if you have a lower-than-normal idle due to your vac leak that it would cause a low oil pressure condition, but since I don’t actually know what actual pressures you’re seeing it’s pretty hard to call that one.
Some extra information would more than likely help a lot. Oil pressure readings, if you have a stock or aftermarket camshaft, what kind of oil pressure gauge you’re using, etc.
It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to get your hands on a junk distributor and take the cam gear off of it so that you can turn it with a drill and control the oil pressure “remotely”. This way you can send a bunch of pressure through the little passageways and such without the engine running and try to force out any kind of blockage that might be anywhere.
It could also be an issue with your MAF sensor. If you have a pretty cheap intake on the car then it’s entirely possible for the MAF to be getting bad readings, although this would throw a code. Since this is an intermittent problem, I’m going to guess that you have pending codes stored. What that basically means is that your problem hasn’t actually screwed up enough to set off a check engine light but you ARE throwing codes.
I would try to find a local shop with a high end scanner like a MODIS or another brand’s equivalent. If that fails then you could try the dealer as well since they’ll for sure have good scanner equipment, though they’ll be more expensive. The diagnostic charges for this stuff don’t sound very appealing, but it’ll probably end up being cheaper than throwing parts at it until something hits.
It could also be an issue with your MAF sensor. If you have a pretty cheap intake on the car then it’s entirely possible for the MAF to be getting bad readings, although this would throw a code. Since this is an intermittent problem, I’m going to guess that you have pending codes stored. What that basically means is that your problem hasn’t actually screwed up enough to set off a check engine light but you ARE throwing codes.
I would try to find a local shop with a high end scanner like a MODIS or another brand’s equivalent. If that fails then you could try the dealer as well since they’ll for sure have good scanner equipment, though they’ll be more expensive. The diagnostic charges for this stuff don’t sound very appealing, but it’ll probably end up being cheaper than throwing parts at it until something hits.
well the compressor cycles on when the pressure sensor on the high side of the system sends a signal that the pressure has dropped and the compressor needs to kick on to get the pressure back where it needs to be.
That said, there are several things to check here.
My first thing to check is to rotate the compressor wheel with the engine off and key out. It’s possible that the clutch got too hot or something and is actually sticking together so the clutch never actually disengages.
The next thing I would do is hook up some gauges and make sure that the pressures are where they need to be.
If the pressures are good, then the next area I would look at is the high side pressure sensor. With the engine running and the a/c on, use a multimeter to see if the sensor is sending a constant “on” signal to the control module.
If the sensor is acting normally then it’s time to start hunting down a short in the system. Get your wiring diagrams out and work from the compressor back. If not then just replace the sensor, although I’ve never actually seen a pressure sensor malfunction and actually make the compressor constantly run.
well the compressor cycles on when the pressure sensor on the high side of the system sends a signal that the pressure has dropped and the compressor needs to kick on to get the pressure back where it needs to be.
That said, there are several things to check here.
My first thing to check is to rotate the compressor wheel with the engine off and key out. It’s possible that the clutch got too hot or something and is actually sticking together so the clutch never actually disengages.
The next thing I would do is hook up some gauges and make sure that the pressures are where they need to be.
If the pressures are good, then the next area I would look at is the high side pressure sensor. With the engine running and the a/c on, use a multimeter to see if the sensor is sending a constant “on” signal to the control module.
If the sensor is acting normally then it’s time to start hunting down a short in the system. Get your wiring diagrams out and work from the compressor back. If not then just replace the sensor, although I’ve never actually seen a pressure sensor malfunction and actually make the compressor constantly run.
there was a TSB for this a while back for trailblazers. Pretty much the exact same issue. The fix was to get your ECU flashed/updated by the dealer
you can go to http://www.bbbind.com and look to see if there are any TSBs like this for your car. Beyond that I would plan on a trip to the dealer for some diagnostics unless you know of a local shop with a high dollar scanner (and someone there that knows how to use it).