walters22t

Any help or advise is appreciated. It's a 94 model, V6, Auto with roughly 120K on the dash. I'm trying to stay positive about this thing and hope it's nothing major. This started over a year ago about the same time I was told it needed a new computer, which I had put in by the dealer ($2K). Back then the car or engine would start shaking / vibrating especially at a standstill or idle and if you continued to drive it would stall out. Well eventually the car would not even start back up. Had one shop look at it and they thought it was possibly a wiring problem; checked everything and couldn't find anything wrong and blamed it on the computer and claimed it had to go to the dealer. The catch is that eventually the car started back up and seemed fine??? They left it running for prob a day or two and it didn't act up. Went to the dealer, they claimed the computer was bad, had it replaced. Car ran fine for 2 weeks and on the way back from a 2 hour round trip, it started shaking, vibrating, loss of power, so I pulled over and had it towed. When I got it home, it started up fine, ran fine for almost a year until now! About 2 months ago it did it again but cleared up a couple of minutes later. Then the same thing would occur once every 2-3 weeks but might do it a little longer. Now for the past few days, it has gotten so bad where you can't even drive the car. Almost seems like it's an intake problem...like it can't breathe. When you start it you can tell its not running smooth and the longer you let it idle the more the rpms drop. If you put the pedal to the floor real quick, it won't do anything, like it's going to stall. Barely press the pedal, and the rpms will slowly rise.
I've ready similar forums and I've already removed the IACV and cleaned it...didn't help. Checked the air hose and filter. Don't see anything visible anywhere under the hood as far as hoses. I pulled the MAF out and cleaned the connections. I pulled the PCV valve out and it just broke into several pieces, looked like it was old but with it out and my finger over the hose, it's still doing it? I haven't put the new one in yet but I'm already thinking it's not the problem. It's definitely going to help everything but what would cause this, especially in the past to come and go like that??? But again whatever it is that was going in and out, is definitely out now cause I can crank it cold, warm, whatever, and it's still doing it. Please help! I can't even make it too the parts store to get it scanned!

Specter

What year ?

walters22t

I'm sorry man...I thought the year was already listed. It's a 94 with roughly 120K. V6 Auto. I just took out the EGR Valve and assembly and I';m going to clean and test it and see if that helps. Will probably clean everything else as far as the throttle body and all while it's accessible. Would like to hear your input....thanks!

PFB

One easy thing to check is your Cat converter. Make sure its not blocked, and that the exhaust flows freely

Phil

walters22t

I believe I have figured it out. I started to check out the 3 ignition coils on the top-front side of the motor and noticed all of the snap in connectors were beginning to break, especially the part that keeps the plug held in. The plug on the left is the one causing the problems b/c I can mess with it and the problem will clear. Well at least all the other things are clean now...ACV, EGR, Intake, Throttle Body...and also have a new PCV Valve. It was just the way that it would come and go like that is what had me thinking something was getting clogged. Thank god for a similar post and the guy said it was a plug wire so while everything was taken apart I started checking all the plugs and wires just to see and thats where the problem was. Just thought I would post the findings.

Specter

And the dealer missed this ?!...

walters22t

The dealer missed it & a well known shop here in town. I actually know the mechanic and he's good. It's like when it was getting a good connection and would run fine obviously it was not showing any codes b/c they couldn't figure it out. I put a temp fix on it today and already the check engine light has gone out but eventually came back on but it's the first time it's been off in over a year! Crazy! Sometimes you gotta get it done yourself...even when your not a mechanic!