when was the last time you cleaned the terminals of your battery?

 

I made sure to do this when i did the coil and what not. Bought a terminal cleaner specifically for this job .

 

Did you replace the Distributor cap or the whole distributor?

 

Well I thought I was in the clear here guys... I put the new battery in a while ago and everything has been great. Well until today....... Today my wife tried to start the car and turn over and over... Then once it started the engine shook pretty bad... I was not home so she drove it and the shaking seemed to stop but it was surging like press the gas pedal and letting off. I get home try to start it and no go turns over and nothing more. I see the check engine light come on and I try to get code by using the 2 pin plug above the ECU and it did not blink at all just stayed on solid. After that I pulled the 7.5 backup fuse from under the hood and let it reset the ECU for like 15 seconds or a little more. Put it back in and boom car starts right up. IT runs good now....... I guess I am in a holding pattern till it breaks or something finally fails for good. Maybe the ECU is bad??? Where is a cheap spot to get one of these? The dealership is a joke!

 

Get your alt tested and/or make sure the belt is tight and not slipping

 

You may have an intermittently faulty main relay or ECU.

First, try resoldering the main relay:
http://techauto.awardspace.com/mainrelay.html

If that doesn't fix the problem, then check whether the MAP sensor connector is getting 5V from the ECU (when engine won't start). If not, then the ECU is bad or the wire between the ECU and MAP sensor is bad.

 

So today I got a brand new relay from NAPA. Had to wait two days for it.... Patience and this car are going hand and hand right now... So with the new relay in same issue.

New findings though.

Testing the relay via Haynes manual. We took the battery out of the car put it on the bench and used jumper wires and the volt meter to get these findings.

Connected pin 6 to 12v pin 8 to ground.
check continuity between 5 and 7. Should i get 12v on these pins or am I just making sure that there is no resistance between the two pins (5,7)?? There was no power if we took 12v off pin 6 and put it back on quick we would get some voltage but it would disappear so quick we could get a reading it bounce between 2-7 volts.

We did the same this with pins 5 12v to pin 2 ground.
check for cont. between 1 and 3... Same symptoms as above pins......

This has happened on both relays old and new. The old relay when i took the cover off looked like there was rust marks feint but they are there... And i could smell cooked electronics.

We also jumped pins 5 and 7 on the harness where the relay plugs in with a jumper wire between the two and had 12.5v to the fuel pump. And then plugged in the pump and it turned on with out the relay in place. With the relay in place there is no power to the fuel pump it seems.

Maybe i got another bad relay right out of the box???

 

Mind you I know when the car is not going to start now... I never hear the fuel pump. I feel the relay snap when i turn the key... Also felt the same snap when we connected the 12v and ground to the pins i spoke about in the above post.

 

When i jump the two pin connect on top of the ECU and then try to read the codes the check engine light stays on but the SRS light blinks for infinity and no slow pauses just blink blink blink....... Is that normal???

 

So I now know its not my relay now...

A few post ago someone mentioned something about the MAP sensor needing 5 volts. Well my MAP sensor gets 12volts to two of the wires, I believe the out side ones being there are three leads. Is this a sign of anything? I am starting to think maybe its my ignition or ECU? Does anyone know a way to rule those out? As always thanks for your help!!