a few questions / new user introduction

[q45moreyears]

Hello everyone!

I've been reading this forum for the past year and decided that it was time to join - thank you all for the perspectives, manuals, and general information on these vehicles.

I came into my first 98' Q when a family friend sold me the car next to nothing. This vehicle started a very real love/hate relationship for the Q. It was in decent shape and after catching the black plague rough idle/stalling issue I decided to take it apart with no intention of ever putting it back together - just to have a look around.

I then found an 01' Q45t in impeccable (to me) shape (120k miles) and pulled the trigger - drove a few hours, picked it up, and A/C died. Shortly after changing the A/C compressor/drier/orifice I was on my way.

Now I'm running into a few issues and as my name states I'd like to get at least five more years on the car. I had the dealer look the car over and a few of their recommendations are below.

1) Morning Sickness
The fluid is not black but it is definitely a dark shade of red/orange (getting there). Would you suggest the recommended transmission fluid flush? Do you all think that it would be worthwhile to have the flush performed then drop the pan, change the filter, and then clean out the SDVs in the transmission and replace the 4 qts in the pan? Are there any modifications that can be performed on this transmission to get a more crisp shift (shift kits etc?, please excuse the ignorance but I like my old muscle cars which I fully appreciate could not be more different from this vehicle). How are these transmissions when new?

Also discussed in two other threads that I can find.

I do notice that if I do things associated with the vacuum system (turn the steering wheel, pump the brakes, etc it seems to coax it into gear). Could this be related to vacuum in any way? I'm not seeing much in the manual here - let me know if I missed something.

2) Rich Smell / Dieseling at Idle / Condensation from exhaust in cool weather
I have replaced the coil packs and plugs (OE-replacement) as specified in previous threads. I do have the KS codes and plan to replace them myself with OE parts (dealer quoted 1,700 for the job). Do you all think that this would fix the issue? It idles at 1,000 on cold start and then comes down to 750. When warm it will drop to 710-730 and start with the diesel sound.

3) Intermittent jerking / backfire
This has only happened a few times but it is concerning to hear backfire through the intake (it seems). Is it likely that this symptom is related to #2 above? Hard to say, I know, but overall I'm looking for some direction here. I have ordered a can of BG44K which should be in next week and plan to do the full can on 3/4 tank of fuel and then refill at 1/4 tank prior to my next oil change which is in about 500 miles. I did get a O2 sensor code from my little scanner - could this cause a similar issue? The car runs great on the highway and this issue only seems to come up off-idle. Will also have the dealer perform a fuel rail flush after the BG44K as well.

4) Struts
I have a rattle sound (sounds like a small rubber hammer on the front/driver side when going over bumps). I plan to follow the steps at this link with the manual in hand but it looks like some photo links are broken, but I'll be alright.

5) Brakes
No input requested here - ton of posts on the forum but wanted to put it on the list.

6) Sticking at WOT
This was a terrifying issue. Decided to open it up on the ride home and the car got stuck with the throttle wide open. The springs on the three cables seemed to be sticking. Changed the part with the one on my 98 Q without issue - no more sticking. Maybe the throttle cable is worn but I'm ok for now.

If anyone is looking for an odd part from a 98' Q let me know and I may be able to pull it off of the parts car. I don't have a ton of time but am willing to help if possible. In my spare time over the next few weeks I'll be changing the head on a friend's 01' XJ - they have a design flaw which leads to a crack in the head.

Excuse the above book. Hope to document these seemingly common problems with the Q and receive some valuable input. Any opinions on the above are appreciated.

[Q451990]

to NICO! I have to be at an appointment in a few minutes, so I'll come back and look at this more later.

[Q451990]

Hello everyone!

I've been reading this forum for the past year and decided that it was time to join - thank you all for the perspectives, manuals, and general information on these vehicles.

I came into my first 98' Q when a family friend sold me the car next to nothing. This vehicle started a very real love/hate relationship for the Q. It was in decent shape and after catching the black plague rough idle/stalling issue I decided to take it apart with no intention of ever putting it back together - just to have a look around.

I then found an 01' Q45t in impeccable (to me) shape (120k miles) and pulled the trigger - drove a few hours, picked it up, and A/C died. Shortly after changing the A/C compressor/drier/orifice I was on my way.

Now I'm running into a few issues and as my name states I'd like to get at least five more years on the car. I had the dealer look the car over and a few of their recommendations are below.

1) Morning Sickness
The fluid is not black but it is definitely a dark shade of red/orange (getting there). Would you suggest the recommended transmission fluid flush? Do you all think that it would be worthwhile to have the flush performed then drop the pan, change the filter, and then clean out the SDVs in the transmission and replace the 4 qts in the pan? Are there any modifications that can be performed on this transmission to get a more crisp shift (shift kits etc?, please excuse the ignorance but I like my old muscle cars which I fully appreciate could not be more different from this vehicle). How are these transmissions when new?

Also discussed in two other threads that I can find.

I do notice that if I do things associated with the vacuum system (turn the steering wheel, pump the brakes, etc it seems to coax it into gear). Could this be related to vacuum in any way? I'm not seeing much in the manual here - let me know if I missed something.

I'm a little confused... are you having issues getting the car to shift in to gear when it's cold? That can definitely be a sign of a clogged transmission filter. As far as a transmission flush, that's a very controversial topic on older transmissions with poor fluid maintenance histories. There are a lot of "shifted fine with dirty fluid, and then failed right after the flush" stories out there. I fall on the other side of the fence, with the thought that there's nothing good coming from dirty fluid. If you flush it, and it fails, then you were about to have a failure anyway. A gentle middle ground would be to skip the chemical flush, do a pan drop and filter change, followed by a top off. Then change the fluid with every oil change (or more frequently if you want) with a drain and top off until you get a good fluid color. You didn't remove any varnish, but at least your fluid quality is improved. I don't think there's much vacuum control going on with the A/T... maybe the changes in RPM are helping?

2) Rich Smell / Dieseling at Idle / Condensation from exhaust in cool weather
I have replaced the coil packs and plugs (OE-replacement) as specified in previous threads. I do have the KS codes and plan to replace them myself with OE parts (dealer quoted 1,700 for the job). Do you all think that this would fix the issue? It idles at 1,000 on cold start and then comes down to 750. When warm it will drop to 710-730 and start with the diesel sound.

Your RPM numbers sound about right for a cold start. It should idle high starting out, and work it's way to about that number. I'm not sure what accounts for your diesel sound. The engine should idle fairly quietly down to at least 550 RPM.

3) Intermittent jerking / backfire
This has only happened a few times but it is concerning to hear backfire through the intake (it seems). Is it likely that this symptom is related to #2 above? Hard to say, I know, but overall I'm looking for some direction here. I have ordered a can of BG44K which should be in next week and plan to do the full can on 3/4 tank of fuel and then refill at 1/4 tank prior to my next oil change which is in about 500 miles. I did get a O2 sensor code from my little scanner - could this cause a similar issue? The car runs great on the highway and this issue only seems to come up off-idle. Will also have the dealer perform a fuel rail flush after the BG44K as well.

I doubt BG will cure it, but it can't hurt. If the O2 sensor is so sluggish that the car is running very rich, I suppose it could cause a backfire. Occasional bucking could be explained by the knock sensors.

4) Struts
I have a rattle sound (sounds like a small rubber hammer on the front/driver side when going over bumps). I plan to follow the steps at this link with the manual in hand but it looks like some photo links are broken, but I'll be alright.

5) Brakes
No input requested here - ton of posts on the forum but wanted to put it on the list.

6) Sticking at WOT
This was a terrifying issue. Decided to open it up on the ride home and the car got stuck with the throttle wide open. The springs on the three cables seemed to be sticking. Changed the part with the one on my 98 Q without issue - no more sticking. Maybe the throttle cable is worn but I'm ok for now.

Be sure you have the required slack in the cables. First I've heard of this. I would also look to cleaning the throttle body. It's possible that it got hung up on "gunk" but unlikely. Either way cleaning it is good.

If anyone is looking for an odd part from a 98' Q let me know and I may be able to pull it off of the parts car. I don't have a ton of time but am willing to help if possible. In my spare time over the next few weeks I'll be changing the head on a friend's 01' XJ - they have a design flaw which leads to a crack in the head.

Excuse the above book. Hope to document these seemingly common problems with the Q and receive some valuable input. Any opinions on the above are appreciated.

Awesome first post! I'm sure more people will chime in. I've never owned your series of Q, but I think fixing your knock sensor issues will go a long way toward curing things.