Knock code / Stalls / Running rough?

[propain]

Hey everyone,

Recently (about 2 weeks ago) while i was accelerating out of a parking lot, my car lost all power. Pedal to the floor, and all it would do is jerk forward a little, but mostly just wanted to die. While this was happening the fuel mixture reported by my split second meter was so lean that the meter couldn't even register it (all lights off)... After about 5 seconds, everything went back to normal.

A couple weeks later, the same thing happened on the freeway, out of the blue, i just couldn't hold my speed and the engine wanted to die - after about 10 seconds, it came back.

Anyways, to keep a long story somewhat short, this issue has happend a few times since then, or other times (specifically if i'm just idling) the car will die. When it dies, it does not sputter or cough or anything, it just shuts off like it was turned off from the ignition.

In all cases, after about 3 seconds, it will start back up and everything will work just fine.

I took it to my mechanic, replaced the fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor, tested the o2 sensor (which may be a little lazy, but is working ok) and pulled codes from the computer. - The computer reported a single knock code, we cleared it, and hoped for the best.

2 days later, the car stalled on the freeway, after it was restarted this time, the check engine light came on.

Anyone have any ideas as to what may be going on... i dont want to just blindly replace parts, i just dont have that much money, especially since this morning the power steering pump started making grinding noises and i have to fix that too now

Anyway, if anyone can think of things that could be wrong, and a low cost way to fix/work around it (i'm doing an SR20 swap in Aug/Sep so i want to replace as little as possible since alot is going to be removed in 6 months anyways) please let me know!!

Thanks!

Oh, forgot to mention that i am also (and have been for quite awhile) running an Apex S-AFC... I have tried tweakin gthe low throttle mixture, but this hasn't seemed to have any effect.

[I am Technoman]

Try looking at the idle air control valve.

[propain]

Thanks for the advice!! I will check that out! - Not to sound like a jackass, i really appreciate the input, but do you think that would really be the cause? - Because the problems have happened as much when the car is not idling as when it is idling (i.e. losing power at 70mph on the freeway).

[yellow_jacket]

Sounds more like a MAF or TPS problem. Unless your S-AFC is messing with things(bad or loose wiring etc)

[propain]

To risk sounding like an idiot... What's a TPS? - Also, i have heard that hot wire MAFs can't be cleaned, i've also heard you can clean them by spraying brake cleaner through them... Which is true?

[s0ldats]

To risk sounding like an idiot... What's a TPS? - Also, i have heard that hot wire MAFs can't be cleaned, i've also heard you can clean them by spraying brake cleaner through them... Which is true?

not sure about the mafs, but a TPS = throttle position sensor

[Voodoo]

I might be willing to bet that....

A. Your Fuel filter is plugged

or

B. Your fuel pump is heading south.....

[propain]

I wish it were that simple, the fuel filter was replaced trying to fix this, and the pump is about 4 months old

[92panda]

Have you checked your fuel injectors? I'm not sure that they would be the problem, but I had a similar thing happen (on a different car though) when mine went out. Just a suggestion.

[propain]

Nope, havn't checked that one yet... I have suggested it, but it kinda fell to the back burner when the computer threw a MAF code after it threw and EVAP code...

I'm starting to wonder if it's a computer problem.

[crave209]

I had a similar problem on my 240. It was the electronic soilonoid right underneath the intake manifold. You might want to check it out. I had a piece of dirt or something holding it open and would give me lousy performance. It looks like the size of a "c" battery and has three vaccum hoses going to it. There are about four of those through out the entire engine bay, so you might want to look at all of them. The easiest way to test them is remove them from their spot and apply 12volts to them. While applying the volts blow through one of the inlets. If you get air coming out of another inlet with and without the 12 volts applied you might have a bad soilnoid. Cost to replace is about $75 a piece from dealer. Or around $2 from junkyard if you get someone who doesn't know what you have.

Let me know if that helps

[djtodd]

thats the egr control valve solenoid. I had to replace that p.i.t.a.

I wouldn't think that an egr misfunction would cause problems like your talking about though.

Do you have any buddies with the same year ride as yours? If so swap ecu's and see if it goes away. :pface