Mouse2112

Hey everybody, I'm having problems with my 94/auto/89K on the clock. Opti changed at 60K. Instead of giving you a very long post I'll give you Cliff notes instead. Please keep in mind that I am not a mechanic. In fact, I am clueless. However, my brother is so any replies he will read.

Cliff Notes: 6 months ago after driving for more than 45 minutes, the tach would bounce up to 2000 RPM and back down. Once the car cools, it goes away. If the car is driven more than an hour, the car will begin to bog down and I have to really hit the gas to get it moving. Only happens when the car is driven for more than an hour.

Car runs fine when cold, worse when it warms and fuel mileage is bad.

Today. Had the car on the road for 15 minutes then shut down. Started right up then shut down after a minute. She sat for 5 minutes, started right up, went three blocks and it shut down as I was pulling into the driveway.

Could you please offer your thoughts on what might be happening so my kid brother who knows more about this than I do can help?

Thank you!!!

Ryan59

Sounds like the ignition module is going bad.

Mouse2112

Ryan, can you tell me a little bit about that and what does it do. I would appreciate it.

Ryan59

The ignition module is mounted on the right cylinder head above the coil. IM's can go bad all at once or shut down occasionally when they start to go bad. Coils go bad all at once so it's probably not going to be the coil.

Ignition modules control the coil. When it lets go of the spark. It's a timing device for the coil. In older vehicles, points do what the ignition module does.

Mouse2112

Thank you very much Sir. I'm learning.

Harsh20

it sounds like the catalytic converter is clogged. you have all the classic symptoms.

Mouse2112

I just got off the phone with a friend and he said the same thing. He mentioned as the car heats it will get worse. Hmmmmm. Another possibilty.

Funny thing is, when the car is cold it runs like a champ. Just gets worse when it warms.

kenmack

Don't think your catalytic converter would be clogged at only 80-90 k
For about $100.00 you can get some diagnostics done, it must be throwing codes galore with the problems you are having.
Then hopefully you don't have to guess what's wrong.
I'm thinking ignition module too,or some issue around fuel filters / pump????

PLEEEEESE POST THE SOLUTION HERE ON THIS THREAD WHEN YOU SOLVE IT

Dr. Evil

Sonds heat related whatever it is. I'd start with checking fuel press since its an easy check. If thats good then the ICM. Go from there.

Mouse2112

Little bro just said the exact same thing 15 minutes ago. We are going to get at it in a couple of days. He mentioned something to the effect of "Grabbing the Codes", whatever that means. He seems to think it's not a big deal. Easy for him to say.

Mouse2112

Absolutely! In fact, I'll have Kevin (Little Bro) post it because if I did.....I would surely F it up.

dogfish246

To test a clogged cat, use a temp gun (the lazer ones) and see how hot it is in front of the cat compared to behind it... A clogged cat will also be super hot compared to your other cat.

Klondike

I'll toss my $.02 in here for what it's worth.
I think it could be bad Oxygen sensors. It would run OK cold because the engine is not looking at the O2 sensors when cold. It's running off a set of mixture tables in the computer that will keep the engine running until the catalytic converters get up to temperature. When the temperature in the catalytic converters get up to operating temp and the engine coolant temp is up too, the computer switches over and starts reading the voltage signal from the Ox sensors. If one or more of them are bad, the computer will go nuts trying to adjust the fuel mixture. It just keeps hunting trying to find the rich or lean setting to make the oxygen sensors "happy".