So I recently got a whole bunch of things done to my car:


Trans rebuild

New battery

New steering rack

New radiator

New spark plugs/wires


Some things are better than others but the main problem with all of them is the fact that they gave up working on the car(after 2 months of having it) due to an unknown issue of it no longer being able to cold start. They decided to just give the car back to me unfinished and I noticed a whole bunch of wiring issues ranging from cut wires to things just not being connected.


What I need help with is trying to figure out whats what so here are some out of place things I noticed.





So I know these two wires are for the coolant temp sensor and I have no idea why theres a resistor connected to them.





I looked at the coolant temp sensor and noticed its hooked up to something with one white wire that is spliced into a black wire.





That black wire is just sitting here cut off and there doesnt seem to be anything to connect it to.





I found a 2 pin connector with a black/grey and pink wire. It's coming from the drivers side of the wiring harness. If anyone knows what this is supposed to be connected to please let me know.





Here's another 2 pin connector with 2 brown wires and a tan/black wire. Also coming from the drivers side of the wiring harness. Don't know where this goes.




I'm not sure if this is causing any issues but I noticed the clip for the set timing connector is broken. Thoughts?



Before I had any work done the car was running fine. Now it doesn't cold start at all. Once it does start up it seems to immediately go into closed loop idle (which if its not warmed up enough will just stall the engine). If I try to apply any throttle before letting it run for a couple minutes it will either bog, backfire or stall. I've checked the timing and its reading 6 degrees at idle which I recall is about right.

There are several other problems that they've neglected to fix but none of them can really be sorted out until I get the engine running normally again so please help!!






Bonus:

During the rebuild they changed my torque converter and I'm not really happy with this one so if anyone can identify my old TC with the only pics I have that would really help me get this build back in the right direction.

 

I would talk to an attorney not a forum. Dan

 

I'm not made out of money so other than reporting it to the BBB I'm at a loss here.

 

What does the shop say when you you confronted them with these things?

That resistor looks like it was meant to spoof the ECM that the temperature was OK.

Start rattling the cage of the shop ... you'd be surprised what a bad Yelp review will do to motivate a shop.

 

Their response is that they're sick of working on a car in cold weather when the problem is a no cold start situation. The work is under warranty and they're willing to take a closer look when the weather gets warmer but I don't really have time to wait since this is supposed to be my daily (as it has been for the past 2 years). The resistor doesn't help at all, I've taken it off since it's an eye sore and makes me mad just looking at it. Whats worse is like I said, this is a problem that started while they had the car. So I just don't understand where they got the idea to cut something that was working and rig it in a way that doesn't even work. I'm not sure who to blame either since I've been going to this shop for years and the trans rebuild is the first time a different shop has touched this car. They won't tell me who did the rebuild so I can only go to them to sort this whole thing out.

 

Is this "shop" outside? Is it not heated?

 

IMHO they have a **** poor attitude and shoddy customer service. Too bad it's cold ... they F'd up.

 

Just find a shop that knows what they are doing. Obviously (or maybe not) the folks you hired are incompetent. You can't force then to do somthing they don't want to do, and at this point you shouldn't want them to anyway, so just go somwhere else.

 

Let me see if I can help you.
As noted, pic one has a resistor to spoof the ECM. Won't work well.

Pic two shows where the ECM temp sensor should be. It should have a two wire connector, what they have there is some kind of butchered one wire connector. It's a very common sensor. That sensor will cause all kinds of problems if it's wrong or malfunctioning. BTW the one next to it with the Bosch style connector is the cold start temp/time sensor.

Pic three looks to be someones bodged attempt at something. Can't tell what that is.

Four and five are AIR valve electrical connectors. car should run OK regardless of wether these are connected or not.

The snapped off timing connector isn't a huge deal, I'd replace that though.

Can't help you on the torque converter, sorry.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the help. I already have a coolant temp sensor + connector on the way so I hope to have that remedied soon.

I think I've narrowed down the torque converter to some model of pro king.

As for everyone else saying just take it somewhere else, I wish I could but I already went into pretty serious debt just getting all this work done in the hopes that it would be back in working order upon completion. Probably a bad move on my part but as we all know the longer you just let the car sit the more things start to go bad.

Really what I want for the time being is some info and advice on the wiring itself to see if anyone can point me (and also the shop) in the right direction with sorting out this mess. Again they are willing to do the work but have been frustrated with the car not starting on cold days.

note: if I can sort this out myself that gives them the go ahead to finish all the work they've been trying to do

While the shop is heated its also been fairly busy and they were left with either leaving my car outside (in snowy weather) or giving it back to me while they set it aside for easier jobs. To me that is understandable but at the same time I don't see it getting warmer for the next several weeks and really need my car so I can go out and do things on a regular basis. So really at this point anything helps (aside from making this a court case)

 

Well first, I'd get a FSM. Then get all the wiring put back, then you can start to trouble-shoot the cold start problem. I'm assuming it does eventually start but just cold start is the problem. It shouldn't take more than a shot of ether/carb cleaner or gas to get it to fire cold.

You could have anything from a blown cold start fuse or bad sensor or clogged cold start valve. Impossible to tell what's going on until it's all back to stock condition.

 

My thought is they don't have a clue on how to fix your car. You said it was running fine when you took it in. Even if you get it running whats not to say they screw it up again. I would suggest taking the advice you have been given above to find another shop or mechanic. Maybe try to get in touch with a local Corvette club for recommendations.

 

It does start but the car runs as if its at operation temp at all times. A clogged valve doesn't seem like something that would happen while being worked on and my engine isn't exactly stock so that's not really my goal here. I'm placing most of my faith in the cut wires for the temp sensor just needing a new connector and figure if I get a connector I might as well get a new sensor while I'm at it. As for getting a FSM. Great idea!!

Thanks again.

 

Everytime I've taken it to corvette specialists they always get really turned off by the fact that it's not stock. They always suggest major changes that I simply can't afford (I.E. "why not just do an LT1 swap?"). Also you're right they didn't know how to go about fixing the cold start issue but if I can give them the right information they would be happy to do whatever is needed so they can finish the job like I said, and trust me there's still a lot that they haven't been able to work on.

 

 

Small claims court bring plenty of documentation.

If the ECM is controlling spark 6BTDC seems very low. It is usually what it is set at with the connector disconnected.

 

 

Not disconnected but the clip for it is broken so it could not be contacting properly.

 

Any idea where it should be normally?

 

I would very much appreciate it!