Well, since I am a dud when it comes to electrical work, I need someone to help me.....

1. My O2 sensor problem is really bugging me. It is Bank 2 sensor 1 (passenger side front), and my SES light is ALWAYS telling me the car is lean. The excess fuel is carbon-fouling my spark plugs on one side of the engine, and I have to replace them every few thousand miles. I have already replaced my O2 sensor twice, with ZERO results.

I had Robert (mrr23) take a look, and he couldn't find the problem with the computer as to why the O2 on that side never has a good reading. He disabled the O2 sensors up front, and the car ran OK for a little while, but next thing I know the damned SES light is on telling me "Fuel system too lean". My A/F gauge tells me the car is too lean as well, and it's a narrowband.

I need someone to trace the wiring from the computer to the O2 sensor on the passenger side, and trace the wiring from my A/F gauge to wherever it plugs in to see if there is a short, etc....

2. I am finally sick and tired of trying to fix my exhaust leak by myself. I know exactly where it leaks from, and have tried to fix it twice, but holding the exhaust in place and trying to bolt it down at the same time doesn't work too well. The driver's side header flange is kind of bent/angled, which throws off the alignment of the passenger side header.

3. I think the car has a vacuum leak somewhere, because I hear this whistling sound every time I step on the gas, no matter how hard.

If you can fix it, let me know. I have some $$$ I can pay you with.

Thanks in advance,
Dana

 

Bump.... can anyone try to take a stab at one of these problems?

 

Frist, have u checked the fuel inj.s to see if they are stickin. Now for the sucking sound take some TB cleaner spray around ur intake (not the lid) and listen to ur idle. If it raise u found ur leak.

 

I haven't checked the injectors to see if they stick because I don't know how. I am headed down to South FL on the 28th and am staying until the 10th of May. In between that time, I was thinking of heading to Masport Speed Shop to see what they can do.

 

I'm having the same problem with the o2 sensor. Dan @ Masport told me to try cleaning the fuel inj with a tank additive from GM. Just replaced the o2 2 months ago and it is already bad. Here should be able to help you out for sure! Great shop to deal with!

 

I just repaired a vehicle that had those characteristics. The front 02 sensors were crossed. It can happen when swapping engines or trannys. Just a shot in the dark... it could be so many things. You need a drivability technician.

I could fix it , but I am an hour north of Jax. Mark with EfI alchemy could take the case I am sure. Pm me if needed.

 

I have never taken the engine out, so I don't think the O2's can be swapped like that. Perhaps that GM fuel injector cleaner may do the trick. When I head down to South FL I am planning on replacing my spark plugs yet again .

 

Your cars pcm thinks it is running lean, so its adding fuel to compensate. Your plugs are fouled because your car is actually running rich. Lean conditions don't foul plugs. You need a technician, Not a mechanic in a bottle. Sorry, I am just being honest. I do this for a living. A bottle of injector cleaner won't hurt tho. Good luck on your trip.

 

I guess I'll be headed to a professional then.... I don't want to take it to the stealership though

 

As an FYI, here's a short excerpt from a pm I sent to Ssheriff. I'm just adding this little blurb to put some info out there. The intake and exhaust leaks may contribute to the overall issue, which is why the car is running rich as mentioned in slowec's post...

"After you've had the exhaust leak and intake leak problems solved, you may no longer have an O2 issue. When you mention that multiple O2 sensors have indicated a lean condition, but you're carbon fouling your spark plugs, it tells me that you are getting enough fuel to the cylinders (the carbon is excess fuel leaving deposits) but the sensors are reading lean due to excessive oxygen in the exhaust gas. This can happen with an exhaust leak or an excessively lean cylinder on bank 2, resulting from an intake leak. If 3 of 4 cylinders on the one bank are running very rich (and fouling plugs), but one cylinder is running excessively lean, your O2 will read it as a lean bank (not being able to discern a bank issue from a cylinder issue) as it will see the excess oxygen left in the exhaust due to the one faulty cylinder. So, again, hopefully fixing the intake and exhaust leaks will fix O2 issues as well. If the leak fixes do not fix the O2 issues, then you'll need to have a cylinder balance test done."

I've been doing this kind of work going on 20 years now (including a career designing automotive PCM, ECM and ABS testers for a major automotive remanufacturer that rebuilt up to 7000 PCMs per week) and can guarantee you one thing, and that's that a PCM will do exactly what it's told by the software calibration. There are no mysteries with driveability diagnostics, only clues. The answers come easier when more facts are put into light. Ssheriff's ride suffers from both an exhaust and potential intake leak, both of which may be contributing to a true O2 reading of lean, but a reading that's not reflective of what's happening inside the combustion chamber of each cylinder in that bank. When diagnosing performance or driveability issues, you'll always have the greatest success when you consider each sensor's purpose and apparent reading, then correlate that to what the PCM is doing. Yes, it gets easier with practice, but logic will always get you there too.
Cheers.