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Then my '95 must have gotten sympathy pains because two days latter it went in LIMP MODE. The transmission starts in 2nd gear and never shifts out of 2nd. I took it over to the Olds mechanic and he said the solenoids were bad. He replaced them and now it too is working good. I don't have the extended warranty on the '95 (ouch). It is really a funny feeling when the car doesn't shift, you see the tach going higher and higher but nothing happens. It appears they could have the LIMP MODE stick in 3rd rather than 2nd, that way if it happened on the highway or where you had to drive some distance to home or a mechanic you could do it without the engine going 4000 rpm and 25 or 30 mph. (Just a thought).
-Brian
At first I thought the car had shut-off (see Holland tunnel story), then I realized where the RPM's were on the tach. Having heard about the 2nd gear problem from this board I was not overly concerned once I figured out what had happened.
I think we should start a new discussion titled "My aROARa won't get out of second gear story."
We'd also need one entitled "Where were you when your Aurora's fuel pump died?" although I think you win that contest so far :-)
--Robert
(worried about this as his car approaches 80k mi :-)
about the fuel pump dying, does it always just die all together, or can it cause bad surging at all speeds before it goes?
I did see that the car was still on as I still had my power steering, brakes and such. However, after the car slowed down and I tired to apply gas the tach would move up. It was clear that the car was not shifting out of second gear.
The solenoids went just as I came down the ramp and was merging into traffic. I am glad/thankful there was nothing in the right lane that I was using the northstar to stay ahead of as I merged. If there were, the results might not have been pretty when the car slipped into second/neutral.
Still here to tell the stories,
Henri
As did mine. I was pulling across a fairly busy street during rush hour and... nothing. Left me sideways in the middle of the road blocking the center turning lane and the two inside ones.
I don't know what the exact fix is, though, but it wasn't an issue on later cars.
my cars surging very bad at all speeds, i don't have much gas left, im going to wait till its almost gone and fill it up before i do any part replacing...lol. it happened once before about 2 months ago?? were i just got a bad tank of gas.
thing that makes me wonder is, it drove like this when i got my car washed, but i found out it was just a spark plug boot out of its holder, snapped in back on and i can almost swear it drove fine that night on the way home (like a 2 minute drive) but the next day, drives horrible again. tomorrow i think ill start pulling spark plug wires off while its running to make sure i hear the sparks for the cylinders
Having said that, my experience is that electrical problems are usually sharper interruptions(?) or "skips", while fuel problems tend to be more "surges". For instance, my '95 (105Kmiles) has just developed a recurring skip at the low end with a "tick tick sound" that -without even looking -I am sure is an arcing plug wire (they're original). It's clearly an electrical, sharp, skip. I'll be replacing the set this weekend.
However, I've also had bad gas or fuel filter problems that tended to "surge", especially at higher rpms.
If you feel yours is a fuel problem, I'd suggest filling up immediately (there's no benefit to running the rest of the bad gas out first if you're already low) with good premium and running a can or two of fuel injector cleaner through the tank. It may even run worse with the cleaner in it as it's flushing all the gunk through the system, but the NEXT tank of gas you put in should run good. If not, my next guess would be the fuel filter (run the cleaner through first before you change the filter - may even want to change the filter afterwards even if it fixed the problem).
Good Luck!
BTW, I may be one of the few '95 owners who hasn't had to replace the fuel rails yet (he says... rapidly knocking wood). Hurray for the recall!
My suggestion. Fuel filter, FPR, electrical plugs/ wires/ coil packs.
Since then, there have been issues with both vehicles. Both cars will sometimes crank for awhile (3 seconds) before starting. The MIL's also backfired yesterday. I also did the airbox mod, so I wasn't surprised that mine was running a little odd (seems a little better now - dang, it's loud when I put my foot down!)
I did the TPS reset (put key into run position for 30 seconds, turn off car, wait 30 seconds, then start), but didn't disconnect the battery. I think that's our next troubleshooting step.
For the M-I-L's car, if that doesn't resolve the backfire, we may swap back the other FPR. Any other troubleshooting suggestions?
--Robert
also you know you have to turn the key on and off (20 sec intervals) 3 times before you start the car for the TPS reset.
Sorry, first thing that popped into my head. Obscure movie reference. If you get can name it I'll give you back your red stapler....
Langod (formerly nne3jxc)
Pulled the battery on my '98 and let it sit all afternoon. Started right up (no cranking) after reconnecting it - will see how it goes tomorrow. Kayaman, that's what I get for reading "another" forum - I suspect I needed the Throttle Position Sensor reset done correctly (especially after modding the airbox).
BTW, I did NOT cut the bottom of my airbox - just took out the lower baffle chamber, removed the beige-colored liner in the top, and then plugged the side baffle hole with a 2" PVC pipe cap from Menards (for a whopping $2.83 :-) <-idea from another forum.
It's loud under throttle, but it sounds great. My mileage has gone down since doing this, but I'm sure that's mostly because I've been putting my foot into it just to hear the A-ROAR-A. Definitely feels faster (though the new plugs and wires may play a part of that). I feel like I'm only half done - can't swing the Corsa yet, but that's next on my mods radar (hope they don't stop selling the system with the end of production on the current-model STS)...
--Robert
lol, the 2 best movies out there
definatly not a bad tank of gas. seems like its not THAT bad when its cold, but gets worse when it warms up. the car is SLOWWWWW at all speeds, horrible surging at light to mid throttle. under wot it surges some, but its just slow in general. at idle it goes from 600 to 950 back to 600 all over the place. still sound like the fpr?
here's somthing else i noticed. when i grab a spark plug wire, the front 4, if i grab the two in the middle i can FEEL a pulse going through the plug wire, its a pretty good pulse too, easy to notice. but the two on the end, when i grab them i don't feel anything, could it be a bad coil pack? i havn't tried the back 4, i have to take off the coil packs to get at those
i think im going to fix it, then sell it this summer.....stuff just keeps breaking
There's no reason the air box mod should make your Aurora run "odd" unless the temperature sensor in the box is no longer connected or otherwise inoperative.
When I changed spark plugs on my '97 last year, I gapped them to 0.050" per the Olds service manual. For some reason I felt uneasy about that; so I checked with an Olds dealer, who told me the gap should be 0.060". The tune-up label under the hood also shows 0.060". I am not suggesting that this difference is the cause of the problems you are experiencing.
Les
The water had gotten in at the (touch free fresh water!) car wash because the rubber gasket that seals the cowl from the engine compartment had been dislodged.
P.S. I cleaned out the inside of the boots with some carb cleaner moistened swabs just in case the boots had conductive paths left by the minerals in the iron range water.
I like many others have seen or had bad experiences with others name brand wires. I'd stick with the OEM AC Delco wires. You can even in my experience get them from some place like G.M. Parts Direct or Rock Auto in a couple days if in stock and possibly for much cheaper than the $120.00 although of course you'd have to check these places on the web to see if that is true.
--Robert
:P
one of the coil ends was corroded really bad, the one that wasn't connected after the car wash, so i cleaned that off with steel wool, and got some spark plug wires (sorry, i already got the autolite's! wish me luck!) and its purring like a kitten. i feel kinda dumb saying this, but it does seem a little torquier, little more get up than before. maybe its just in my head, maybe because the oem wires had 138k on them, who knows.
thanks for the help
what gives??
i pop the hood, i think i hear clicks (like the spark plug loose clicks) but there fainter than before, and definatly in the back. i get home, check them all, all tight. restart, idles fine (for now) but i don't drive it anywhere. brand new autolite spark plug wires - they seemed to help, for a while.
jeez
It took me much longer than I want to admit to realize that the faint clicking sound I heard from my first gasoline fuel-injected car (1986 Fiero V6) was the normal sound of the injectors.
Could that be what you are hearing?
Les
so if a injector clicks its bad?
i only hear'd the clicking when it was running bad
i wonder, if i brought it to a cadillac dealership and they hook it up to a diagnostics machine they can tell what cylinders causeing the problems, that would be a start. probably charge me a arm and a leg for it! oh well
I haven't yet resolved the problems concerning my replacement with a Borg-Warner. Fixed the warm hard start, but the massive loss of power, much less roar in the exhaust to being able to hear the intake for the first time, and almost a stumble under some conditions, particularly when shifting under max acceleration. I contacted B-W on their website and finally got an answer after 3 weeks. Also a phone number so I talked to a QA Engineer and they couldn't even tell me if it is used on other vehicles. Questioned because of an expansion ring in the box that looked like it might be used in other applications.
E net rider, that was exactly the speculation on the Caddy board a couple years ago. People who bought aftermarket FPRs found that they were apparently calibrated to cover several different applications and the Northstar ran poorly using some of them and the FPRs didn't seem to last. ~70,000 miles or more with the the OEM.
Side thought;
I'd also check and make sure you don't have any vacuum leaks.
Thanks for any help.
Kim
It could have just been the headwind. Strong winds don't usually blow very uniformly, so they tend to make more noise and such than just driving faster would. In addition, they are not always straight at your car. Is it a problem you have a lot?
You also might check your OnStar antennae. Does it stick up high? Maybe it's whistling in the wind.
Kim
Kim
As for a power loss, definetly not, if anything the power is slightly improved. I know for a fact partial throttle is vastly improved. I don't have to downshift to 1st or 2nd to pass.
On a side note, the "vent line" on the top of FPR to the TB had fuel in it. I guess something in the FPR broken and fuel was getting in there.
Henri
I have no idea what this means, "well, i took the restrictor plate off the red dragon to give it a little more juice, but its not exactly street legal, so lets keep it on the down low...." Is it pertinent to your problem?
If I had your problem, I would try to get a code scan done. That will tell you which cylinder(s) are experiencing misfires. Some auto parts stores will do this for free.
Les
ive got a 95, obd I, not nearly as accurate as obdII which would tell me all this info. plus ive tried autozone, and today checkers, there scanners will NOT hook up with my car.
also the 2 major repairs so far with this car were of course the famous shift selenoids and the leaking fuel railing wich I just read an article (03-12-2004)that GM is recalling over 93,000 95-97 Aurora models for the fuel leak...so I'm gona try to go back to the dealer so maybe they can refund me my $500+ that I paid 6 month ago for that railing.
The symptom is the consistent with a leaky FPR. Get an AC Delco replacement. Cost will be about $45 if you can find a discount distributor/retailer. It's an easy, 10-minute job to replace.
Good luck with this and good luck getting a refund for the fuel rail. Do you know what failed on your fuel rail?
Sorry. I forgot you had OBDI.
I'm really annoyed that Edmund's dropped the automobile entry from our profiles.
Les
Kim