toddreaves04

It all began with the truck just going dead with no rhyme or reason. I took it to my mechanic and he said the timing was way off and when he tried to set it it would not advance the timing like it was suppose to and was way off the scale. He then set it as close as possible and there was no power what so ever. It seemed like it was the ECM but I changed it out and it still did not fix the problem. The engine has less than 10000 miles on it. Please help.

yayfortrees

I wonder if he knew two of the terminals in the diagnostic plug have to be jumped in order to check / adjust the ignition timing. It can be way off spec unless those terminals are jumped.

I assume he checked all the other things like compression, fuel pressure, spark plugs, etc.

toddreaves04

He did. It just wouldn't advance once he took the jumper out I believe. I have to take it back up to him on Tuesday. I thought that it was for sure the computer.

yayfortrees

The computer you swapped in was a known good unit wasn't it? I'm thinking of how the ECU determines RPMs, most likely spark frequency? I don't recall any crank sensor or pick/up. If the ECU couldn't determine RPM, it wouldn't know to advance the timing. IDK, I'm just thinking outloud, or through a keyboard.

Good luck!

toddreaves04

could it be a distributer?

yayfortrees

I don't think so, since the base timing is good. I don't think the distributor on these do the advancing, so it should be fine.

toddreaves04

He said that it was suppose to advance once he pulled the jumper and that it was way off the scale. I have been debating doing a 3.4 swap but now that ORS is out of business im not sure where to get some of the parts.

toddreaves04

so I guess the base timing is off.

yayfortrees

It is supposed to advance without the jumper in place. I'm kind of confused about what he meant by 'it was way off the scale'. Is that when the jumper is installed, or with it pulled out?

toddreaves04

ok solved the timing issue. The TPS was out of adjustment. Now the truck just goes dead at low rpm with no warning and wont repeat under any certain condition. I wonder if the TPS is bad and suddenly sending a signal to the ECM and causing it to choke the engine out?