oldblue

my truck seems to lack midrange power, once past 3000rpm or so when accelerating, it feels like a variable valve timing car when the cams advance and past that the motor pulls great. but under that it feels sluggish.

so, the check engine light is not on but i pulled codes today. the only code that flashed was code 14, which is signal from ignitor to ecm fault. well, the diagnostic link on the 1993 fsm is not working for this code.

so, i did what i know to do. i checked the 2 wires from the ignitor to the ecm, and both ohmed out at .2 ohms, so they are good. to me, that leaves either a faulty ignitor that intermitently isn't sending a signal to the ecm. or an ecm that has a fault and is getting the signal but doesn't see it i guess.

what should i do? are ignitors a common problem? pretty sure i don't even want to know the price of a new ecm

oldblue

anyone have any ideas

SEAIRESCUE

Logically, you chase the code. But, I would look for a bad ground by pulling the ECM and wiping all the connector pins with vasoline and cleaning the ground cable points (at the back of the engine) engine to chassis cable. You should also ohm out the battery ground cable. As for the code, I would find a used ignitor and ECM at the salvage yard and replace both if the code persists. Ignitors have a much higher probability of failure.

Just my $0.02

oldblue

i'll check my grounds, thanks

sb5walker

Almost none of the code "links" work, but it doesn't matter because they give you the page number, and you just go to that page. In the case of your code 14 it shows the page as EG2–195 which is in the next section of the manual, the Troubleshooting section:
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...86troubles.pdf

Here is some other good troubleshooting help with the igniter:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/n...89-95-a-10543/

Igniters don't fail very often, but if you hook up a battery or jumper cables backwards that can kill them, and if the coil resistance is low that can also kill them. I would check the resistance of both circuits of your coil. There are specs in the IGNITION - ON VEHICLE INSPECTION section of the fsm.

oldblue

hey, thanks for the links!!! i'm new to the truck, so i have no way of knowing if a jumper was ever hooked up backwards, tho i doubt it ever was. i checked the coil yesterday, the primary resistance was .6 and the secondary was 12.7k, both good. i'm starting to wonder tho if this was just a random code. i'm also thinking maybe the egr is stuck open just a little? not sure, it has a very very slight missfire at idle, is down on power during acceleration until around 3500rpm, then it pulls hard.

sb5walker

Worth checking the signal rotor clearances and signal coil resistance (in your distributor) - specs in IGNITION - ON VEHICLE INSPECTION section.

Do some searching in the forum. Many good threads on rough idle. Also you might try searching on hesitation.

space-junk

iTrader: (1)

my advise...

dont rev past 3 grand... yes, people do it, but keep in mind that your motor will probably pop around 4500 RPM...
personally, i drive mine like a diesel and shift around 2500... and i only go above 3 grand on the freeway...

one other thing to note, the 3vz aint known for its horsepower and seat of the pants thrills... its known for hits low RPM torque...

oldblue

i have no idea how fast i'm turning the motor, no tach. as for low end torque, with it hesitating there isn't much down low