A situation wit ma Bird

[RAF7789]

today i had a problem with my car, it was idling fine, driving fine, then it did this jerky motion and stalled out, i pulled over and tried to start it, but it would only turn over. I checked the voltage of my batt, it was fine, i check to see if the generater was plugged in and it was. I unplugged the neg cable from the batt for a minute of two, plugged it back in and it started up fine. I let it idle for like a minute and a half, then i started driving. about a mile down the road it did the jerky motion again and i pullede over again. i did the same thing with the batt and just drove it home. it drove fine, and had no hic-ups at all. I noticed the Check engine light had come on. it popped out trouble code P1371 which = Ignition Control (IC) Module 4x Reference too few pulses. That is as good as greek to me. but i'm guessing, check the cap n rotor, bad opti? or could it be a fuel filter possibly? I'm stuck! ANY help is help. Thank you in advance!!

o btw, i changed the plugs myself (5 hour nightmare) 2 weeks ago and double checked the wire boots 2x today.

[DHolmes]

Sorry to do a thread jack,but do people say your car is dented ,wright were the car meets ur bumber,I get it all the time, I see the so called dent in your pic,everone asked if my cars dented when its not in the same spot,do u see the spot Im talking about ? I would help u but I have no Idea what ur proplem is

[RAF7789]

lol ya! tha first time i saw that i was like $#!T what happened there? then i got closer and was like o....weird.

[Black97]

May not be the case here due to the codes it throws. Have the battery tested. Recently on my wife's car I had similar happen and it turned out to be something loose inside the battery which was only about a year old.

[97LT1Z28]

I'd check your connections at the coil, the ignition control module and the connections at the opti - maybe a connection is loose.....

Also, there's a ground wire that's connected behind the Ignition control module, check that too - when wrestling with the wires, it could have gotten torn off (they're a bit britle after a few years). Good Luck!!

[Injuneer]

P1371 indicates a loss of the low resolution pulse from the Opti. The PCM need that signal to fire the injectors in the correct sequence, and when it can't find it, it shuts down the fuel system. Appears that's what happened to your engine. Its an intermittent problem (because it will restart), but seems to be happening with increasing frequency.

First step would be to check the two harness connectors for the Opti. One plugs right into the Opti, the other end is the gray connector on the passenger side of the intake manifold, same bracket as the EVAP purge solenoid. Make sure the pins are not corroded, or otherwise damaged. Not unusual to find some ugly green corrosion on the one on the Opti.

If the harness is OK, and the problem persists, its possibly a failing optical sensor in the Opti.

When checking codes, use Shoebox's list - its specific to the LT1 and would have given you a better description.

http://shbox.com/1/Dtcs.htm

(Note "tab" at bottom for OBD-II codes)

P1371 = Distributor Ignition (DI) low resolution circuit

[RAF7789]

alright, so i'm in the process inspecting the opti spark. I removed the water pump and all that. so i checked the harness connector at the intake manif and it looked fine. however the one that plugs into the opti, if i checked the right one, ( long, skinny connector) it appeared to be in the presece of oit, or some kind of fluid. So i'm assuming that is not helping my situation if it is not the actual cause itself. i think, take a q-tip and clean out inside that connector? Or buy a new one?


*changing the subjet, is there an oilo line running right below the throttle body coolant line? This might be the cause of my slow oil leak...

also, i started it up this morning for like less than ten minutes, then it sputtered and died like the fuel wasn't getting to the injctrs. it aslo threw out codes P1371 and P0372
anyways, any suggestions on anything more will be greatly appreciated.

[Injuneer]

No oil lines on the front of an LT1 engine. The line under the throttle body may be the EVAP line, comes out of the bundle of 3 fuel lines about 1/2-way down the driver's side of the intake manifold, connects to a U-tube and wraps its way around the engine to the solenoid on the passenger side. Other line under the throttle body is the PCV valve vacuum source (95-97 only).

P0372 - would indicate you have now lost the high resolution pulse pattern from the Opti.

Did you clear the codes before you tried to start it? Did you try and start it with the harness connector off the Opti? Both of those might explain the P1371. The engine will run OK without the high resolution pulse. A small bit of ignition timing accuracy is lost, but nothing you would be likely to notice.

[RAF7789]

so there would not be any oil at all through the PCV vac source, right?

What do you think about the connector?

[Joe 1320]

Pssst...... can ya cut down the size of you signature photo? Try to lilit the thing to 10-12 lines max.

That is from here-----------------------------------------------------








to here--------------------------------------------------------------


That gives ample room for a modifications list and photos.

[RAF7789]

Do you think i should buy a new cap and rotor, just to replace it anyway? it lengthen the *mean time before failure* (MTBF), right? ( $120-155)
or would it work if i just tried to dry it out and put EVERYTHING back together again...then see if it still fails.

What about the long flat harness connector for the Photo emitter? ($50)
because it had that (lime) green liquid all over it. The liquid would not be coolant because i only use DEX-cool orange.

[Injuneer]

If the connector is corroded, there's a good chance that's the problem. That's what I told you in the first place.

First step would be to check the two harness connectors for the Opti. One plugs right into the Opti, the other end is the gray connector on the passenger side of the intake manifold, same bracket as the EVAP purge solenoid. Make sure the pins are not corroded, or otherwise damaged. Not unusual to find some ugly green corrosion on the one on the Opti.

[RAF7789]

i'm sure that was the problem, but it wasn't corroded or broken, it was just wet.

[Injuneer]

Is there any chance your battery is gassing or leaking? When the sulfuric acid hits copper, it produces a slimy blue-green goo.

[RAF7789]

The color on my connector was lime green. it was not the color of oxidized copper. i think i'm just going to replace that harness, then disect my distributor and clean it then blow it with an air compressor. AFter that ill reassemble everything after installing my new plug wires and tell you guys what happens and if I end up buying a new cap and rotor.