89 TBI Won't start when cold.. Getting codes....

[BobD]

Hi All,

My Mom's Shadow isn't starting when it's cold outside. It does nothing, like it's an electrical problem. Give it a little time for the temperature go up a few degrees and it starts right up. The car runs great. I checked the codes last week and it gave me 22,24,25, and a couple others I can't remember. Nothing directly linked to the HEP or I would have changed something there. The 3 codes I listed seem to be connected, but I don't know the first thing about the TBI throttle bodies. I don't know what all the electroncs are on that thing. The car was racing real bad last week. It basically drove itself. I disconnected all the connections and reconnected them and that problem went away. I don't know if it's a connection issue or if I have bad parts. I'm ready to tell her to buy a TD. LOL
Any Ideas?
Thanks

[allmotor]

when you state "it does nothing" do you mean NOTHING like no crank, no lights etc/ need more details as to what "nothing" means to you.

At my workplace, the service writer put "engine missing" I replied back, "engine found.. it was under the hood"

[BobD]

Bad wording. Sorry. By nothing, I meant the car cranks, but there isn't any indication that it's going to start. There isn't a fuel problem like a weak pump or anything like that. That would at least make the car stumble or start for a second. (I just replaced the pump and filter a few months ago) This seems like the coil wire has been pulled. I looked at a book and the 3 codes I listed seem to be tide together. The problem is, I don't know the first thing about a TBI engine. I only wish she had a turbo. At least I know those.

[turbovanman]

There very similiar in operation. Check the coil, if its weak, it won't fire all that fuel when cold and it will just crank and crank. The codes are similiar so check out the FAQ's at the top of this forum.

SMEC Fault Codes

22 is coolant temp-that will definatly affect cold starting.
24 is throttle position-another one that will cause your problem
25 is idle circuit but could be due to excessive cranking.

[spoolerr]

When i try to read codes as descriped in that writeup i get two sets of five consecutive short pulses ?

what does that mean?

thanks
brandon

[turbovanman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spoolerr When i try to read codes as descriped in that writeup i get two sets of five consecutive short pulses ? what does that mean? thanks brandon

Thats 55, so its ok, no problems found.

[spoolerr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbovanman Thats 55, so its ok, no problems found.

lol, i was expecting a long pulse for "10s" and a shorter pulse for "1s"


my mistake!

thanks
brandon

[90Shadow]

You should take off the air filter box and look into the throttle body while its cranking (get a freind) to see if there is any fuel being sprayed on the throttle plate. If there is, you might have a ignition problem. Check the plugs, wires, cap and rotor, coil. Check for power at the ignition coil as well while cranking. Maybe get a new temp sensor that could be the issue, even if it isn't that one less part to replace down the road!

Good luck!

[BobD]

Well, It turned out, I didn't have time to work on the car. My Mom took it in and got it fixed. They replaced 3 relays and the pickup coil (HEP) I'm not sure what the actual problem was but this fixed it. The car didn't give me a pickup coil code so I don't know if it was actually bad. But, it's done and I didn't have to fix it. I just don't like seeing her spend money that she doesn't have on parts she may not need. It think the damages were minor.