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Check Engine Blues
My '86 900S has started to intermittently stall.
The engine will start fine when cold, then after some time will start to buck as if running on 1 cylinder. The 'Check Engine light will come on and flash rapidly. Sometimes it will last for a second or two, sometimes it will go on for 10 or 15 seconds. If I'm going fast enough, I may (or may not) have sufficient momentum for the condition to clear and continue normally, however, sometimes the condition will last long enough that I coast to a stop (even on the highway, which is scary!!!).
When this happens, I can hear a relay operating in synch with the flashing of the check engine light, and the relay will click for several seconds after the engine is stopped with key on, then it will stop.
The relay click is coming from the right side of the dashboard/firewall.
So far, if the car becomes immobilized, shuuting it off, then cranking it for anywhere from 10 ro 30 seconds (not continually, of course) will cause it to restart and run normally until the next episode.
The problem started sometime ago, and only happened for a second. It is getting worse, a trip on friday of about 30 miles resulted in 4 complete stops (one on a bridge in the interstate!) and about 5 episodes of bucking where I had enough momentum for the condition to clear.
I think it could be a couple of things:
I lost the gas cap on the car about a month ago (now replaced), and I might have gotten some water in the tank (it's been raining nearly continuously here in New England for a month, approaching Biblical proportions - it's raining now, and it's supposed to rain until monday :-( ). However, I've been through about 2 tanks of gas since replacing the cap, and I used a bottle of gas line antifreeze, and it is only getting worse.
The condition seems to happen only after the engine is competely warmed up, never when cold, although this could just be that I don't do much short distance driving. It does seem to be getting worse with the warmer weather, but again this could be my imagination.
The gas filter could be clogged, causing loss of pressure downstream. I don't know, though, how the condition could clear in a few seconds, or the engine restarted after some amount of cranking.
The relay could be bad.
I don't know what that relay behind the dash is doing, but it clicks rapidly (twice a second??) in sync with the dashboard 'Check Engine' light.
I don't know if this is a cause or effect.
I do note that when the condition occurs badly enough to cause me to come to a compete stop and have to crank the engine for 10-30 sec, that there is a small amount of grey-white smoke from the exhaust. It is not oil smoke, as it is the wrong color (not blue), and dissipates rapidly.
I've not been able to smell the smoke (I'm too busy behind the wheel ;-( ), but that color and fast dissipation is, from what I know, indicative of gas or water. I do think that it's too grey in color to be water though.
On another note, a few times when this happens, the
Check Engine' light will blink rapidly, there wil be no palpable bucking, and there is no apparent loss of power. The light will stop blinking after a few seconds and things appear to be OK again.
I'd appreciate any input as to what's going on.
And, what's that relay?
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Bob Sypek
'78 99Turbo, sold at 149K for a ....
'86 900S, 300K+
posted by 64.12.96...
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