Leaderboard

If you are getting battery corrosion around the terminals it's likely because the terminals have been over tightened and broken the seal between the post and the plastic body of the battery. This is a common mistake and ruins the battery. The buzzing in gear is the PWM solenoids in the transmission. Normal. Sounds like you need to replace the battery cables and terminals to me. Also the inhibitor switch on the side of the trans. For good measure you should clean all the ground points you can find as well. GD

Success! The alternator was quite bad, tested only 10v at the store. They replaced it for free, very nice. New one charges right up to 14.2 and spins freely. Unfortunately the threads stripped on the lower mounting ear. The bolt was long enough so I just put a bolt on the backside. Pain to get to, but it works. Thanks Naru and Rampage.

The code P0851 means the Engine Control Module does not see a good ground from the inhibitor switch (neutral safety switch) mounted on the transmission. It should see a ground in Park and Neutral and an open in any other position. To verify this you can test it with an ohm meter. Unplug the "12" pin connector located on top of the bellhousing. First check pin 12 on the socket from the harness for a good ground. Then hook the ohm meter probes to pins 11 and 12. Move the shifter while watching the meter. It should read 0 or 1 ohm. If it reads higher or fluctuates replace the switch. There is an adjustment procedure when mounting the switch. In the picture you are looking at the face of the plug on the wire going to the switch. The other code may be because the engine is not cranking properly. Find out later once it is starting like it should.

I finally got to it after having to work on other things and I found the problem. I removed the intake body and EGR valve. The passageway from the EGR to the intake has a tight turn that was clogged even though it looked clean from inside the intake manifold. I was able to shove a short section of speedometer cable down through the hole of the temperature sensor (right next to the EGR valve). I had to double back the front 2" of the speedo cable, spin it and pull it back and forth. All sorts of black gunk started falling out of the EGR passageway and get stuck on the cable, which I had to wipe off every 10 seconds or so. I tried to blow as much as possible of the gunk out, and when I finally was able to blow air from the EGR to intake manifold, I vacuumed up the loose gunk to not have it go into the engine. When I reassembled everything, I was able to push the EGR diaphragm in and the engine instantly stuttered and eventually died, which is what the California smog tech looks for to make sure that the EGR system works. Finally ready for a re-test! Thanks so much for your help, Dave!

I doubt it. You said it used to start by wiggling the shifter in park. Try starting it with the shifter in neutral. The selector switch (neutral safety switch) may be out of adjustment or going bad. Try this. Get a piece of wire 14 or 16 gauge long enough to go from the battery to the starter. Put it in Park and turn the key to ON. On the back of the starter solenoid is a small wire that plugs in. Unplug it and put one end of your wire on the terminal the plug was on and touch the other end to the battery positive post. It should crank and start. Let us know what happens.

Chances are the replacement alternator has a shorted field winding. If you have the 3 volts w/the old alternator hooked up electricly,then the new alt.is the problem.