SUBEA82

Hmmmm that makes sense because I don't think it has a thermostat (or the temp sensor is bad) it barely registers on the temp gauge and if you turn on the heater it drops to nothing. Got a new thermostat, see if that fixes it. Do these cars have a cold start injector or something that would affect how it runs when cold? My buddy who is a mechanic found the diagnostic connectors, they are under the hood on the drivers side strut tower. His snap on code reader couldn't talk to it for some reason.

Yes the light on the ECU was flashing five times, quick .2 sec flashes. This was with no test connectors connected as I could not find any to connect. I don't care about the check engine light being on but Im trying to figure out whats going on because when its cold it runs really rough for a min or two then smooths out, if I give it gas while running rough it wants to die. It also will idle right at 800-900rpm when its warmed up but if im sitting at a stop light it will randomly drop idle to 300-400 bounce around there for like 30sec then go back up to normal idle. It has never died while idling though. How can I tell if it is a California model? Thanks for your help.

So according to the instructions in that link the connectors are on the engine side of the firewall. There is a black and a yellow connector there but there is nothing to plug them into. Under the steering column I plugged in the pink and brown connectors (with the ignition on but motor not running) and the light on the ecu flashed five times (.2sec) then repeated, Im assuming that is the low number code related to starting and driving that the instructions mentioned. I haven't been to worried about the light because the car works fine but this morning I started it earlier than normal when it was cold and it would barely run for 2-3mins it sputtered and acted like it had a miss. Then when it warmed up a bit it smoothed out and ran normal, weird. I am gonna go get a Haynes manual and see if that has some info Im missing. Thanks for your help guys.

I just double checked and even though the registration says 1990 I looked on the door panel and it says dec 89 not sure if this will make a difference. This is a SPFI motor. Thanks

Hello there, I have owned a 1990 loyale for a year. It had a broken timing belt when I got it and sat for all that time. A friend recently helped me reset the timing and the car runs good, but the check engine light is on. I have done some research (probably not enough) but I cant figure out how to read the codes. I downloaded the list of codes off of troublecodes.net The instructions off that site say to plug in connectors under the steering column. The instructions say the test mode connectors are black and the read memory connectors are green. The thing is the only connectors under there that I can connect are brown and pink. Im sure I'm missing something, please help.