The absent-minded CEL

[hawksoob]

So ... I'd been having issues with cold morning starts. Crank ... start ... stall. Crank ... start ... roll. Only first thing in the morning. Not after sitting 8 hours during work. Only first thing in the morning.

 

Anyhoo, I've been looking through the forums for clues ... fuel pump? Crankshaft position sensor? Coolant temperature sensor? Fuel injectors? Decided to work my way up from the cheapest, easiset solution on up to the pricier possibilities. The stalling reminded me of the time I accidentally unhooked an intake hose while replacing the O2 sensor from above the engine. So, I started to think maybe an air issue. I cleaned the throttle body and made sure all the hoses were connected and stuff. After spraying the TB, I went to start it. Started on the first turn. Yay! Then it stalled. Tried again. Start. Yay! Then it stalled. Started again. Oh %^&*.........

 

!!!!!!!SMOKE!!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

From the engine. Through the air vents in the cabin! What the %^&$@?????? Shut it off, went around to the front of the car.

 

oooooops ... I forgot to put the hose back onto the TB.

 

Threw a CEL.

 

I reset the CEL by disconnecting the negative battery terminal and (luckily) it hasn't come back on yet. Also, there is no stalling, idle is calm, and pickup is much better than before. Runs much more smoothly overall than it has the last few weeks. I hope to find out tomorrow if it will start right up after sitting all night.

 

Oh well. Any idea what sensor might have gone whacko due to this infraction on sensible car maintenance? Have I permanantly fouled anything?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[SevenSisters]

Cold morning in Georgia? You must be kidding. Maybe you need a block heater.

 

Look for loose or broken vacuum lines, intake hoses, etc.

May also be a disconnected (bad connection) or dirty IAC valve. Do a search on cleaning the Idle air control valve.

[hawksoob]

Cold morning in Georgia? You must be kidding. Maybe you need a block heater.

.

Heh ... Nowhere near what it was like when I lived in Boulder, but we had some chilly (low 20s) mornings for a couple of days. I know ... no northern deep freeze. But, hey, remember the iced over, snowed up Superbowl in ATL a few years back?

 

That's kind of the area I was going ... vacuum ... sucky/blowy stuff. I went through and made sure everything was connected properly. I cleaned the TB a couple of months ago, and the inside of it looked pretty clean today, except that there was some gunk on the edge of the plate. I thought maybe when it's been sitting there over night, and it's cold, the oily gunk could cause it to stick a bit, sort of choking off the air flow. Reasonable assumption?