Hey guys, I need your help figuring out whats going on with my car. My IACV went out about a month ago. I was planning a engine swap so I didn't fix the IACV. Money is tight for a swap. So now that I want to fix IACV I get a CEL all of a sudden. The Code is P0116. The car is now backfiring and the engine shakes and putters when accelerating when the car is cold once the car warms up it occasionally shakes and putters. I took out my intake, covered my throttle body with my hand and the car turns off. So no vacuum leaks. Dipstick shows no coolant. I took off the engine cap I see no water or funny smells. What should I do?

 

Coolant is clear, no gunk or black residue. I do see in the coolant bubbles kinda foamy. Dunno if that is normal. Also the car is running super rich. Anyone has a clue on whats going on.

 

Test your thermostat and ECT sensor.

 

How do you test them?

 

Sounds like it's time to change the dizzy! Ignitor is probably bad.

 

The best way to "test" your thermostat is to just replace it. They're cheap.

As for your ECT, a quick search does wonders.

It's also a cheap part to just replace. Rock Auto has thermostats for $10, and ECTs for $15. If it were my car, I would just replace both parts and go from there.

Hyperblu, did you even look at the CEL code?

 

I changed the thermostat, just to be on the safe side. I bought a cheap spark plug hooked it up to one of the spark plug wires grounded it to the valve cover and started the engine, the spark was purple then orange. Never white. On some forums they say it should be white. You think that the coil or ignitor is bad?

 

I changed the thermostat and added antifreeze. I changed spark plugs and ignitor\coil reset the ecu and CEL is gone. Drove around for a hour still no CEL. Car still hiccups though. Idle is feeling rough. In the morning car sputters a lot until nice and warm. Maybe intake manifold and throttle body are dirty. Some one said to seafoam the intake maniforld to cure rough idle. What do you guys think?

 

You posted a test for the ECT fan switch, not for the ECT sensor.

 

Change the thermostat, bleed the cooling system, and test the resistance of the ECT sensor when the engine is warmed up.

If none of this^ helps, test for a blown head gasket.

 

ECT resistance cold engine 343 ECT resistance engine warmed up 216 I don't know if that is good or bad.

 

Does anybody know the resistance range for the ECT?