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Big problems with 89 Voyager - please help

Hello everybody,

I have a 89 Voyager, 130k miles, with the 3.0L V6 engine and 3-speed automatic transmission. Recently the car became hard to start. Two days later the engine died when idling at a redlight. Back home (engine still runs, but not good) I checked the codes and the SBEC gave me a 54. So I started checking the photoelectric pickup assembly. I checked at the distributor-to-harness connector. Power is good (8.9 Volts), ground is good (3 Ohms from the connector to the battery ground) and the signal line delivers a beautiful digital clock signal (measured using an oscilloscope) while the engine is running. I cleared the codes, but after operating the engine, the "54" is back. During my examinations, I also noticed that every 10 seconds or so, the a/c compressor is engaged for about 1 second - although a/c is set to OFF at the control panel! The SBEC did not do this all the time ... after 2 minutes of 1-second-runs, it stopped ... and came back some 10 minutes later. I disconnected the a/c clutch from the harness, thus forcing the compressor to stay off. Now it is even more noticeable that there's something going wrong. Whenever the SBEC tries to engage the compressor (it can't do this due to the disconnected clutch), I can hear a clicking sound (some sort of solenoid or relay) coming from the front left corner of the engine compartment. Also engine idle speed is raised to about

1300 rpm during that 1-second-run. What the hell is going on? Any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Markus

Reply to
Markus Klama
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Code 54 is "No fuel synch pickup signal". That'll certainly cause hard starting and stalling. Even though you may have a perfectly good signal out of both the low-rate and high-rate pickups in the distributor (you tested both, right?), the computer may not be seeing them properly, sometimes due to a faulty wire or corrosion at the 60-pin connector at the engine computer.

Are you sure it's actually set to "off"? If you've got the Defog button pushed, it'll run the A/C compressor regardless of the compressor pushbutton position, and if your A/C system is low on refrigerant, it'll short-cycle. That is one mechanism by which such a symptom could be observed. Another is -- again -- corrosion or faulty connections at the engine computer. Another is an internal computer fault.

The SBEC did not do this any of the time. An '89 has a SMEC, not an SBEC!

You're hearing the A/C clutch relay, which is usually drowned out by the louder click of the A/C clutch itself. The idle speed increase is normal when the A/C clutch is engaged, to compensate for the compressor's load on the engine. All you have to do is figure out why the computer thinks you're requesting A/C.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J Stern

Ok, of course I ckecked both of them and both clocks are there. I also measured the voltage at the clock lines at the distributor harness connector with ignition turned on: both read at 4.8 volts, thus telling me that that I've just seen the voltage which arises on an open digital input with internal pullup resistors. So the 60-way SMEC connector must be good. Note besides: if I disconnect the distributor from the harness while the engine is running, it dies immediately.

I'm absolutely sure that it's set to "OFF". If I set it to "NORMAL", a/c runs smooth without any short-cycling. My a/c system is in perfect condition, as it is serviced twice a year by an a/c professional.

You're right, sorry for the typing error!

So how can I figure out who the hell is the cause for that intermittent a/c cycling while the system is turned off? I already disconnected the vacuum hose which runs from the power brake booster to the a/c control panel (I remember that my Chevy van did funny things with the a/c some time ago and it was just a defective vacuum fitting at the control panel). But that did not change anything. The a/c clutch is operated directly from the SMEC (unfortunately I don't have schematics for the SMEC, only for the SBEC, which has a different pinning layout). Can you tell something about the the signals going into the SMEC which are responsible for operating the a/c?

Thanks a lot for your help,

Markus

Reply to
Markus Klama

Ok, so I started cleaning the throttle body, which is something that's never wrong. I also cleaned the AIS motor. I saw that the pintle was not in its retracted position (

Reply to
Markus Klama

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