BP Engine in Festiva bad idle with CEL on

[timmay89]

Hi,

So I put another BP engine in my white festiva. The idle is running rough. After you drive it for a bit and slow your car down to a stop the idle rests around 1500rpm then in 8 seconds drops to 550rpm.

Also we de-accelerating it backfires, not alot but it does...

Finally the check engine light comes on. It comes on after 15-20 minutes of driving. Nothing seems to change when it comes on. It brings up two codes. Codes #2 and #15. From what I know code #15 means poor signal to the oxygen sensor. I did repair that yesterday but I did not reset the ECU yet so the code keeps coming up. From research online, code #2 is supposed to be: IDM or CP Sensor. I have NO clue what either of those are.

Any idea of what's going on? Should I still try to replace the O2 sensor? (I believe that sensor was replaced 40,000km ago.

Also I did move the VAF around as I know those are finicky but that did not seem to change the strange idle behavior.

ideas??

[Lmcclure]

i would start with the throttle position sensor, thats the cause of 90% of high idle issues, as for the rest of it i wouldnt know were to begin...

[timmay89]

i would start with the throttle position sensor, thats the cause of 90% of high idle issues, as for the rest of it i wouldnt know were to begin...

Well I moved around the TPS and it did change the idle. Does that verify that it is working effectively?

[timmay89]

bumping for ideas.

[DON SVO]

CP is Crank Position. When the crank position sensor goes out, (it'll act up more often as the car warms up) it can cause all kinds of issues.

Ohm check the sensor while the car is UP TO TEMP and after it starts acting up. Pull the plug off and test the sensor, the sensor should be in the 600-800ohm range... if it's going out, it's more than likely over 1ohm.

[timmay89]

CP is Crank Position. When the crank position sensor goes out, (it'll act up more often as the car warms up) it can cause all kinds of issues.

Ohm check the sensor while the car is UP TO TEMP and after it starts acting up. Pull the plug off and test the sensor, the sensor should be in the 600-800ohm range... if it's going out, it's more than likely over 1ohm.

Ok I will check it. Is the crank position sensor in the distributor on our engines?

[DON SVO]

No, on the BP engines it's right by the crank pulley.

[timmay89]

No, on the BP engines it's right by the crank pulley.

Ok, I honestly can't remember seeing a sensor near the crank pulley on the BP engine or the B3 engine. Do you have a picture of that? I know that there is a sensor near the oil filter on the back of the engine, but that should be for oil pressure.

[DON SVO]

Ok, I honestly can't remember seeing a sensor near the crank pulley on the BP engine or the B3 engine. Do you have a picture of that? I know that there is a sensor near the oil filter on the back of the engine, but that should be for oil pressure.

You're right if it's an Escort or Protege BP. In that case it would be the pickup in the dizzy. Same situation though with the heat killing the car and making it run horribly, only this time it's more than likely going to be the TFI in the dizzy.

[timmay89]

Update: So I went and did some testing in hopes to improve the idle. I swapped the distributor, and o2 sensor. At first there was no change. The o2 sensor was completely white which tells me it was running lean. I then swapped the ECU and the check engine light came on with code 3 and is on constant. I swapped back the ECU and the code remains on but the other codes are gone. With the check engine light on the idle is better and it runs better. Any ideas of where to go from here?

What do I do to get rid of this check engine light and permenately fix this? With the Check engine light on the idle still goes high at about 1500rpm then drops after 8 seconds to 500 rpm. NEED HELP PLEASE

[FestYboy]

according to my research, a 03 code is a CID sensor fault (in the dizzy). swap the dizzy back and try again.

[timmay89]

according to my research, a 03 code is a CID sensor fault (in the dizzy). swap the dizzy back and try again.

Ya code 3 came up after putting on the second dizzy. We did swap dizzys back but the code remains there. Even after resetting the ECU.

[FestYboy]

sounds like a harness issue at that piont... start by running new wires from the dizzy straight to the ECU and see if there's a change (you may want a factory manual for this though).

[DavidR]

I have seen this when the throttle bypass screw (near the throttle plate) is opened up too much. Maybe help i dont know.

[timmay89]

Overheating BP

I have seen this when the throttle bypass screw (near the throttle plate) is opened up too much. Maybe help i dont know.

Update:
David you were right, throttle bypass screw was opened too much, thanks for that! So overall the rough idle was caused by two leaking seals on the vacuum side of the fuel injectors. Replaced all fuel injector seals and it runs like a champ! The check engine light still shows code 3 but it runs fine, so I can figure that out another time. Thank you for the help.

Now for the next problem: Overheating. The car runs at a perfect temperature between 10-45mph. If you sit and idle on a warm day, the temp gauge will go to 3/4. Also if you are driving on the highway and go above 45mph same thing, the temp gauge goes to 3/4. Odd enough it doesn't seem to go past that 3/4 or just above that mark. The second you get off the highway it will cool back down to half way.

I have replaced the water pump, heater core, and thermostat already. I am running a dual core rad. The header has been wrapped with header wrap. Any ideas of what is going on?

What I really want to do is just throw a 3 core rad in there, but that costs money and if it doesn't fix the problem then that would suck. The only thing I can think of is that possibly the sensor on the thermostat housing is not sending out the right signal to the temp gauge. Ideas?