97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

[rwise]

This is my Daughters car, recently it has started running rough (makes a click then runs poorly and smokes). It started this right after the radiator blew, we put in a new one (only slightly higher than fixing the old one and a life time replacement), it only does it intermitantly. When it is running rough it smokes white smoke that smells like raw gas (and we all now the cost of gas). It has 180k miles on it, we have pulled the plugs and they were bad (verrrrrry worn)(also the coil pack had a bit of moisture in it I dried it with a hair dryer and let it set in the house while we went after the plugs) and this helped, but still has the problem. I work manly on older cars/trucks/boats, any help would be greatly appreciated by all of us, and thanx in advance! (help I need help with this new crap )

 

[dolluper]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

Bad coil or going bad>>>>> or crank sensor going bad but it will die when it goes bad,but if you wait awhile it will start up and go again only until it dies again....might last hours or days or feet

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

thanx dolluper, is there any way to test it, as far as I know it does not die, just run bad.

I should also add that three of the plugs were whitish, the forth was black, and the gaps were all over the place. the black plug is about .065 (just guessing) maybe more.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

When it is running rough can you determine if it is one cylinder not firing?
And which one?
If you can do that, then rearrange the coils and see if the miss follows the same coil.
Rearrange the coils, NOT the coil wires!.

How long was it run after the rad blew? Enough to overheat and cause a head crack or head gasket to leak rad fluid into a cylinder?.
Water in a cyl. will not burn the fuel into that cyl. thus you get white smoke (steam) and raw fuel out the exhaust.
Does the rough running and white "smoke" happen after it is warm or cold or both?

 

[dolluper]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

Before you go much further,check those new plugs for their condition...if white again you could have bad gaskets {head}do a compression check.This model has no distributor right or does it???

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

that is correct, no distributor, no wires either, it is a molded POS that bolts to a cover sets on the plugs and then bolts to the top of the engine. There are 2 coils in it. I dont think they drove it to hot, ( I warn them constantly bout dat) but they are just kids (20's) they called me when it happened, the tank cracked out the way those papper tanks do they let it cool and added water and came here. It was not over heated when they got here but was low on coolant. (replaced radiator) We put a can of sea foam in it (in the gas) thinking maybe an injector was sticking open (is that possible?) may not fix it but it wont hurt. Have not ran a compresion test, but if it was a blown head gasket I would think it would be the same all they time, but it runs good and then "click" and it runs bad and smokes "click" and it runs good, (I cant find whats clicking sounds like a solinoid) it also does not seam to be loosing coolant. Rechecking the plugs will be done in a couple of days (but they have to get to work it's there only car and it still moves, BTDT it's hell to be poor) I want at least half the tank of gas to run through it before pulling the plugs again.
edit: they have not mentioned it dieing
edit2: warm or cold doesn't seam to mater

 

[dolluper]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

When she clicks check for a voltage drop in charging system >>> your meter at battery terminals,thinking you could have worn brushes in alto or voltage reg

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

I agree with Dolluper you should check the voltage at the battery when it's running bad.

About the "click", does it sound like it's comming from under/behind the dash or is the "click" comming from under the hood?

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

click comes from under the hood, I,ll check the voltage. Wednesday is the cars day off (ya right thats when they want to go play )

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

ok, finally got them to stop it long enuf to look at it :
we swapped the coils and Chris (me SIL) says it runs a little better, anyway some pics.

looks like a crack in one of these coils

These plugs are about a week old

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

and this is what there is for wires

the voltage while running was 18 to 19 volts, higher with cooling fan and air con running.

 

[dolluper]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

Still have one bad plug if I'm seeN right,that's where you replaced the coil maybe??As for the extremly high voltage,bad ground sssss or coughing out voktage reg>>>> check esp ground close to elect fan harness by rad they seem to go bad there,with that high voltage an open short is somewhere>>> did you ever pull any codes or did the check engine light ever come on

 

[dolluper]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

Anything else on that car

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

at this moment it looks like the coil housing pictured above

 

[rwise]

Re: 97 achieva(sp) 2.4 twin cam

ok got to look at it a bit today, cyl # 3 is the one that is missing. There was un burned gas in it so we swapped the injecters on 3 and 4, and unless they swap it in on another we will look at the plugs again in a few days and see if the prob has moved. I think it has done this before one of the injecter wires on #3 has been spliced. He (SIL) didn't bring the compresion tester so we did not do that part, yet.