What could cause this?

[99Formula]

After spending 2500 miles driving my Buick without a hitch it is now throwing everything at me but the kitchen sink. Here is what it's doing now:

When I drive the car with any chip calibrated for my setup (I have 4 to choose from) I get a stumbling idle which usually ends up with the car dying, and I can barely drive the car from point A to point B. This is with or without the O2 sensor, open and closed loop.

If I drive the car with no chip in the ECM, it idles great, and runs (not well, but it can get me around). The service engine light flashes and my Scanmaster doesn't show any data, but it actually runs better than it does with a chip in the computer.

Any ideas? Bad ECM possibly? (I don't get a bad ECM code, but it seems somewhat logical...)

Peter

 

[blackbuick87]

It must REALLY be idling bad with a chip in there if it runs better in "limp home" mode.
You need to list your combo so we know what you have

 

[UNGN]

Have you done a "tap test" on the MAF?

 

[99Formula]

Yea, it idles horribly... It just wanders a little bit, coughs, and eventually dies. It's really odd... I haven't done the maf tap test since I'm now running a LT1 maf and translator. One of the things that started off this whole fiasco was me accidentally killing the stock maf.

My combo is as follows:
TE-44
009's
ME8 or Various other chips
LT1 MAF + translator
Mild cam, home ported heads, etc.

Peter

 

[blackbuick87]

How does one accidentally kill the stock MAF? You might have killed something else

 

[99Formula]

What happened was I got the bright idea to clean the k&n. I cleaned it, let it dry overnight, oiled it, let it sit all day, installed it back on the car, and blam, the car started running like crap a few minutes later. The scanmaster showed a bad maf malfunction. I took it out to clean it and it had some carbon on the wires. I cleaned it up, and it ended up working well for 2 or so days, then gave up completely. I've cleaned a million k&n filters, but I guess I just oiled this one too much.

Peter

 

[blackbuick87]

But then you put on an LT1 maf and trans and it kept doing the same thing? Check your wiring to the stock adapter, maybe you pulled something out. It sounds like your ECM is not reading or recognizing you MAF at all, like its unplugged

 

[Iceman]

What does your ScanMaster show for the MAF at idle.I think it should be about 5

 

[striker_29]

Cam Sensor maybe??

Start the car and unplug the cam sensor, that will put it in batch fire mode. If it runs better, you may have something flaky going on with the cam sensor. Good luck...Striker

 

[99Formula]

Originally posted by blackbuick87
But then you put on an LT1 maf and trans and it kept doing the same thing? Check your wiring to the stock adapter, maybe you pulled something out. It sounds like your ECM is not reading or recognizing you MAF at all, like its unplugged

I've looked around to see if I might have disconnected or misconnected anything, and can't find any problems. If I have a chip in and pull the maf wire I get the maf malfunction code, but when it's all plugged in, it doesn't seem to have a problem. Also, changing fuel settings on the translator makes a noticable difference, so I think the MAF is good.


Iceman:
With a chip in, the scanmaster showed between 5-7 at idle, until it died.

I'll try messing with the cam sensor also, and see if that makes any difference.

Peter

 

[Iceman]

Originally posted by 99Formula

Iceman:
With a chip in, the scanmaster showed between 5-7 at idle, until it died.

I'll try messing with the cam sensor also, and see if that makes any difference.

Peter

That sounds ok!