argh.

double argh!

wife calls on the way home from work (drivin the GS) says check engine light came on after starting the car and driving very short distance (so motor hadnt warmed up yet. so OK, I'll take it to advance auto and get the code read when she gets home. (its only 5 min away) so i get it over there, and go in and they cant scan it tonight. something about there is only 2 employees in the store and for security/safety reasons, one of them cannot be in the store alone. so they say come back tomorrow.

so i left there, and figure i'll drive over to the autozone. it's 10 minutes or so away. get there, go in, and their scanner is broken!

i wanted to get the car scanned and get started on a way to get it fixed. but nooo. now i gotta sit here all night, and tomorrow wondering what the heck is wrong with the car. on a positive note, it seems to be running fine. i did remove and replace the gas cap a few times to see if for some reason that was it, but it wasnt that. so it could be one of the 02 sensors, perhaps the egr... dunno.

just needed to rant a bit :P


times like this wish i would just buy a scanner.

I just scanned my boss's L36 Bonneville this weekend for a similar thing. Car ran perfectly, but the SES light came on. I hooked up the laptop and it showed P0128 I believe was Coolant Thermostat. Basically it didnt warm up enough. He said he would get a new thermostat and an coolant temp. sensor and bring it back by so I could replace them for him.

Sorry for all of your trouble. I know what its like to want to get the needed information and have to wait because of things beyond your control. Good luck with finding out what it is, hopefully something really simple.

__________________
Scotty Hall
Bartlesville, OK
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it.

The only limitation you will ever face in life is yourself!

i thought about unhooking the battery for a few hours to clear the code out and see if it comes back, but dont really want to re-set the pcm at this point. it's kinda cold now.

I got the P0128 after putting in a drilled 180* tstat and oddly enough switching to RP oil. With as cloud as it was yesterday, I'm with Scotty and him thinking P0128.
Anytime I've set a code I can't hardly stand it until I can get home to throw the HPTuners on and have a look.

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04 Indy SS build #972
XP, TOG's, Lightning injectors, 2.8 pulley, 105 CC springs, Wizaired, 3.29 gears, tripleedgeperformance ported blower, machined LIM, 180* tstat, RS12YC@.053, FP rewire, Alt rewire, stage 1 V boost, PRJ wires, Stage 2 IC

the only reason i have to doubt the P0128 is that it was 13° outside. it's been colder than that a handfull of times this year. would also think that after warming the car, turning off and turning back on again would clear it... but we'll see this evening.

To be honest it's been so long ago don't remember if the code was still on when starting the car after work.

I hope it's nothing much either way.

__________________
04 Indy SS build #972
XP, TOG's, Lightning injectors, 2.8 pulley, 105 CC springs, Wizaired, 3.29 gears, tripleedgeperformance ported blower, machined LIM, 180* tstat, RS12YC@.053, FP rewire, Alt rewire, stage 1 V boost, PRJ wires, Stage 2 IC

Let us know what you find when you can, Im kinda curious about it all now.

__________________
Scotty Hall
Bartlesville, OK
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it.

The only limitation you will ever face in life is yourself!

well... the code is cleared now, we'll see if it comes back... had registered P0171, which is "System too lean bank 1" now, according to the trouble code diagnostics that i have (and are posted in the how to section) this is NOT an 02 code. from what i'm seeing on my research, it could have been (might still be) contamiation of the MAF sensor, or possble vac leak somewhere, (or unmetered air entering the system)

doofus at advance auto said "i know what it is, its the fuel cap" i think that's their answer to everything!

weather outside (TOOK ME AMOST 3 HOURS to get home... 30 MILES) precluded my desire to go and do highway road testing, will let the wife do that on the way to work tomorrow, to see if it comes back-- i know the car is due for it's filter cleaning, pcv, etc, and i dont remember the last time i cleaned the MAF/TB. so will need to do that soon. until then, i can relax a bit....

do you ever get really antsy when somethings wrong with the car and you either dont know what or cant fix it yet?

I had the same code, and found it was bad gas (process of elimination, and the fact it went away after changing out the gas helped)

__________________
Steve
'97 GTP VS cam, ZZP PCM, and not much else yet

hmmm, well the light came back on early this morning... so gonna have to try some things out...