Newbie with codes

[shorty]

Hi all,
First I want to introduce myself and my SHO. My name is Rob I live in Prince George VA except when I am living in Harrisonburg VA. My SHO is a white MTX I bought about 3 months ago with ~165000 miles. I had a '91 about four years ago that gave me the itch. I "swore off" after I ran into brake locking issues I couldn't figure out how to fix.

Anyway, I've been reading on the forum here before joining and it looks like a lot of good info gets shared so that's cool.

OK, now my problems.
My car has been doing mini-stalls or hesitations every now and then. This started about 2 weeks ago. Most of the time this has occured has been just off idle such as leaving a traffic light, but it has also happened in mid range (on an on-ramp) and at highway speeds. Sometimes the tach drops 500 - 1000 rpm and comes back (stumbles), but sometimes the engine cuts out entirely and leaves me coasting.

At first I suspected water in the fuel so I treated for that with HEET, I also changed the fuel filter at this time. The problem did not go away, if anything it has gotten worse over the last week. That is when I found this board and the Phoenix Project site.

I used the info on the Phoenix site to pull codes. My system check shows 111 (system check ok), my memory check shows
211 Ignition PIP erratic or missing
542 Fuel pump open, bad ground, or always on

Without any other advice my solution would be to replace the crank sensor and the fuel pump. However, in my web search I seem to remember someone indicating that the fuel pump error sometimes came along as a companion to other errors and was not a root cause. Can anyone verify this?

Also, something I find confusing is that although I've stalled several times (12 plus) I only found 4 error codes; 2 211 and 2 542.

Any help or insight is appreciated. I have a Helm manual but not a Powertrain Control Unit manual.

Thanks in advance, sorry for the length,
Rob

 

[FREAK_SHO]

211- Crank sensor is on the way out. Replace.
542 - caused when the car stalled. - Ignore.

Then clear codes.

 

[SASHO91]

As Dave stated, it could be the CPS going.

However, it would be wise to check the grounding bolts for the DIS module, and the ground to the firewall. Also, make sure the DIS bolts are nice and snug.

 

[ViPER1313]

Also, something I find confusing is that although I've stalled several times (12 plus) I only found 4 error codes; 2 211 and 2 542.

The codes are only stored once, but they are displayed twice when you pull them from the ECU to make it easier to read them.

I am a student at JMU - is your SHO the white one I saw over by Chanellos downtown??

 

[shorty]

Thanks for the input, I will check the ground connection for the DIS. Along that same line of thought I will check my sensor connections if I can.

Is my sensor failure likely to become permanent rather than intermittent any time soon? The reason I ask is that ideally I would drive it about 2.5 hours to get it from where it is now to my heated garage to work on it over my holiday break. If the stalling has been occuring off and on for 2 weeks am I already on brrowed time?

Viper, probably not my SHO you saw at Chanellos. I checked out your car club site, if convenient I'll try to flag a corner for you sometime.

Thanks again for the input,
Rob

 

[shorty]

solved - Thanks!

Thanks for the help, I replaced the crank sensor about 2500 miles ago and no problems since so I reckon we got her fixed. While I was in there I also changed the timing belt, leaky water pump (root cause of the problem?), and the accesory belts. I appreciate the input.
Rob

 

[93rev2sev]

Yes, leaky waterpump + years of use = replace CPS before you pay a tow truck driver...

You beat the system.