the SHO

[torinodan]

See if you guys can follow this like I tried too. It was my cold start idle problem I was having on the 96. First the MAF was bad...replaced, the IAC was slugish...replaced, battery had dead cells...replaced, spark plugs worn (60K platnums)...replaced, crank positioning sensor replaced for good measure. Nothing seemed to help as it still wanted to start like crap. Figured whatever and replace the belt...replaced and now it starts great except for when the A/C is left on.
The combination of the belt and battery also fixed the demented flipping out football condition.
So basically now it starts rough only when the A/C is left on and it has a real pungent smell when first started. Any thoughts, maybe the cats are coated with oil till they get hot and burn off or something like that? The O2 sensors have no real effect on start because they are in open loop till warm. BTW, my ABS is still stupid.

One good thing about changing the plugs is that I was able to paint everything to look much better while it was apart. Pics coming soon!

 

[LJRuddy]

Check your secondaries... When stuck open, they have been known to cause a hard/rough cold start. Take off your intake and see if the butterfly assembly is stuck open due to carbon coating. If it is, the secondary actuator cable might be broken. It connects to the ICRM. At this point, you have 2 options.

1) replace cable (if broken) and clean out the butterfly assembly.
2)remove butterfly assembly all together. Many Gen 3 owners have done this and there is no bad side effects. Minus the occasional rough start during extreme cold conditions.

 

[NebraskaSHO]

Check to see if your IMRC box hasn't stripped a gear.

Otherwise if your having a rough start it could always be a coil.

I had an on/off miss for over 8 months before I finally got to replace #3 coil pack last Tuesday. In 99 degree heat.

 

[torinodan]

Check your secondaries... When stuck open, they have been known to cause a hard/rough cold start. Take off your intake and see if the butterfly assembly is stuck open due to carbon coating. If it is, the secondary actuator cable might be broken. It connects to the ICRM. At this point, you have 2 options.

1) replace cable (if broken) and clean out the butterfly assembly.
2)remove butterfly assembly all together. Many Gen 3 owners have done this and there is no bad side effects. Minus the occasional rough start during extreme cold conditions.

The secondaries are no longer an option due to the control I've removed and they are closed. When taken apart when I changed my plugs they are still clean considering they are a haven for sludge and carbon build up. Ive broken 2 cables and one set of gears already. The IRCM is not need for the time being.

 

[torinodan]

wires or components

By accident I found out something new and that all my problems might be all connected somehow. Setting in the car from the passenger seat I was able to take the transmission from park and put it in gear without pushing in the brake pedal. WOW a break through!
The shift interlock relay, TCC inputs via the PCM from the brake switch, ABS, speed control module, and the lamp out module all share the same signal from the brake switch and all seem to be messed up. So it seems that one side of these or another is back feeding power into everything else causing my shift interlock not to lock, the torque converter to remain locked and unlock whenever it whats to, and cycle on and off my A/C at strange times. This would also explain my starting issues if the torque converter is locked at start. Oh well, time to dig into the tech pubs some more till I get to something else but they all share a splices, diodes, and common grounds around the brake light switch.