Thanks for the tip. I'll check for sure tommorrow about the engine light. I have a multi meter for checking volts, amps and continuity, but I should pick up a haynes manual. I've already spent quite a few weeks fixing a bunch of problems with this van such as plenum, a bunch of sensors, heater core, tune up, (rebuilt trans and radiator, water pump), had those done in summer by mechanic and rusted brake line. Still need to fix this problem and flush brake fluid when I replace brake hose. Could also use rotors due to uneven stopping when coming to a slow stop. but that will have to wait. Most maintainance until past year or 2 was kept up by mechanic. Van runs great with great power. Still looks great. So I know what I got. And lack of funds forces me to stay with her for awhile longer. Plus I'm actually enjoying fixing problems again. As long as can keep the expenses low, this is what I will stick with. So manual is on the list. Just hope nothing expensive breaks down. That would hurt.

 

The mere fact that you were able to start the van only after warming the ECM with the hairdryer is enough to tell you the problem is with the ECM. As far as the lack of power, I'm sure that simply because the ECM was heated up to a temperature that was more than it normally gets to. The lack of power could've been something as simple as the ECM not advancing the timing enough. This would also explain the lack of coolant temperature.

 

Well I did order the ECM. Won't get here til Tuesday. In the mean time I'm still concerned with this new symtom of van developing lack of power after 10 minutes of driving. It started up after warming up the ECM again today Seemed more sluggish warming up today than usuall. But it did run good enough at first. But then after 10 minutes of driving it bogged down starting missing and just wouldn't go anymore. Then I couldn't start it. I let it sit for hours in the cold to get back to the same pattern of heating up ECM. But I didn't wait long enough I started it without using hair dryer. Took some to get it to turned over. It really didn't run, just kept miss firing, like when I take out one plug to check for spark. That's what happens now since I used hair dryer last night trying to warm up van. Just another note. I have used the hair dryer before last night but it wasn't quite so cold out, so I didn't leave it pointing at ECM for too long.

I think I may have used heat for too long and damaged some circuit in the ECM for this new pattern of engine problems to develop. Sound like a reason?I have 4 or 5 days without a vehicle now. So the reason I'm being a bit nuerotic about this is if these new symtoms aren't related to ECM I want to figure it out before I replace the ECM so I'm good to go. I took out the ECM today and cleaned all the contacts since I needed the part number of it anyway. Put it back in with no change. Had to try.

 

Most likely the PCM board was damaged to begin with. Heat and cold will affect electronic boards. By applying the heat the way you did may have only speed up, not caused, the new syptoms. From reading your posts here I beleive that replacing the ECM will get rid of all of your problems.

 

Thanks for the reaffirmation! That's what I'm hoping for. Van is old with 175,000 and money is extremely tight. So is econony efffecting my business and income. So this is nice to hope for. I've already invested close to 700.00 in tools and parts in the past 2 months for repairs I've worked on. But have also saved close to 2500.00 to 3000.00 to have some one else do the repairs. So I'm just about finished with the major issues I hope anyway, if this works out. All other issues as of now are very minor and probably not worth addressing til the times change, if at all.

 

You could also end up chasing phantoms. If these problems are all related to a bad ECM, which I suspect they are, nothing you do is going to help until the ECM is replaced. On the flip side, if even one of the problems is not due to the bad ECM, the new ECM will detect it and throw you a trouble code. With the code you will know exactly what to look at instead of all this guessing. I know (believe me I know) how frustrating it is to wait for parts to show up just so you know you've solved the problem. But sometimes you've just got to walk away, get busy doing something else, and forget about it until the part shows up.

Just remember to disconnect the battery before installing the new ECM. After all this, you don't want to fry it by accident.

 

Funny you should say this. After going to store and for a test ride to see if same thing happened as night before, which it did and I decided to take off computer for part # and clean contacts, I forgot to unplug the battery. Now it won't even start. It just bucks.

 

I'm sure it's a 1 and a 2 for code 12 which means the battery was recently disconnected.

 

You sure you didn't bend any pins or damage one of the connectors?

 

No, I'm looking at it now and all pins are straight. And I took a toothpick to clean out any webs that filled around the female connector part. Used a medium stiff plastic toothbrush to clean pins and any debris also. So I either made a bad situation worse by not removing negative terminal or some other situation is going on. I've read about a bad cat causing the bucking and stalling, but it's too coincidental and went from running great once warmed up to running like bucking bull in one night. Got to be I overheated the computer and probably fried a already bad ECM by leaving battery connected. I hope. Don't know how much more I can handle and stay sane.