Giving Up?

[ViewAskew]

So I have been having problems with my Galant for like a year now after the auto tranny went boom and I swapped over to a manual. I put on Stage 3 clutch, chromoly flywheel, poly bushings on all 4 corners and mounts, 6G74 throttle body (the one without T/C), Aluminum Eclipse radiator (not on), 3" exhaust welded on to the fat part of the collector and many more parts. Went to fire it up and it won't idle right. Sounded like when I replaced the dizzy and had to of the wires swapped. Rechecked that and everything was right. Started it again and noticed it was idling around 2k and when the engine got warm in died and i couldn't keep it running unless I kept giving it gas but if i floored it, it would die instantly. Rechecked all connections and whatnot and everything looked good. Checked codes and had all the typical tranny ones and also the cam sensor and crank sensor. I had bought a brand new (not refab) dizzy within 500 miles of the tranny going and it always drove fine with these codes before the swap (I had the cam & crank codes since I owned the car/ 2+ years). Started looking into these two codes more and noticed there was 2 different reluctor wheels. Went to the junkyard and pulled the other type of wheel (4 "leg") one and swapped them out. No change, car still don't run and still have the 2 codes. Ordered a OEM crank sensor and checked timing again (I had to replace the oil filter housing because I cracked it putting on a new sending unit, hence the checking of timing), new sensor on and timing correct, car still messed up. Ran out of ideas so I broke down and took it to a mechanic that specialized in fixing "tuner" cars that kids mess up. After 3 days and $300, they tell me its because there are too many codes so the car won't run right. Call a friend that is always bragging about his friend that won a big competition GM did in the late 90's and the guy agrees to take my car on. I try to tell him what all I've done to the car and what I've checked but he says he don't care and he will figure it out. First day, he calls and says it needs a new MAF because it runs better when its unplugged. I try to tell him I had 3 different ones and none of them changed how the car ran but what do I know so I tell him to go for it. Couple days and $300 later, he calls and says it didn't work and he wants to check the timing and compression. Timing checks out fine and he says he thinks it might be because my compression was around 220 on all 6 cylinders. I tell him it has high compression pistons in it and has driven fine for 3 years, so he now thinks its not getting enough fuel and lets me go to check. Calls me back after a while and tells me the rear bank is running lean so he ordered 3 new injectors. $300 more and still nothing. He convinces me that he will get it and wants to look into the wiring. After a couple of weeks, he says it might be because the rear O2 sensor doesn't work and I'm missing 2 O2s (downstream ones). I convince him to let me come out and explain what all the car has had done to it because the downstream have been shut off in my tune. I get out there and he was plugging the rear O2 into the cruise control plug (I deleted C/C) and says he wished he would have known all of this before he started. When I pointed out he didn't want to hear any of it he apologized and said, yet again, he will figured it out. 2 more months pass (he has had it almost 5 months) and he finally calls and tells me that he thinks I need a new dizzy. I tell him that it is brand new and drove fine for 500 miles and he says that that is what it is. I ask how can he be sure and he said that is just what he thinks it is and that he can have a new one there in an hour for around $400. I tell him to forget it and I will come get it and go try a junkyard one because I think he is just throwing parts at it and I have already spent a small fortune and am no closer to getting my car running than I was a year ago when the tranny went out, not to mention, I sold my sons Eclipse and we had to go buy a second vehicle for my wife because he had my Galant for so long. He says ok and I ask him if it is still driveable because it was when it went out there and he says yes so I ask for a week to come up with what money he feels I owe him. Jump to this last Friday and I go get it. Make sure he thinks its driveable and he says yes again so we take it and leave. The car is making more popping and banging than before so I pull over on the side of the interstate and pop the hood to unplug the MAF to see if that helps get me home and this is what I find:

Maybe why he said I needed a new MAF?


My brand new filter that was put on right before I drove it out there


My O2 sensor plug. Should have looked when I showed him he was plugging into the C/C


My wiring for the manual tranny


The harness going across by the battery


Harness going across by the battery again

At this point I'm ready to give up. If it were only replacing the dizzy again with a junkyard one, ok, but I have no guarantee that is what's wrong and now I have to go through and figure out what all he messed up. I have dropped close to 3k on this in the last year (if not more, I quit keeping track) to just get it running again and that was what I was going to spend on getting the body fixed now, even if it runs, I tapped out what I wanted to put into it to make it look somewhat nice so now I'll still have a sleeper (my car isn't really a looker) which I'm ok with, jsut wanted something nice.

Ideas, suggestions, wisdom....anything? I'm at my wits end and don't know what to do. All this is why I haven't taken a car to a real mechanic in like 13 years, feel so used.

[Techn0Nut1996]

I honestly can't help with much of this as I am still learning a lot about it but I'll tell you what I think about selling the car. Like you my auto tranny went out and instead of fixing it I got a different car. I wish I would have stayed with the Galant.. It really comes down to how much you like the car or if you want to move on. If you love the car you will want to work on it and get it going how you want it, if you don't want to do that then maybe it is time to move on.

[ViewAskew]

Couple things as I go through everything. Went to hook up the rear O2 sensor and noticed the mechanic moved it from the upper position in on of the exhaust tubes and put it in the lower bung in the collector of the 3 tubes. Does it matter which one it is in and if it is supposed to be in the lower spot can I just splice in wire to the wiring harness side of the O2 because it's now like a foot short of plugging in. Also, is it possible to put the dizzy in 180° off and it run? The car has what sounds like a misfire but has spark to all cylinders but it backfires like hell when you give it gas. Thanks for any help.

[FooseGalant]

My limited understanding of O2 sensors comes from the guys at Engine Power. The forward O2 sensor adjusts the mixture and the post cat O2 sensor confirms performance of the cat. Switching their location will have an adverse effect on the mixture and cause a mixture issue from idle through the rev range.

[M-Rod]

This is a tough one since so much has been altered. Fortunately, you'll be able to rule out the distributor being installed 180 degrees off since it will only go in one way. Although a number of things could cause a rough idle and driveability issues, the only time I've ever seen one of these backfire has been when spark plug wires were not installed correctly. I would double-check that they are hooked up to the correct location on the distributor.

[ViewAskew]

Thanks fellas. I'll check the plugs again tomorrow. Here is a pic of the header. Blue arrow is where O2 used to be, red, obviously, where it resides now. Does it matter which bung it's in? I don't have any cats and the downstream O2s should be turned off in my tune.



Here is a video too, might have to click it to view it on my photobucket.

Definitely think I'm running rich too.

I've started cleaning up the wiring and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. I really appreciate the help. All I want to do is drive a car that is somewhat fun. Not my wife's HHR.

[M-Rod]

From the video the spark plug wires don't seem to be mixed up. Do you have a wideband O2? The car may be running too rich. Which injectors are in the car? If they're the 3.5's 275cc injectors they will cause the car to run too rich if the ecu is not tuned for them.

[ViewAskew]

No wide band and running 72 injectors. I have the 275s and 305s along with a GTS MAF that I want to put in but not until I get this sorted out.

[ViewAskew]

Messed around with the car again and got the O2 sensor hooked up and this is what the car runs like now.

That is the only thing I did and now it runs like this no matter what, O2 plugged in or not. I'm so lost. Think I'm just going to scrap it because it 1 step forward, 2 steps back.