The service tech from Hot Rod Express that worked on my transmission shift problem at their shop made a house call yesterday. He spent a couple of hours going over all the ECU settings but had no luck getting the engine to start. He did determine that the idle air control wasn't working properly. It is supposed to be set to 100 while cranking the engine. Then after the engine starts and warms up, it should idle with a value between 5 and 10. Instead, it just stays on 245 which is full open and creates a giant vacuum leak. We also noticed the valve was making a high frequency squeal when the key was on. We unplugged it and the noise stopped so we're sure it was coming from the IAC valve. The folks at FITech said there's no good way to bench test them but recommended that I remove the valve from the throttle body and hold the pintle while someone turned the key on and off. The plunger should move in and out slightly when doing this. Well, it moved alright and came apart completely. Ohio Speed said they had several IAC's do the exact same thing. So they're sending me a new one.
I'm not sure if this will fix the problem, but it's a start. I still have all the parts I need to switch over to a carb just waiting on my wish list. We'll see how this goes. We had planned to go to the lake for a cruise in next week and meet up with one of my best friends I've known for over 50 years. Had to call him today and postpone to July. This better be fixed by then or I won't have any hair left.
