Leaderboard

Well, I didn't even get to using the contact cleaner because I found bypass circuit 424 shorted to ground inside the ICM, by testing unplugged ECM terminal BC7. Unplugging the ICM eliminated the ground short. This ICM is only a few months old. It did run perfectly when I first installed it. I wonder if the loose connection ruined something inside it. Who knows. I was pleasantly surprised to find out the ECM connector is fairly easy to access for testing purposes. I only drew blood once.

E042 came up again today. I'll try this Deoxit D5 on the connections at the ECM next. It says it removes oxidation and adds a coating that reduces intermittents and arcing. From what I've read, the coating is conductive when heated but insulating when not, so it makes it a stronger connection where the terminals meet, but won't cross over the plastic to short out other terminals. The car still runs weird sometimes even without setting the code. I suspect that the EST circuit connection is intermittent, so the ICM isn't always getting all the spark timing pulses from the ECM; it might be that only some of them are coming through.

Merry Christmas to the forum members and their families. Have a Happy and Safe New Year, also.