K so my white car has been putting me through hell the last few months. Last winter whenever it was cold and I started it it would shake, idle would go nuts and it would nearly stall out. Then after a while I developed a slight miss. The car generally ran like shit, I had to always be in a lower gear than normal.
Then it suddenly went away after spending an entire day just poking around to see what was wrong. A few months later the miss got really really terrible, and I threw a code for an o2 sensor, so I replaced it. And the plugs and wires. It was better for about a few weeks, then it came back.
Finally while I was back in MD for the weekend, after checking everything else I could think of, I yanked the coil pack off my pink car and stuck it on my white car. That was about 3 months ago, and the car ran like brand new.

Until now. Now I start the car after it's been sitting for a few hours and it's either hard to start, or when it does it nearly stalls out. The engine shakes, idle jumps. If I try to push the gas it doesn't work, the engine won't rev, sometimes it stalls completely out. If it's not warmed up completely, and I try to drive it, it either stalls, or will sometimes go if I ride the bejesus out of the clutch.

I've been out of the game for a while, am I missing something??

Try swapping the ECUs between the two cars. Even though the other one is an A/T, it will work (if your sig is correct and they are both 98s). You will just have a lower redline and a CEL for no TCU.

mine does the same thing that you described in the first few sentences, and I still havent figured it out...What did you all mess around wit that day?

does it run fine when it's warmed up?

if it does, check your coolant level, I bet you've got a nasty air bubble or a slow leak somewhere.

The day I messed with it I just pulled the plugs out and looked at em, etc. Just looked at stuff. It ran fine. Then bam, again.

It runs fine when it's warmed up. I check and change the coolant regularly, it seems to be fine. No leaks.

My thermostat is now broken as well. But it wasnt when the problems started.

The ECU swap I can try, but I hate slowly stealing parts of my pink car. Makes it that much more of a reality that I'm not driving it around.

:(

I have a very similar problem with my car. I am thinking it is my ECU as I have a different one in there than I used to and it never did it before.

Originally posted by ashaleenicole
The day I messed with it I just pulled the plugs out and looked at em, etc. Just looked at stuff. It ran fine. Then bam, again. It runs fine when it's warmed up. I check and change the coolant regularly, it seems to be fine. No leaks. My thermostat is now broken as well. But it wasnt when the problems started. The ECU swap I can try, but I hate slowly stealing parts of my pink car. Makes it that much more of a reality that I'm not driving it around. :(

Instead of tearing up your pink one, Try this website
foxautosalvage.com
they have plenty of DSM parts, you can either call them up or email them for that ECU etc. prices are decent. Sure its a junkyard but they sell quailty parts not crap. My cousin referred me to them he knows the owner plus he built a Buick Reagel 400hp small block,used parts from them and Summitracing.

awesome! thank you!

Hey Ash, you might consider checking out the coolant temp sensor (CTS). It's one of the two sensors located on the water neck just below the radiator cap. One of them feeds the gauge in the cluster, while the other one is used by the ECU to tell when the car is up to operating temperature.

Worth a shot. Together, they run less than $50 from Autozone. Known to cause all kinds of bullshit issues that make you wanna pull your hair out.

Good luck, chica! :thumbsup

Originally posted by DR1665
Hey Ash, you might consider checking out the coolant temp sensor (CTS). It's one of the two sensors located on the water neck just below the radiator cap. One of them feeds the gauge in the cluster, while the other one is used by the ECU to tell when the car is up to operating temperature. Worth a shot. Together, they run less than $50 from Autozone. Known to cause all kinds of bullshit issues that make you wanna pull your hair out. Good luck, chica! :thumbsup

that was gonna be my next suggestion, really sounds like bad signal from the temp sensor since there's no bubbles in the system

(you did check, right ash?)