1997 2.4 rough idle/rich/black smoke

Yeah I don’t have quite the time/patience/skill today to mess with it lol.

 

Pull it off the truck so it's in your hands. You can test the round vapor can using the attached doc.

I'd pull the ecm and open it up and check for damaged capacitors or damage on the circuit board

 

Thanks for the info! Whoa there’s a filter I can clean in the charcoal canister? I might have some time tomorrow to mess with it. Currently waiting on new TPS & EGR Vacuum Solenoid to arrive on Wednesday. I’ve replaced the egr valve. But not the vacuum solenoid. I read that a bad vacuum solenoid can cause rough idle/poor acceleration. I always thought mine was ok bc I can see the fluid flow when I spray carb cleaner into the nipples but my guess is as good as a cow’s. So I ordered a new one lol.

as far as the ECM. I did pull it out and take off the cover to expose the circuit board. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No burnt resistors, cracked parts, cracked lines, nothing. It actually looked really clean. However, I’m not an expert at electronic things like circuit boards n such. But I’m pretty sure there wasn’t anything wrong with the ecm as far as I can see. Doesn’t necessarily mean my ecm is good, I mean if I had the budget for it right now I’d get a new ecm

 

Make sure the canister fresh air hose that runs under the truck isn't clogged, and be careful with the can. If it's clogged you won't be able to clean the filter. Stick with LOW pressure

Btw this vapor canister works since the older canisters aren't available. It's slightly larger and you'll have to make it fit but it works great.

ACDelco - Vapor Canister (SLP-1) (215-153) , Black

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Did you have issues with your vapor canister and replaced it? If so, what were your symptoms that lead you to troubleshoot your canister?

 

Yeah, the can got clogged up and was allowing vapor into the intake which made fuel trims run rich until the ecm started pulling fuel. The hose that pulls air into the can was also blocked up with about 6" of dirt which could've been a contributing factor

The gas cap vent also needs to work correctly for air to be pulled into the gas tank when the tank is under high vacuum. I'd recommend getting a new oem cap while they're still available

 

Interesting. I’m gonna look into this. I noticed that everytime I go pump gas, whenever I open my gas cap there’s a lot of air pressure that releases. Is this normal? Does it mean the gas cap is working as it should?

 

I have one question, what is the fuel pressure at the injector rail? "Good" is not good enough. 40 psi is about where it should be it basically is the only thing that is not variable. The pressure does not change. (before it starts a shit storm it does change slightly full throttle but very little). The rest of the system is the amount of time an injector stays open controlled by temp right through to TPS.

 

I don’t know my fuel pressure or have the tool to check it. It is something I can look into though

 

Things start to get flaky above 45 psi get much above that they start to blow black smoke.

 

The gas cap is vented meaning that it allows fresh air to be sucked into the fuel tank to balance pressure when the fuel tank is under high vacuum. Yours is similar to the attached picture

 

Finally got mine fixed! It was the ECM. Swapped mine out with one I got from a guy in town and it started running like normal, check engine light immediately went out and the OBD2 port is working!

 

Get out!!!! Glad to hear you got yours fixed. That is honestly making me conclude it’s my ecm as well. Just put in new egr vacuum solenoid and new TPS with no change to car’s performance. Welp, next thing to budget in is a new ECM lol

 

It's gotta be your ECM like mine! So friggin exciting to have this crap worked out and be able to use this little truck again. Best of luck hunting down an ECM!

 

That’s great! I know you’re super happy to finally drive the truck like normal! I found a website that sells the ecm’s reman. I forgot the name of the site but I’ll find it. But gotta tell the wife to budget in another $500 for ‘car maintenance’ this month lol

 

Ugh sorry bro I know it's rough, hopefully you don't sleep on the couch too long for this one! Could always hit up junkyards or try to find a local like I did that has a Toyota graveyard in his front yard

 

Oh she’ll understand. Right now I daily drive a lifted f150 so my gas mileage is bad. The taco would be a much better gas saver lol

so you just swapped ecm’s and your truck ran better right? You didn’t change anything else out since we last discussed

 

Nope, just the ECM. You'll notice immediately like I did that its fixed. I'm kind of in the same situation. Driving a 5.7L Tundra is eating us alive in gas so the Taco is going to save us hundreds in gas alone

 

Mannnn. I’m pretty sure I’m ordering an ecm tomorrow lol

 

Try Module Madness. He sells working ECM's. I recently ordered a 2RZ one from him that is working in my truck, and a friend ordered a Mustang ECM that works great as well. These are refurbished with no core charge