So for those of you who have been following along, the fuel tank was perfect and the lines were clear. The pump was fine. I had hooked up the fuel gauge to the wrong hose. As much as it hurts to disclose that I want to put out as much information as possible in hopes that it can help troubleshoot my issues. Car issues that is
. So back to the mechanic it went.
He (Mike) checked the TBI setup again and believed something was wrong with either the throttle body unit or the ECM. So I called Howell up and explained to the tech (Troy) where we were at. Troy said have Mike give him a call with his scanner hooked up so they could troubleshoot. The first issue discovered was that the O2 sensor was bad. Once that was installed (a few days later) the error codes pointed to something being up with the throttle body unit itself. A few days later Mike discovered the diaphragm (not sure about the technical terms) was ripped and some sort of adjustment screw wasn't functioning as should.
Old Unit. The rubber diaphragm was ripped. Its hard to see, but underneath the diaphragm is a back bowl with an adjustment screw. That wasn't function properly due to something not being welded properly.
So Howell sent a new unit and a week later that was installed. We got to the point where there were no more error codes and according to Mike it was running a whole lot better, so he dropped it off at the smog place to have it sniffed again. CO #s were down but the NOx #s were still too high. They tested the CAT and found out that wasn't working. That whole process took over a month
Believing that all was fine I picked up the rig last Thursday. It definitely drove better although I didn't have much to compare it with simply because it's been in the shop pretty much since I bought it.
There still didn't seem to be much power and the response from the gas pedal didn't seem to be what it should. First thing Friday morning I took it in to get a new CAT and muffler.
When they backed it out of the bay you could hear a knocking sound coming from the engine. This was new. Plan was to take it down to the smog shop and hopefully pass and worry about the knocking later. As I headed over, the knocking became worse. I did notice a considerable amount of power with the new exhaust as the old muffler was full of something (probably the honeycomb from the CAT) but still not as responsive to gas as I imagine it should be. As soon as I got to the smog shop they said something was up. Perhaps its misfiring or a stuck lifter. Whatever it was it needed to be fixed first.
This is what led me to last post. After Googling my issues I figured I'd try an oil change with some Marvel Mystery oil and replace the plugs. Unfortunately the knocking (while not as pronounced) is still there.
Looking at the plugs they definitely needed to be changed. There were only two (5/7) that appeared to have oil 3/4 of the way on the threads. The rest were dry all the way through. I'll try and get pics of the plugs on the other thread later on.
Not sure if there is a link between getting a new CAT/Muffler and the knocking or if its just happen to be the next issue up. Trying not to dwell on it too much because it's driving me crazy.