Heat and idling problems

[colby13r]

1988 Lx-I. fuel injected.

so last weekend my check engine light came on without any warning. i drove it home just fine, parked it for four days. then when i go to start it up this afternoon it starts up just fine, no check engine light. i go to the store, and when i come back and start it up, its idling slow and erratically. like to the point where its just barely running. i help it out a little for a few seconds and it idles at the normal 800-1200 rpms it always does. then i get out of the parking lot.... check engine light comes back on. now its idled like this before, just occasionally. it doesnt usually happen when its cold. it usually happens when the engine is warm, maybe sat in a parkinglot for 15 minutes, but it doesnt always happen.

so i go home, push the front seat up and see how many times the LED flashes, which was 6 times. i double checked it was 6 flashes, went inside and looked it up. found out what it was and ran down to autozone.

when i talked to the guy, told him the symptoms, he was strong on it being the thermostat, its sensor, and/or something of that such. and i agree with him, after reading around on 3geez.

some more info:
-it has 269k miles on it
-the fan seems like it doesnt come on enough. when i get out of the car you can hear the engine clicking from how hot it is, and the fans come on like when i am at a stop light, and sometimes when im idling in the driveway. but they dont stay on for more than 15 seconds at a time.
-i went out and tried starting it a few minutes ago and it wouldnt start, even if i gave a tiny pump on the gas, nothing. but eventually after a few minutes of cranking it turned over.
-the check engine light doesnt come on right as the engine starts, it takes between 30 seconds, to a few minutes. sometimes it doesnt even come on at all.

can i get some help? i just need my car to get to school in the mornings, id really appreciate any help you can give me. and im here to answer questions

[Xybris]

I don't know much about the injected engines but it sounds like a TW sensor failure, at least according to the PGM-FI code chart.

This thread sounds similar to what you are experiencing: https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthrea...ight=tw+sensor

[Dr_Snooz]

Replace the TW sensor and report back.

[colby13r]

that definitely seemed to fix it. they had one in stock at autozone, and for some reason i think the shop manual says tighten to 20 ft/lbs....dont even try. you wont get past ten before you break the sensor. hah. good thing there was another autozone close by. thanks for the help guys!

[w261w261]

did you bleed the system after you swapped in the sensor? If not, be sure to do it.

[colby13r]

i most definitely did not bleed it. could you possibly educate me on the process?

[Xybris]

http://members.fortunecity.com/accor...m_bleeding.htm

Should tell you what you need to know... with pictures!! (scroll down a little to the bleeding section)