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Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

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Old 06-12-2010, 07:36 PM
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Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

Fellow V6 drivers, I have the car in my signature. It is a 1992 Camaro RS with the 3.1L and the 4L60 automatic tranny. Lately I have been getting a Service Engine Soon light coming on while driving. Moments before the light comes on you can feel the car bog down a little then the light will come on. I used a paper clip and pulled the codes. I have a code 32 and code 43. There is a small bolt on the EGR that is broken allowing a slight exhaust leak out the side towards the coil. Neither of the bolts that connect the EGR to the manifold are broken. The car sat for a couple years while I was in college due to cooling problems in heavy traffic. I think with a change of the thermostat I have cured the overheating problem. I just need to get this pesky service engine soon light to go away.

Recently I replaced the fuel filter and fuel pump (dropping the rear end and tank). I also replaced all the vacuum lines I could easily see because the cruise control had stopped working. The AC selector has the horrible vacuum leak and needs to have something done, it will only work on defrost. The AC has also lost some refrigerant and the pressure is low enough that the compressor will not cycle. I know this because we used a jumper wire on the low pressure switch and it started cycling. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
Old 06-13-2010, 12:04 AM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

Well a 32 is EGR code I believe, 43 I can't recall offhand...
43 MIGHT be MAF, but don't take my word for it, cause I really am not sure.
Old 06-13-2010, 01:06 AM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

I'm pretty sure code 32 is the EGR and code 43 is the knock sensor. I think I had a problem with the connector on the knock sensor before, so I'm not extremely worried about the code 43. Its the code 32 and the hefty price that comes with replacing the digital EGR that worries me. I was just trying to see if over the years someone has developed a fool proof way to diagnose this little issue.
Old 06-13-2010, 07:35 AM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

I had the same deal with my digital EGR on my old 90 bird with the 3.1. I absolutely had to replace the stupid thing for it to work properly and the light to go out.
Old 06-13-2010, 09:07 AM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

I really didn't want to hear that KrisW. I'm gonna replace the little broken bolt on the EGR first, i know the exhaust leak its causing is doing the EGR system any good.
Old 06-13-2010, 07:12 PM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

If you can get the 3 torx bolts out of the EGR valve, you can clean the carbon out of the guts. It's getting the screws out without breaking them that's the challenge. Worse comes to worse, you may be able to nab one or 2 from a junkyard for cheap as they were used for around 6 years or so in both FWD and RWD vehicles. The exhaust leak may be another indicator that the EGR transfer tubes need to be cleaned.

Code 43 is a knock sensor system fault. Either there's a bad sensor, connection, or the ESC board in the MEMCAL needs to be replaced (aka the MEMCAL itself needs to be replaced ).
Old 06-13-2010, 09:58 PM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

I sure hope its not the MEMCAL. I was driving it back tonight on the interstate and it really never has the light once you are going interstate speed(70+). Its when you are around town or on the highway that you can feel like car kinda bog and go flat then the light will come on. You can then either A) put it in neutral and rev it or B) punch it and the engine will clear up and the light will go off. The light will also go off and the engine return to running normal after a short period of driving with the engine flat. I seriously think that its just a loose connection on the knock sensor and i just got the code 32 from something weird.
Old 08-23-2010, 07:08 PM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

Originally Posted by tkemo648
I sure hope its not the MEMCAL. I was driving it back tonight on the interstate and it really never has the light once you are going interstate speed(70+). Its when you are around town or on the highway that you can feel like car kinda bog and go flat then the light will come on. You can then either A) put it in neutral and rev it or B) punch it and the engine will clear up and the light will go off. The light will also go off and the engine return to running normal after a short period of driving with the engine flat. I seriously think that its just a loose connection on the knock sensor and i just got the code 32 from something weird.
this happens to my 91 z also i hate it !!..at first the car starts to head up around 220 and then once i start feeling that bogg and the engine flat the SES light turns on and the temp. starts to rise a bit more..i still cant find wat it is i already replaced the knock sensor and the connecter..its weird cuz once i replaced it for about a month or so i wouldnt have this problem and then after that month it started doing it again..im gonna try to clean everything up where the knock sensor goes and see if that can be the problem
Old 08-23-2010, 09:01 PM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

orileys stocks the knock sensor plug for like 11 bucks...cheap easy thing to try if you think its the plug
Old 08-27-2010, 12:29 PM
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Re: Intermitent Service Engine Soon Light

when u mean that the memcal needs to be replaced..u can buy a hypertech chip and not worry about looking for a memcal from a junked camaro or something? would that still work?..a hypertech chip doescome with a new memcal right?
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