last night i decided to take off my UIM and replace those pesky phillips head TPS screws. while it was off i also decided to do a little sanding and polish it. now this was not the first time i took off my UIM so i knew what i was doing but now i am at a loss. while i sanded it down last night, i made sure that all nipples, holes, ports, what ever, were taped off. i also separated the throttle body from the UIM. this morning i replaced the TPS screws with 7mm socket screws and put everything back together. i made sure that all sensors were connected right and that all the vacuum lines were in there right places. everyhitng was good to go, i did a second check of everything and proceeded to start it up. it ran very rough for about ten seconds and then died. i pulled the engine codes and 11, 12, and 18 came up. i checked the TPS and i had put it on wrong, so i fixed that. i adjuted it perfectly and tried it again. now it just wouldn't run at all unless i gave it gas to keep it alive. it turned out that i had left the map sensor vacuum line off from when i did the TPS. plugged it in but the same symptoms came up. now i am totally at a loss and fear that i might have some how missed a piece of tape or paper towl and that got sucked into my engine. and my boost gauge never read any vacuum, it stayed right at zero the whole time, even with the engine running. PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME.

thanks
Christian

 

You didnt blow the engine.. Go back and make sure everything is connected right. When trying to start you be able to distinguish the three even exhaust pulses even though it is not turning over . Check the throttle cable, etc. If your boost gauge is reading zero it is not hooked up right. Also you may have a leak on the UIM somewhere. You might have to take it off and check the gasket. G

 

1. Sounds like you knocked off your vacuum line for your boost gauge

2. There are only a few connectors on the UIM/TB, recheck them all. You listed ECU code 11 but you didn't list fixing it. It's under the UIM and will cause the car to run like crap (on the stock/rechipped ECU) if it's not connected.

3. Reset the ECU, try it again. If you still have problems, pull the ECU codes and see if anything is stored

 

i just got home from dinner and will try looking under the manifold for proper connections. i felt under there and was amost positive that i reconnected everything but i am not so positive anymore. is it possible i connected the wrong plug into the wrong sensor?

 

i forgot to mention that when i turn it over, it smells incredibly rich. could it be it is so rich that it is litteraly flooding its self with every cycle?

 

well i doubt it would be flooding it self if u are having to press to gas to keep it alive

 

call me stupid, but i pulled the UIM and low and behold, i can see a paper towel stuffed way the f*** down in the 2nd from the front LIM runner. and there are little tiny scraps of towel in the front runner. . how f***ed am i really? and what do i do to get them out? i tried a vacuum but that didn't work. i don't even know how it got there.

 

try a fexible bolt grabber

 

i tried a clothes hanger and i was able to get pieces of it but it feels stuck in there. i am so pissed off at myself right now.does anyone think i need to take off the LIM?

 

possible of a uim gasget popd? mine did n the car wouldnt start.. just throwing that in

 

no, it is definitly a paper towel in the LIM. can some one please tell me that it didn't get into the engine?? that would be a huge load off of my shoulders.

 

OK! so i tried the vacuum again and after holding it on the runer for about 10 seconds, it sucked up the paper towel.

now what i am wondering is, is there any chance that some of that same paper towel got into the engine or do you think that it was just plugging the port, highly limiting air flow and causeing my problems?

 

ok. so i went back out and i tried vacuuming the other ports...
the front 2 (one of which had a paper towel) before the paper towel was sucked out, would create quite alot of suction when in i put the vacuum on it. now there is nothing in either. it feels like it is sucking air through from the other side.
i tried the back 2 and there is suction like there was before the paper towel was removed. do you think that there is another paper towel in one of the rear LIM runners?
i am preety sure i know where the paper towel came from and there definitly can't be four of them in each runner. i think it came from the double throttle plates. i blocked those with paper towel top and bottom and i removed what i though was all of it, but i used the half sheet kind and i think half of one might have fallen into the mainfold. i will post a pic of the one i got out asap.

 

I would just remove the LIM and take a look from there.

 

you may have fouled the plugs, change them. also a few squirts of motor oil or atf down the intake runners/nipples will help clear the flood and restore compression.

 

i figured that the plugs would be fouled, and luckily i picked some up from the dealer the other day panning to change them with my next oil change.

 

car is all back together and i turned it over and it is definitly not missing compression on any face. it started to run on its own but i still had to hold the key to keep it going. but it was definitly firing a little bit. like RR said, i am going to check the plugs in the morning and probably just replace them.

 

I hope the motor is ok. You might want to change your user text

 

^^ yeah i think you are right.

 

Paper is combustable. Don't worry too much.

 

^^trust me, i am not really, i just hope that i got the bulk of it out.

 

hopefully everything works out for you bro, good luck gettin the 7 on the street again!

 

so the battery died just after i changed the spark plugs. i am hoping that that will be it. it turned over but it was going too slow to start.

 

Did your boost ever start reading vacuum? I'm interested because mine reads 0 unless I tap the throttle.