1991 Vitara G16A frigid

[jwunsch]

why drive with CEL lamp on,? its begging you to use the DLC Diagnostic jumper clip?
yes your ISC is dead, clean it.
the 1000RPM hot engine is wrong but of the fan clutch fails on a very cold day the thermostat would close and if super cold the bad fan will cause the Rad temps to fall too low.

CEL lamp came on today for the first time since I bought the car 2,5 months ago. After fitting the cardboard to block some of the RAD.

DLC on got code 13, O2 sensor bad. Took battery off for 4 minutes, no codes. Took test drive, no CEL. Put DLC in, code 12.

Not sure if the new O2 sensor is faulty (less than 500miles driven), or maybe exhaust (or something) got too hot when the dash temp gauge got to 1/2. (It has always been lower than that). I slowed from 65mph to < 50 when temp gauge got to 1/2 as I dont trust the bastard.

Also 3rd party 1-wire O2 sensor, original would have had to been ordered and waited for weeks.. bleh. (Original was also 1-wire, so in that manner they were similar).

yeah, the fan sensor needs to be close to the thermostat outlet hose point.
the 50% AF boils as 260F,
197 and 203f are so close it really does not matter. (but yes, if the main thermostat is 180F and not the 195F option then either works but not the hotter, thermostat (150f)
the 203 seems best.
most new cars in USA have 200F thermostats. and 203f sensor above is way too close for new cars, how odd they dont have more choices,. Im curious.

Will keep it in mind if I ever convert it to electric. Your ebay link for the fancluch is unbelievable cheap compared to prices here. It is also below the minimum limit of customs tariffs. (Actually today's USD-EUR exchange rate its even below VAT tax limit). So I will definitely order the clutch.

BTW I ordered 195F STAT but the dealer made mistake. It was the 4mm rubber seal version. When I noticed this I already had opened the STAT housing, jumped to other car and went to change it (15 minutes before closing time). Only thing with 1mm lip they had was 180F, so either that or close with broken STAT.

This particular store where I found those electric fan DIY packages is oriented to serve financially broke customers with shit old cars. Could check some better options from more premium stores, but now that you gave the ebay link to fan clutch, wont bother.

if you have AC do you. and use that dash defrost on the heater panel,  set to AC on , and de frost , that is 1000RPM on this car.
even in winter if you turn that on, the AC compressor is ENGAGED and RPM is 1000RPM on all sidekicks (track-kicks)

on 89/90s more things cause fast idle,  (blower on, headlights on, or rear window GLASS defrost heater grid ENABLED , seen on 4doors)but yours is a 91  and this rule not apply.
but told only in the wild case of engine down grades with ECU from say 91 to 89.,  happens on old cars. these events.

No AC on this car our climate being very much like Norway's, bit colder but more stable weather. AC was rare here in 90's, especially on cheaper rides like Vitara. Even my dad's 89 Camry did not have AC. Mostly Mercedes/BMW guys got AC back then here.

Rear GLASS defroster does not seem to up RPM from 800, so I guess I have original ECU.

And yes I read your frigid page.. and on a few evenings almost every other page. Got a good bottle of whiskey so I thought to get familiar with my hobby car's possible faults. Just contacted you to get some assurance I am doing correct stuff. I dont know about mechanics, I am IT guy so all this is quite new.  


Will check the ISC when I get the thermals fixed and stable. Temp needs to stay stable or the car will fail yearly inspection's emission test -> not allowed for road traffic then.


I think I also need to do some other checking around the EFI. Car runs fine when cold (around 2000rpm after the 3-15s boost on throttle). After idling 3-4 minutes at 2000rpm, it starts hunting idle. Varies between 900-1500rpm.

4-5 minutes of hunting idle, it will go to some cold ilde mode and stay around 1500rpm and then start slowly falling at about same rate as the temp gauge rises.. ie its probably doing something similar as choke does on carb engines. When temps are up idle has slowly descended to 800rpm (low electricity usage).

Nasty thing is that there are those 2 valves to modify something related to hot and cold vacuum tubes. Cold side is intact, HOT side plastic cap is broken and missing.. ie no idea what the setting is.. nor what all has been tampered with.


Thank you very much for taking the time to reply me.