Replaced bad ICM and new one fried...

**hansz92** · 09-09-2012

So my car popped an SES a few weeks ago, I got it checked and it turned out to be cil 3 misfire. Unfortunately I hadn't had time or money to take care of it and drove it around for 3 weeks while it was doing this. Saturday morning I started it up and drove it down the street and it died... and wouldn't start again. I pushed it back in the driveway and did some testing and found that the ICM was receiving power but was not supplying power to CAM and CRANK sensors. I replaced the ICM and my car fired right up when I jumped it (car was dead because I had been cranking it so many times without it starting) so I waited a few seconds and removed the jumper cables and as soon as I did the car died again... Now testing the ICM again it is once again not supplying power to the CAM and CRANK sensors, so I'm assuming that the ICM is fried again. Any ideas what's causing this?

**Fivefingerdeathpunch** · 09-09-2012

Grounds?

**hansz92** · 09-09-2012

Tested it with a multimeter and it was getting power to the ICM but not supplying power to the CAM and CRANK sensors.

**hansz92** · 09-09-2012

Took the battery to autozone and had them test and charge it, also exchanged the bad ICM and put the new one on. Started the car up and it's popping a cil 3 misfire code and now also throwing a p0135 O2 sensor code too. Also I replaced the ignition coil for cil 3 and 6 still no luck on the misfire.

**rynoman03** · 09-09-2012

Have you checked your grounds?

**hansz92** · 09-10-2012

This may be a dumb question but... which grounds are you guys referring to?

Driving the car home from work today the ICM failed again, had to have my car towed home :-/

**Scottydoggs** · 09-10-2012

you have the black wire with a loop on the end for the icm its self. bolts on the side of the head, by the icm bracket.

then on the front, bumper side of the trans bell housing you will see 3 wires bolted to it. make sure those are clean and tight. dont over tighten this bolt. its a stud on top of a bolt and is kinda weak.

make sure the battery cables are tight and clean also.

**Fivefingerdeathpunch** · 09-11-2012

I'd say you have a wire issue somewhere before the ICM if it keeps blowing up.

Not saying having a ICM failure is not uncommom, but to have 3 go in that short of time... something aint right.

Unless your buying the cheapest ICM you can find. Ac Delco or nothing.

**hansz92** · 09-11-2012

Ok, a few months back I changed all my gaskets and had to take the bracket for the ICM off. After reinstalling it I got SES a few days later and checked the ground on the side and it was loose. Tightened it down good and didn't seem to change anything. I checked the three wires on the front of the trans bell housing and they seemed kinda loose. There was a little play if you touched the wires. I tightened them down a little bit and went to Autozone to get a new ICM. Except they tested it and said it was good... I took it home along with my fully charged battery and started up the car. Gave me the SES after driving it a little and then on my way home it died again. Anyways, I'm starting to doubt that I tested the ICM's right... in fact I know I didn't. So that may have not been the problem to begin with. Now I'm starting to think it might have been the crank sensor to begin with...? Any ideas?

**Scottydoggs** · 09-11-2012

if its just randomly stalling out as driving id think crank sensor.

did you have it scanned again when the light came back on? was it for cyl 3 again?

**hansz92** · 09-11-2012

I was gonna have it scanned again at Autozone but it died before I made it out of the neighborhood(thank God!)... I think I'm gonna go ahead and try and replace the crank sensor.

**hansz92** · 09-11-2012

Any tips for how to remove the center bolt on the crankshaft pulley? I just broke a bolt breaker by trying the starter bump method...

**Fivefingerdeathpunch** · 09-11-2012

air tools.

**Scottydoggs** · 09-11-2012

or a new 1/2 drive breaker bar, and a 4 foot pipe.

**hansz92** · 09-13-2012

So I thought this was gonna be pretty simple after I got the crank pulley bolt off... But this job proved me wrong. I got this set OEM/Harmonic balancer puller set (27019) | Harmonic Balancer Puller | AutoZone.com to take the pulley off... but looking inside the outer holes to see where the bolts are going to thread into they look really tinny... It doesn't look like it will fit in there, and I have spent quite a bit of time fiddling with it trying to get it to work. Am I missing something or does this kit not come with the right size bolts??

**FoSHO99** · 09-13-2012

The thread pitch is 1/4-28, you need 3 about 4-5 inches long, some washers too.

**hansz92** · 09-14-2012

Originally Posted by FoSHO99

The thread pitch is 1/4-28, you need 3 about 4-5 inches long, some washers too.

You guys are probably tired of hearing about my problems but here we go again... So I got the bolts described here, and every time I get the bolts threaded in there and try to tighten that sucker down the bolts bust. I used engine oil to lubricate them and I've still busted 3 or 4 of those things. Am I a total screw up? Or is there something terribly wrong with my car?

**hansz92** · 09-15-2012

I think I figured out where the hang up is... you were probably using a 3/4 in adapter behind the center bolt and it stuck out an extra inch or two? Well I'm totally screwed now because I stripped out the threads inside the pulley.