I'm having trouble making sense of a few DTC's. The codes are 44, 50 and 55. I was told that 44 is left bank lean, 50 & 55 are fuel rail malfunction. The DTC page on Shoebox's site says 50 is system voltage low, and that it's N/A for a 93. 55 is listed as fuel lean monitor. The guys at the shop told me that they never encountered a "fuel rail malfunction" before. Has anybody heard of this DTC or what may cause it?
Long story made shorter...
-Car was running fine.
-Removed/replaced the transmission, converter & torque arm.
-Went for 10 mile drive, never going more than roughly 30% throttle and mainly to set the TV cable and do the 50 cycles for the converter. All seemed fine....
-Drive to work the next morning, give it maybe 3/4 throttle.
-Car stumbles all over itself and blow HUGE cloud of black smoke out exhaust.
-Tried again, same thing.
-On the way home I drove past a friends shop and floored it, same thing. - They said it sounded like I was hitting the rev limiter.
-Pulled into shop parking lot, they quickly checked the vacuum hose @ the regulator and told me to try it again.
-Pulled out of parking lot, stumbled all over itself and lot of black smoke again.
-Checked fuel pressure - OK
-Checked fuel filter - Like new
-Disconnected each injector one at a time. He said the left side didn't seem to make a real difference in idle, but the right side did.
-Engine was fine when through all RPMs and even when power braked in parking lot. (just to point of tire spin w/ 555r tires) This problem only seems to be obvious while dirving.
-Checked all visible fuel lines - Told there seemed to be a "flat spot" on one line at back of intake, but since the powder coating didn't feel chipped/flaked/rough they figured it was just designed this way??)
-After roughly 3 hours of looking at the car they were stumped. Between filling N20 bottles and BS'ing...maybe 1.5hrs of actually working on the problem :bum:
-Since it was 10PM they suggested that I go home and remove the left fuel rail and blow it out with compressed air.
-Driving home I recalled the rev limiter comment, floored it and watched tach. While the converter did get the needle moving up rapidly
, it never came close to the limiter before it started to fall on it's face and kill some trees.
Sorry if this was hard to follow and if parts don't read smoothly....I tried to organize my ramblings into an orderly fashion but I'm quite frustrated and my tolerance level is very low right now.
I am planning on removing the fuel rail and blowing it out, but I just have this feeling that doing so will be a waste of time. The opti is a couple years old but would/could the opti cause this issue with only the left bank? Could a bad 02 sensor cause a lean left bank or a "fuel rail malfunction"? Think it would help to try the left 02 sensor on the right side or to clean it? Any ideas/tips/suggestions/sledgehammers?
TIA
Long story made shorter...
-Car was running fine.
-Removed/replaced the transmission, converter & torque arm.
-Went for 10 mile drive, never going more than roughly 30% throttle and mainly to set the TV cable and do the 50 cycles for the converter. All seemed fine....
-Drive to work the next morning, give it maybe 3/4 throttle.
-Car stumbles all over itself and blow HUGE cloud of black smoke out exhaust.
-Tried again, same thing.
-On the way home I drove past a friends shop and floored it, same thing. - They said it sounded like I was hitting the rev limiter.
-Pulled into shop parking lot, they quickly checked the vacuum hose @ the regulator and told me to try it again.
-Pulled out of parking lot, stumbled all over itself and lot of black smoke again.
-Checked fuel pressure - OK
-Checked fuel filter - Like new
-Disconnected each injector one at a time. He said the left side didn't seem to make a real difference in idle, but the right side did.
-Engine was fine when through all RPMs and even when power braked in parking lot. (just to point of tire spin w/ 555r tires) This problem only seems to be obvious while dirving.
-Checked all visible fuel lines - Told there seemed to be a "flat spot" on one line at back of intake, but since the powder coating didn't feel chipped/flaked/rough they figured it was just designed this way??)
-After roughly 3 hours of looking at the car they were stumped. Between filling N20 bottles and BS'ing...maybe 1.5hrs of actually working on the problem :bum:
-Since it was 10PM they suggested that I go home and remove the left fuel rail and blow it out with compressed air.
-Driving home I recalled the rev limiter comment, floored it and watched tach. While the converter did get the needle moving up rapidly
, it never came close to the limiter before it started to fall on it's face and kill some trees.Sorry if this was hard to follow and if parts don't read smoothly....I tried to organize my ramblings into an orderly fashion but I'm quite frustrated and my tolerance level is very low right now.
I am planning on removing the fuel rail and blowing it out, but I just have this feeling that doing so will be a waste of time. The opti is a couple years old but would/could the opti cause this issue with only the left bank? Could a bad 02 sensor cause a lean left bank or a "fuel rail malfunction"? Think it would help to try the left 02 sensor on the right side or to clean it? Any ideas/tips/suggestions/sledgehammers?
TIA
Registered User
My car was running exactly like that as far as sounding like it was hitting the rev limiter and blowing out black smoke. It eventually progressed to generally running terrible. I replaced the opti, plugs, wires, fuel filter pump and pressure regulator, maf sensor, coil, and the icm. None of this made a difference. My car isn't throwing any codes though. Anyway, I still haven't figured it out and I've spent quite a bit of money. I'm ready to set my car on fire.
Quote:
That's encouraging...Originally Posted by Notacamaro
My car was running exactly like that as far as sounding like it was hitting the rev limiter and blowing out black smoke. It eventually progressed to generally running terrible. I replaced the opti, plugs, wires, fuel filter pump and pressure regulator, maf sensor, coil, and the icm. None of this made a difference. My car isn't throwing any codes though. Anyway, I still haven't figured it out and I've spent quite a bit of money. I'm ready to set my car on fire.
Registered User
Well, sorry, but I was hoping you were gonna come back with what was wrong with your car. That way I could try it on mine. Anyway, at least you pretty much know what's not wrong.
Administrator
DTC 50 has nothing to do with the fuel rail. The voltage at the PCM has dropped too low. If the entire charging system is not performing correctly, it could set the code. If the charging system is fine, it could be a problem with the power supply and/or grounds for the PCM.
DTC 44 sets when the driver's side O2 sensor voltage stay below 0.20V for more than 50 seconds. Could be the wire for the O2 sensor hitting the manifold, or somehow damaged when you did the tranny work. Other causes could be contaminated fuel, low fuel pressure, exhaust leaks or misfires. Exhaust leaks and misfires would affect only the driver's side, but low fuel pressure or contaminated fuel would affect both banks of the engine.
DTC 55 sets when the ECM detects a lean mixture for more than 8 seconds during power enrichment mode (WOT). Again, this problem is caused by low fuel pressure or restricted flow.
While thes are related to "fuel", they are not generally called "fuel rail" codes. First time I've ever heard them called that.
First thing to do is check the fuel pressure. A weak fuel pump, flattened line, dirty filter, faulty fuel pressure regulator could all be the problem. Could also be caused by low electrical system voltage, causing the fuel pump to not flow enough fuel.
The other check would be to put a scanner on it and look at the long term fuel corrections for the driver's side. A sensor wire shorted to ground could result in low O2 sensor voltage, which causes the ECM to raise the long term fuel corrections. When this happens, its going to pour black smoke out the exhaust.
DTC 44 sets when the driver's side O2 sensor voltage stay below 0.20V for more than 50 seconds. Could be the wire for the O2 sensor hitting the manifold, or somehow damaged when you did the tranny work. Other causes could be contaminated fuel, low fuel pressure, exhaust leaks or misfires. Exhaust leaks and misfires would affect only the driver's side, but low fuel pressure or contaminated fuel would affect both banks of the engine.
DTC 55 sets when the ECM detects a lean mixture for more than 8 seconds during power enrichment mode (WOT). Again, this problem is caused by low fuel pressure or restricted flow.
While thes are related to "fuel", they are not generally called "fuel rail" codes. First time I've ever heard them called that.
First thing to do is check the fuel pressure. A weak fuel pump, flattened line, dirty filter, faulty fuel pressure regulator could all be the problem. Could also be caused by low electrical system voltage, causing the fuel pump to not flow enough fuel.
The other check would be to put a scanner on it and look at the long term fuel corrections for the driver's side. A sensor wire shorted to ground could result in low O2 sensor voltage, which causes the ECM to raise the long term fuel corrections. When this happens, its going to pour black smoke out the exhaust.
Registered User
Ok, so I removed my post cat o2 sensor and it runs fine. So I would say that the cat is screwed up.
Quote:
DTC 44 sets when the driver's side O2 sensor voltage stay below 0.20V for more than 50 seconds. Could be the wire for the O2 sensor hitting the manifold, or somehow damaged when you did the tranny work. Other causes could be contaminated fuel, low fuel pressure, exhaust leaks or misfires. Exhaust leaks and misfires would affect only the driver's side, but low fuel pressure or contaminated fuel would affect both banks of the engine.
DTC 55 sets when the ECM detects a lean mixture for more than 8 seconds during power enrichment mode (WOT). Again, this problem is caused by low fuel pressure or restricted flow.
While thes are related to "fuel", they are not generally called "fuel rail" codes. First time I've ever heard them called that.
First thing to do is check the fuel pressure. A weak fuel pump, flattened line, dirty filter, faulty fuel pressure regulator could all be the problem. Could also be caused by low electrical system voltage, causing the fuel pump to not flow enough fuel.
The other check would be to put a scanner on it and look at the long term fuel corrections for the driver's side. A sensor wire shorted to ground could result in low O2 sensor voltage, which causes the ECM to raise the long term fuel corrections. When this happens, its going to pour black smoke out the exhaust.
So the charging system, fuel, filter, pump and pressure regulator can be ruled out because those parts would produce equal conditions in both banks, correct? I just pulled the plugs on the left side and cleaned them along with the inside of the boots. I am going to replace the 02 sensors later this week and hopefully get a datalog. Thanks for the reply!Originally Posted by Injuneer
DTC 50 has nothing to do with the fuel rail. The voltage at the PCM has dropped too low. If the entire charging system is not performing correctly, it could set the code. If the charging system is fine, it could be a problem with the power supply and/or grounds for the PCM.DTC 44 sets when the driver's side O2 sensor voltage stay below 0.20V for more than 50 seconds. Could be the wire for the O2 sensor hitting the manifold, or somehow damaged when you did the tranny work. Other causes could be contaminated fuel, low fuel pressure, exhaust leaks or misfires. Exhaust leaks and misfires would affect only the driver's side, but low fuel pressure or contaminated fuel would affect both banks of the engine.
DTC 55 sets when the ECM detects a lean mixture for more than 8 seconds during power enrichment mode (WOT). Again, this problem is caused by low fuel pressure or restricted flow.
While thes are related to "fuel", they are not generally called "fuel rail" codes. First time I've ever heard them called that.
First thing to do is check the fuel pressure. A weak fuel pump, flattened line, dirty filter, faulty fuel pressure regulator could all be the problem. Could also be caused by low electrical system voltage, causing the fuel pump to not flow enough fuel.
The other check would be to put a scanner on it and look at the long term fuel corrections for the driver's side. A sensor wire shorted to ground could result in low O2 sensor voltage, which causes the ECM to raise the long term fuel corrections. When this happens, its going to pour black smoke out the exhaust.
Administrator
Quote:
You have to look at the long term fuel corrections for both banks of the engine. If only one side is screwed up, its not a problem like fuel pump, etc that is common to the entire engine, its something specific to one bank.Originally Posted by Mr.Whitey
So the charging system, fuel, filter, pump and pressure regulator can be ruled out because those parts would produce equal conditions in both banks, correct? I just pulled the plugs on the left side and cleaned them along with the inside of the boots. I am going to replace the 02 sensors later this week and hopefully get a datalog. Thanks for the reply!
But, how do you know the other bank of the engine isn't also screwed up, maybe just not bad enough to set the codes for that bank? You will only know by scanning the ECM and looking at the long terms (BLM's) for both banks.
Registered User
I cut the cat off of mine and it fixed it. Still doesn't idle perfect, so I guess I'll try cleaning the fuel injectors.