Hey guys just thought I'd up date my progress, as I drove home from work today, I had'nt noticed before, pinging I heard it twice I think (mabe 3x) but I thought I definatly heard pinging, so I ran the scan tool on it and and the scan tool on it and as like before it only picked up a miss fire just for a second and that was it, witch before I just brushed it off, well I got to thinking, so I put it in drive and held the brake, and before I even touched the gas pedal the scanner showed miss fires on cyl'* 2,3,&5 (I wonder how it knows that) so it appears that not only did I have a bad computer but an ignition problem, looks like this weekend I'll be testing the coil packs, and module, I'd hate to think its the module this sheds new light on the matter, it also makes me wonder if this could have led to the pcm failure in the first place, since it did just fail outta the blue, but the good news is there is almost no chuggle at all, I think what what the almost is now just those miss fires so the rest (hopfully) shoud be down hill from here , oh and I noticed that my trans temp was much lower today 157*F, but I only work no more than 20mins from home, I'll have to take it on a long cruise when I get this all taken car of to really see how hot it gets

Interesting.... that'* a good illustration of willwren'* points. He has been suggesting that all of us look into our ignitions to make sure they're functioning properly before blaming this problem on the transmission. I'm glad you have some direction with this issue.

thanx, though I think, my chuggle was masking the exsisting ignition problem that I didnt hear previously, cause I barely hear the pinging in that car (very well insulated) now with this replaced pcm I got rid of the chuggle for the most part, dont ask me how it makes sense, but I was thinking the computer wasnt doing something right, still dont know if will get that tcc code or not, havent really gone anywhere, it'll probably take me a few weeks (money & time) asess it, and to track down this new direction, but it does feel lot better, I hope someone else finds this thread the ones like it helpful

Not sure if I posted this before but I fixed my surging problem. The dealer had the car (97 SE) for a trans flush and suggested an injector service because the filter was extremely dirty. The surging was gone. Dealer also suggested changing wires but they quoted me $270 so I did it for $40 on my own My point is that it *may* be fuel related.

I've had a delay in installing my transmission cooler. The one that got shipped to me had some severly mangled aluminum fins, so I returned it for exchange. I can't wait until the Minnesota meet to finally get my car on a decent scantool so I know if I have any major ignition or transmission issues.

This thread is a good place to post solutions to the surging problem because it gives us different avenues to investigate. Keep it up everyone!

I wasnt sure what it was at first, but when I thought it was a trans problem and put in a tranny cooler, it got alot better. Thats what makes me confused when you say it might be an ignition problem. When I installed the tranny cooler it got better, but it did not go away. Instead it steadily got worse over time. I think the only cure is going to be a new TCC or a new transmission. Maybe if mine gets bad enough this summer I can convince my dad to get a new tranny.

I will definitly try new plugs, wires and fuel injector cleaner just to make sure (hey it cant hurt!).


As for the TPS question, I think the voltage you want is ~.75 at idle and ~4.75 at WOT. Gimme a PM if you have any questions about it.

So far so good, I swaped the proms the other day witch I posted, and so far everything is fine, no codes even. I drove it to my sisters house about 20mi away and still no codes, hell I been driving it all week, it seemed to be the computer after all, I still have a slight ping now, but that will be taken care of pay day. I decieded to make a list of all the problems that I had. It started with

1) the dreaded chuggle (sounded like it was growling going up a hill acompanied by vibration)
2) locking out of 4th gear (especially when cruise control was engaged) the only
to get it back was to turn off then start back up (!!you dont want to do this coasting around a bend, as I almost found out why!!)
3) down shifting for no reason, even when on level stretch of hiway, it would just down shift into 3rd and then back to 4th repeatidly
4) codes I have seen codes P0713 (trans too hot) P0740 (tcc failure) these seem to have been related cause I usually didnt see one with out the other
5) finnaly the QDM 4 quad driver fault wich was a result of the cruise/misc eng. fuse on the passenger side under the glove box, replacing this fuse was not the remedy, it would simply blow another, this led to the idea of possibly a bad pcm

things I have done to try to fix:
1) Trans estimate, went to Mr Transmission, they quoted me $1700 for a rebuild -free
2) PCV valve -$5?
3) EGR -$150
4) Aux. Trans. Cooler aprox -$40
5) Fuses -$20
6) PCM -$35 (junk yard special)
7) ofcourse a tune up: plugs, wires, etc, that was the first thing I did
I hope someone else may find this info useful

so you think that it was the PCM?

yeah I think the PCM was at fault, now I need to look into the ignition, there is a miss, and some intermittant pinging, but all those problems I listed above are gone, I was thinking about selling it cause I thought it was the trans, but now I might keep it

has anyone had development on this?