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Ohhh-kayyyy..... so I have this 2002 Astro window van with a measly 99k miles on it (59k when I bought it in Dec 2011 - it was owned by The Red Cross, so it didn't get a lot of miles racked up but it was obviously NOT being babied!)... the Check Engine light comes on from time to time (for about a couple of years, now) and it always gives me the P0446 code. I have removed, examined and replaced the gas cap, crawled underneath and installed a new vent valve - and the light continues to come on every so often. Didn't much care about that, since the motor started & ran fine, regardless - and when I erase the code to kill the warning light, it will often stay off for weeks at a time. At some point, though, that V6 began refusing to simply fire up and run like it always did (meaning, just flick the key and VROOM!)... about two years ago I supposed it was about time to replace the cap, rotor, wires and plugs, so I did that... but am really not sure if it helped with the hard-starting or not. Mainly because it seems to only occur on DAMP mornings, which we have plenty of around here in The Deep South, sixty miles from The Gulf - and I did that swap in dry weather.
On days when it's acting up, if it doesn't start instantly, the engine is guaranteed to spin and spin, with an occasional burp or a cough and/or a feeble attempt at running for a second or two (sometimes attempting to run backwards for a few licks!), then nothing. And the exhaust smells of raw gas, like a flooded engine. If I am patient enough to leave it alone and try again later, it will often (eventually) run - and after it has warmed up, it will start immediately every time I get behind the wheel for the rest of the day. I sometimes wonder if it has the "typical" injector problems I've read about in here, but if that was the case, wouldn't it be an all-day, every day hassle - not just when the engine is cold? To me, it acts as if it "thinks" we are having a chilly day, when it is sometimes more like 80 or 85 degrees out - and is overreacting by dumping too much fuel into the motor. If so, where do I look to solve the problem? I have already changed the coolant temperature sensor, two times in the past few years (genuine Chinese Delphi) - the latest was less than a month ago... I would replace the distributor cap and wires again, if you think they might have "gone bad" in such a short time - but they seem to perform perfectly well as long as the engine is warm... and I am really not a big fan of fixing things that aren't broken. On that subject, I had the engine cover off a few months ago, mostly looking for signs of rodents chewing on wiring or vacuum lines (we live out in the country so that is a regular occurrence around here), didn't find anything of that nature, but since I was in there, I ran the engine in total darkness and saw no hint of sparks being lost in the ignition system. I hosed down the distributor cap and plug wires with silicon spray anyway... can't say if it made any difference because we had warm, dry weather for months and it barely gave me any trouble. A few times this past (WET) week, though, it has been VERY hard to start - and I am wondering if there is any correlation between that P0446 code and the hard-starting hassles... or if they are two separate issues.
(Just to throw another wrench into the works: when I went out to start it this morning, the entire vehicle was dripping with condensation - and I expected the usual grief when I turned the key. But it fired right up!!!)
I am a mechanic by trade - building multitudes of engines and transmissions in the past forty-odd years, as well as overhauling, refurbishing and/or restoring countless machines of many kinds - so I am not totally clueless when it comes to pointing a screwdriver at something. The main problem is that my hands and arms and lower back aren't what they used to be these days, and I am hoping somebody in here is more familiar with what is under this hood than I am, and can give me some better direction than "maybe it's this, maybe it's that" - before I tear the top of the motor all to bits and strand myself on these premises all day when I discover that NOTHING is amiss in there.
Thanks!
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