89' 535 missing bad till engine warms.

[Jer]

Can anyone give me direction where I should start? When I first start the engine there is a noise that sounds like brakes grinding coming from the engine. Then as I accelerate the engine has little power and misses real bad. When the engine gets up to normal temperature it goes away. Help? MAF?

[Jeff N.]

Sounds like you may have a bad coolant temp sender. This is the blue sender on the top of the thermostat housing towards the front on engine. This sendor tells the computer if the engine is cold and whether to kick in the cold run circuit. When you say the car runs ok warm but not cold, that suggests the cold run circuit is not kicking in.

Start by checking the wiring connection for corrosion and a solid connection. If that looks good, replace the sensor. Should be about $35 or so.

(Or, if you have a multimeter you can test it - with an engine temp of about 175 or so - op temp - the resistance should be about .27 to .4k ohms)

Hope this helps...

Jeff

[Jer]

Can anyone give me direction where I should start? When I first start the engine there is a noise that sounds like brakes grinding coming from the engine. Then as I accelerate the engine has little power and misses real bad. When the engine gets up to normal temperature it goes away. Help? MAF?

I checked temp sensor it read 3.4 Kohms @ about 55 degrees. This seems ok. It also had 5 volts at wire. The idle speed control valve was making a clicking noise with the key on. Is this normal?