[Dierjm]

[SIZE=medium]One of the biggest problems is how intermittent the problem is, although recently it happens with some [email protected] about the 15 mile mark on the way home from work, never on the way to, and then some times 180 miles or so, it’s hard for me to hand them the keys, (the dealer), at around $100.00 an hour knowing that they could drive it all day and never have it fail, couple of days of that and just throw them the keys and tell them they own it. As it is I can’t get it through smog, so it’s also illegal to drive, plus it’s 50 miles to the dealer, this is why I don’t go to Vegas any more, enough sniveling. God I hate changing parts and guessing, but sensors are relatively cheap in comparison to a trip to the dealer, so I think the temp sensors are next. What else will cause it to jump out of od, lock up and start to miss at the same time? [/SIZE]

 

[ImperialCrown]

The 'intermittent' is why you would be left with the Co-pilot until the problem surfaced. We've loaned out the Co-pilot for 5-6 weeks at a time until the vehicle's problem happened. The customer does the test drive for us.
If it is now illegal to drive, that is another issue. Can you get a 'temporary' smog voucher or something? If you have a copy of the repair order with you while driving, you might explain that the issue is being addressed if you are stopped. I don't know what local laws are.
The dealer can sign off on a state emissions voucher in NY. It will be audited and the service manger doesn't like doing it. There is also a 14-day temporary state inspection sticker to get things in order for newly registered vehicles.
If the cat is one of the problems, replace it. The distributor 'sync' or indexing may solve the cam sensor fault code. The catalyst and misfire OBD II readiness monitors may take 3-4 days-100-150 miles to run. Then it should pass emissions.
http://www.lyberty.com/car/drive-cycle.html

 

[Dierjm]

[SIZE=medium]I’m going to talk to the dealer about the Copilot, this option was not offered the last time I was there.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium] Thanks Joe [/SIZE]

 

[pjfsu331]

Any update? As a fellow ZJ owner, I'm curious to see the result here...

 

[Dierjm]

[SIZE=medium]The 96 ZJ is finally fixed, here are some things that I have learned along the way, and some suggestions along the way that echo in the back of my mind. [/SIZE]

1. [SIZE=medium]The symptoms may not be an indicator of the real problem, missing and jumping out of gear intermittently. Problem: bad cat and downstream O2 sensor, a bad cat will never give these symptoms, it will never be intermittent, it will either plug or burn out; that was what happened in my case, it burnt out, the vehicle should have continued to run normally, it should have given a constant, repeated Cat efficiency code.[/SIZE]
2. [SIZE=medium]I have discovered and I’m certain that others know this, but it’s new to me. Clearing a code only clears the code, it does not (reset) the CPU, this means that even though the problem has been corrected, the vehicle may still miss, jump out of gear and throw erroneous codes till the CPU has been reset by draining the electrical system . [/SIZE]
3. [SIZE=medium]Suggestions that echo in my mind. “Believe the codes they are real”, “you may need a Cat”, “it’s very important to short the battery cables together when replacing parts”,” the Cat code is delayed to ensure that the code is real”, Hmmm, [/SIZE]
4. [SIZE=medium]So, I’m only guessing here, but it seems that there have been folks that knew what was going on, but could not or would not come out and say that the missing and jumping out of gear is a program built into the CPU that indicates a malfunctioning Cat, forcing the driver to repair the problem due to drivability issues or destroy the transmission, the fact that it only occasionally threw a Cat efficiency code but would frequently jump out of gear, miss and throw multi cylinder code, almost as if the CPU was programed to be intentionally misleading. So what’s up with that? But once again I’m only guessing.[/SIZE]

Thanks to all that tryed to help, I have it running correctly now, welcome to the computer age!