Trying to figure out whats wrong with this without hooking it up to a computer

its a 95 3.4, wasnt driven in 3 years, started it occassionally it has never had problems, only has 70,000 miles on it

this past winter I bought one of those ebay intakes to replace the existing filter box and intake duct

there is a small tube that goes off the back of the stock intake duct after the air filter and runs down to a small box with a bunch of other tubes (vacuum?)

well the intake I put on it, didnt have a place to hook that tube into the new intake so I just let it hang there freely sucking in air

after taking it for the first drive this spring it sputtered, check engine light came on and would sputter and then kick out of it and would keep doing it on and off, now its doing it all the time when driving, when I just start it up and let it idle, it idles high at about 3 before it was at 1 or a little below before i put this new intake on it

also after putting the new intake on it i noticed it would have a slight knock about every minute or 2, when facing the engine it comes from the right side but cant figure out where that comes from, i figured maybe the intake messed up something with the vacuum system and/or was messing with the fuel/air ratio so i put back the stock intake on it and hooked that tube back up to the back of the intake duct, i unhooked the battery to reset the computer but am still having the problem,

i checked all the plugs/wires and they are all attached

sometimes when coming to a stop it will stall out

ive put dry gas in it also to make sure there was no water in the gas and that didnt help either

looking for any suggestions, and also does anyone know what that little box is that sits below the intake duct and has a bunch of tubes coming out? couldnt find anything about it in chiltons, could that knock be from spark knock? and would replacing the sensor be the trick? trying not to run it too much incase its damaging piston and/or head gasket...also the check engine light is on constantly now

 

so after letting it run with the stock intake for about an hour, the knock is completely gone now which makes me feel a lot better about the situation so maybe that intake was messing with it somehow, anyways

the car is still sputtering really bad and now instead of the light being on constantly it will come on and off about every 2 or 3 minutes and stay on for about 5 minutes, since putting the stock intake back on it the car sounds a lot healthier,

now to correct the loss of power/sputtering

could having had that other intake on there somehow fouled up some plugs/wires?

should i try replacing the plugs/wires? and if that doesnt work maybe the fuel filter? I have no clue how long its been since either have been replaced....

 

Your Talking About A Couple Of Different Problems. The Knock Most Likely Has Nothing To Do With Your Air Filter. You Should Have Plugged The Vacuum Line Instead Of Letting It Suck Air. If It Ran Fine Before, You Can Try Unhooking Your Battery Cable. Leave It Unhooked A Few Minutes Then Hook It Back Up. That Will Reset The ECM. Might Not Work But, It's Worth A Try. If It Doesn't You Need to Have The Codes Read. Most Part Stores Will Do It For Free. Sick

 

sounds like you might have damaged your MAF sensor, or IAT sensor when working on it. tell the company you bought the intake from to replace it with the correct intake, as for the rough idle, the AIR pump might be acting kinda nutz because you had just left it there unhooked. try running the car for a little bit with the oil cap off, that might relieve some pressure that might have built up from unregulated air into the pump. it would be a good time to replace your sparkplugs/wires anyway, but i dont think thats your problem, sounds like you left something unplugged or messed up the MAF.

anyway when you go to bed unplug the battery and then tomarrow plug it back in with all the stuff hooked up properly and that should reset your ECM. also after resetting the ecm the car normaly idles a little rough for a little bit, after a couple days of driving it around the block/ shutting it off for the night, you should be golden, if you still have trouble i would have it scanned.

good luck

 

If the MAF got damaged it will make the car run lousy. Try testing the MAF by disconnecting the electrical connection to the MAF. This will force a code, and the car will now run on speed dendity mode, under control of the MAP sensor. If the MAF is bad the car will now run better (not really good, but much better), but if the MAF is good, then the car will run just as bad as it did before. But, it is much easier if you plug in a code reader and see what he complaint is.