Newbie, just bought an 89 Sidekick

[idahojack]

Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself to the forum. I've been looking for a Sidekick or Tracker for about a month. After reading some of your old posts, decided I wanted to get a 96-99, but my boss made me pass up a real nice 97 for $4000, "we can't afford it", so today I found an '89 Sidekick JLX, 2dr, 5sp, hardtop with a newer low mileage '93 1.6L 16 valve engine for $1800. I just drove it home and I love it. I know some of you are thinking I paid too much, but in Idaho we don't have a rust problem and these older vehicles hold their value much more than in the rust belt. It runs great and almost everything works (the AC needs a charge and the power door locks only work once in awhile). The tires are in great shape and the brakes and timing belt were recenlty done.

The previous owner didn't do the engine swap, so couldn't give me many details of the job. He didn't know if the tranny or ecu was swapped also. Maybe one of you knows if they had to do that to make it work?

I'm hoping this will become my favorite all time vehicle. It has to beat out my 90 Mitsubishi Montero 2dr, which I really loved, but it just didn't get decent gas mileage, so I sold it a few years ago. I'm not a mechanic and am limited in activity due to arthritis, but I love to tinker with older cars and fix what I can. I'm glad to have found this forum and will be reading frequently and helping others if I can. Oh yea, are there any online factory service manuals for my Sidekick? (I will probably need info from an '89 for some things and a '93 for engine issues). Thanks for any help and I'll be online frequently.

[jtgh]

welcome !!!
too much for a frankenkick, (sorry)
the 89 and 93 are vastly diff.

89-differences

my diff page. (new) above. (growing)
if set up wrong will this motor gets 15mpg. so easy. ECU in LImphome can do that.

ok you need to look at this:

Throttle body.
if the TB looks like this and there are 4 MPI injectors in intake manifold then he swapped ECU, if he did that with out a 93 ECU orig. OEM harness,
i bet you are in for a lot of work.

hope you like wires......

http://carfix.stufftoread.com/sensors/16v-engine93w.jpg
see throttle body.? TB in red
see injectors, in white? words?

now test one,
key on , no start is there a CEL lamp glowing.?

start, does it go out.?

the origional kick 89 had a diagnotic fuse, the 93 has a DLC with Diag pins.
which one you have is going to be difficult.

but if your mpg is over 25 , just wait unit it drops. then figure out this
Frankenkick.


best manual is EBAY search, tracker service manuals.

but you need 89 and 93, ouch.

i have both engine schematics on line.


ive never seen so many 89s ,


engine id.

how-to-find-EFI-parts

look at 16v Throttle body
then
look at 8v throttle body. that is the first step.


then we get your Cel lamp working so we can ask ECU what else PO forgot.

Prev. owner.

[idahojack]

Jerry, thanks for the info. Looks like I'm in for some interesting times. The '89 does get about 25 mpg or better, I'm almost sure of that from the 100 miles I've already put on it and from what the PO told me. The CEL comes on when the key is turned on and goes out when the car is started. Everything else will have to wait til tomorrow when I have time to look things over. I sure want to make this thing turn out right, it's so fun to drive, very peppy.

[idahojack]

Well I've examined the pics and compared them to my engine and I definitely have the 16 valve engine with all its associated parts. So I must have the '93ecu. What I don't know is if the PO wired it in just enough to make it work, or if he replaced the entire wiring harness with a '93 harness. But at least for now the CEL is working right and the Frankenkick is running great. Like you indicated the real test will be someday when a sensor goes out and I have to figure out how to read the codes. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll go another 100K without that type of problem.

[jtgh]

good
just look at ECU
now look at my schematic if 16v.
see colors, of wires.

if they match , he swapped the harness Oem to OEM (new)
if it looks like something strange. it is.

like solid color wires,not striped.? not OEM.

id really want to know that ,and so would any one working on car.

many shops wont touch it if it is custom. (unless you have a deep pocket)

[idahojack]

I used a flashlight and mirror and looked up the left side of my dash. Didn't see any bundle of splices or solid color wires. For now I think the wire harness was swapped to the '93 model. I didn't pull the speaker to look directly at the ecu, but I think all is well. Thanks again Jerry for all your help. Your "help sights" are extremely useful.

[jtgh]

i think you are very lucky
a frankenkick done nicely ,(rarer then hens teeth) you are a lucky man.