Confused... Don't know where to start...[check engine light]

[92TalonNT]

My 92 NA 2.0 flashed check engine the other nite on the way home from work. I was puzzled because it was still running normal. So I continued for two days of driving it the five minute drive to work and home and the check engine light would still come on after a few minutes of driving. The second day of this problem was almost over and as I was about to leave work it took a few tries to get it to fire up and then i had to hold the idle to about 1500 for a few minutes until it started to build heat. The third mourning all it would do was crank over and sputter a little but never run. That evening me and a friend got it to fire up but it ran horribly like the ignition timing was off or something. After that it's been down to -30 outside and tonite I finally got a chance to get out there as it got up to the low 20's out today. I checked plugs and they were black charcoal. I had NGK iridiums for the tsi laying around so i put those in. Checked spark then and they were all good. Backfired through the intake alot too. All this has pointed me to bad ignition timing. The people i've talked to give me all different bullshit answers. It's so confusing because it happened so suddenly. The car ran perfect up to that point. Please give me some feedback as to what this could be.

Thanks for your time,
Brian

 

[DongeR]

you can start here http://www.myzero.com/electrical/code.html
then go to vfaq

 

[92TalonNT]

I've checked the codes before and it gave me Throttle Pos. Sensor, Coolant Temp. Sensor, and vehicle speed sensor. The vehicle speed sensor would have nothing to do with starting. The TPS I could see affecting A/F ratios and also Coolant Temp. as well?

 

[jrivard00]

Coolant temp sensor if bad would cause a hard start condition in cold weather. Check your ECU if it is flagging that many codes.