Not the high beams, but yeah, everything else is exactly my problem, turn on low beams and idle is ok, turn them off and I have a problem with my idle jumping from 1.5k-2.5k rpm.

your guess was exactly mine, that something in parallel with the headlights wiring is affecting directly this cable, but according to max_5gen is not the case.

But well I'll do as suggested once I get home, I will turn the car on with the headlights on and see if the cable still gets hot.

 

It would help if you could get copy of FSM, EL part in particular. On p. 8 there's very useful diagram called Power Supply Routing for your engine. At the bottom left side you can see the battery with 2 wires coming out of positive terminal. I suspect that the offending one has color G/Y (Green/Yellow). Could you check if this the case?

The basic technique used to solve problems like yours is simple but tedious: you look at the wiring as a tree with your wire at the root and you 'cut' all paths from the root until the current drops to the sensible level. You don't cut the wires literally, you remove fuses, links, etc along the current path. Then you move to the closest node on the faulty path and repeat the procedure there.

I'd suggest to change your test criteria - instead of measuring the temperature of the wire you can disconnect it from the battery alltogether and connect it back through some 100W 12V lamp - from high beam, for example. This will limit current to the safe level and will save your battery. It is also convinient to look - when it turns off you found the culprit. You have to turn off everything in the car for this to work, including closing the doors to turn of the door lights. Just turn the key into ON and start disconnecting.

 

your erratic idle may be from other things.
fwiw i had a VERY similiar idle problem in my turd gen when i first got it. i did an oil change, new plugs, Fuel filter, air filter, pcv and i *think* that fixed it.

for the wire getting hot i'd reground your main ground. and you might as well do the big three but thats me. when a wire gets hot because a ton of current is being drawn through it...

i hope this helps. good luck. i'd redo your ground...again this may not help at all and i could be wrong...

 

His ground is good for now - the wire almost melted its insulation. The current required to do that is in vicinity of 100 amps all of which went into the ground. If he continues these experiments of heating up wire his battery will die for sure - or alternator, whatever happens to be supplying the current...

 

Ok, I want to follow your advice Max 5gen, but I'm a little confused about the tree method, theorically I do understand but practically I'm a little lost about how to connect that 100w lamp, I have the FSM and will take a look at the pages you told me about.

I'm not sure about the color of the cable but I'll check in about an hour.

BTW! Torgus, Thanks for the advice, I already replaced PCV valve, distro cap, rotor, fuel filter and that didn't help, I really hope I can trace this problem down.

 

Don't get me wrong - I don't insist on anything: this is your car, this is free world, etc. I just noticed that you guys are a little lost and can make things worse if you continue in the same fashion. I described the technique which I'd use if I was facing the same problem: current goes from the root through all the branches to the ... (electrical) ground, sorry, this analogy is not 100%, but you should get the picture. If you disconnect a branch then current can't go to that part of the tree anymore. If that part happened to draw a lot of current you'd see immidiate drop of the current flow at the root level. This is how you'd identify the faulty part. I have a lot of experience in fixing electronics up to the component level so I've seen it all. OTOH, if someone with car wiring troubleshooting experience decides to share their wisdom - I'm all ears, it is never too late to learn something new.

As I said, the value of the current seems to be >100 amps. My car draws 2.5 amp through that wire in ON position and everything off. It should be really sharp drop in current when you disconnect the shorted path. On my car that wire has white color.

100W lamp should go in series with the wire: wire - lamp - battery. There's small connector which connects wire to the battery, you can unplug it from the battery and put the lamp there.

 

I'm almost certain your problem is just corrosion in the black box coming off the positive cable. Same thing that happened on my 240, You can take the whole thing apart and try and give it a good cleaning but it'll only be a temporary fix.


Since you said it is corroded you should go ahead and change it. Just go up to auto zone and they sell a nice bling replacement for like 14 bucks. The two wires will be clamped in the new positive cable plug instead of plugging into it. That is what I'm doing this weekend.

After that you probably should look at grounds. make sure they are clean. That alternator looks super dirty but I've seen worse. The ground cable for it should be on the back of the alternator.

 

Just for everyone else benefit: both reasons would lead to the increased resistance at the contact point which might led to the 'burning' and smoking at that point if the current is high enough but they will ultimately DECREASE the overall current going through the wire. If the wire is cold under normal conditions it would be even colder in case of bad ground or bad battery terminal contact. The OP problem is that he has good contacts but current takes a wrong path somewhere and goes directly to the ground heating up the wire in the process. This either due to connectors still plugged in wrong places or insulation stripped and wire touching the ground directly. None of the car normal loads would draw such current, besides the starter, of course.

 

Well, I did some Current test with a multimeter and I got 1.7Amps but if I turn the low beams on I got 7.2Amps, I don't know if that's good or not I just measure it.

Unfortunately the cable gets hot even with the headlights on, I decided to turn on the car again and before letting the cable get hot I turn on the headlights and the problem didn't show up but the cable start to get very hot even with the lights on.

Here's another picture of the cable that gets burning hot in case last one wasn't clear, this one shows the color of the cable itself:


Oh! BTW, is it normal that the relays get hot when the car is off and just with ACC on? some relays get hot, well not burning hot, but I'll say warm

 

it can be "normal" for relays to get warm. but the thing about the wire smoking is far from normal.
have you checked to make sure the relays are okay?

 

I don't know how to check if the relays are ok

 

did u the check inside that harness of hot cable if there isnt any problem...and did u check the voltages of the harness which is connected to the battery?....do check, wat are the voltages dere....it could be drawing too much?

 

Is wire gets hot as a whole or only at one end? Currents you reported are not high and well inside the limits of the wire. I assume you disconnected the wire from the battery and put ampermeter between wire and the battery. If this is the case the only possible reason for the wire to get hot is a bad contact on one of the ends of the wire which causes it to heat up: copper is a good heat conductor so the whole wire will feel hot if it is short enough. Can you check its temperature 6 - 10" from the connector or just after the next connector down which looks to be 2-3" apart? If it is much cooler then the hot end has a bad contact, as others already suggested. This is much easier and safer for the battery to fix.

What are the voltages on the battery terminals with engine stopped and running?

Does the wire gets hot when engine is not running with ignition key in ON position?


It is normal for relays to get warm.

 

I didn't check for voltages, except on the battery when the car is off is 11.73v

Yes, that's exactly how I check the Amps one plug on the + terminal and the other on the hot cable, and no the cable doesn't get any hot while the car is off with ACC on.

If you take a look at the cable again you'll notice is a very short cable and only this part feels that hot, after this there's another plug and that plug goes to a thicker bunch of cables which doesn't feel that hot.

I'll check the voltage tomorrow with the car on, but I recently did that and I remember having a little over 13v, 13.3 I guess, but I'll double check tomorrow, Thanks!

 

Check please if it gets hot when ignition is in the last position, just before START and engine is not running. I have very strong suspicion that wire gets hot due to alternator problems (overcharging or shorten rectifier). When overcharging you would see high current level flowing in opposite direction ("+" on wire "-" on battery) when engine is running. Depending on your ampermeter it might kill it, so check the voltage instead.

This would explain smoke from the bottom of the car, why it doesn't get hot when engine is not running and ignition key is in ON position (all electrical circuits are almost the same as with engine running), why additional load seems to improve the situation (they draw current off before it reaches the battery reducing the overall voltage), normal current levels when car is not running which not supposed to heat that wire at all (and they don't). Voltage measurement with the engine stopped and running can confirm this theory: normally it should be 12.6V when it is stopped and not higher than 14.2V when it is running.

Overcharging might happen in 2 cases: your alternator generates too high voltage or one of you battery elements shortened inside. The first case would make voltage with engine running > 14.2 V the second - less than 12.6V when it is not running. In both cases the voltage difference between what alternator gives and what battery can take creates high current through that wire into the battery which can make it that hot.

The other reason for that wire getting hot - alternator generates alternate current which gets converted into direct inside it by some rectifiers. If one of them shorten then you would see high alternate current pulses through that wire but <14.2V voltage when engine is running (at 2000 rpms). This is rare but possible and hard to diagnose with the plain voltmeter.

In any event, measure your voltages accurately please and get back here. I'd appreciate if you measure voltage directly on the battery terminals with engine is not running first and ignition key not inserted and with engine running - second (it takes battery some time to come to its true voltage after engine is stopped) . It is also neccessary to bring engine to ~2000rpm to get correct reading. Don't do it for too long - just long enough to take a reading. It would also help if you could measure some other car battery voltage when it is off to ensure your voltmeter can be trusted. The 'reference' car should not have electrical problems, of course.

 

Thanks a lot Max 5gen, I really appreciate you help on this matter, it's getting a lot clearer now, even I'm not electric/electronic expert, I'm a PC technician and I can understand the basic idea about this.

Well, so I guess yesterday I wasn't crazy, when I took measures with the amperemeter I got 1.7amps with the key on the last position before ignition with headlights off, then after turning them on, I got 7.2Amps but Negative! is this what you mean by overcharging? besides when measuring with headlights on, it showed up a few sparks.

Multimeter seems to be working good though, like I said voltage with the car off but key inside on last position was 11.7v but I'll check again without key, and I'll leave the key for a few minutes and then check the temp of the cable.

I'm driving a corolla right now and doesn't have any problems, so I'm gonna test my multimeter there.

It really makes sense now that you mention it, the smoke I saw before could have been from the alternator and I never notice because I saw it coming from under the car but couldn't spot the exact location.

So, does it point out for bad alternator? well before getting premature diagnostic I'll check those voltages today and post them up later, Thanks again!

 

Not really - I meant the alternator control circuit may be trying to bring voltage in the system higher than battery can take. Anyway, it was good to know current levels as 7-10 A wouldn't make that wire even warm. It finally downed on me that the reason that wire is thick is because it is used to charge battery from the alternator. This changes direction of the current: if the engine is not running current flows from battery into the car wiring but if it is running alternator would supply current on its own therefore it will flow into the battery to charge it. Please do not put your ampermeter there again if you're not sure it has reliable protection capable of sustaining up to 100A current. You're just lucky it is still around - there's a reason the wire is hot and that reason is the high current through the wire at times.

Sparks are normal at that current values, you won't be electrocuted in any event, it's 12V after all.

 

Well, my multimeter it's a Craftsman but I forgot the model, it has fuse protection but I'm not sure if for 100A, but I guess not, because it has 2 ranges on the amperemeter section, one is microA-mA and the other is 20A so my guess is that 20A is the maximum current supported. anyway I won't put it there again to avoid the chances of damage.

I'll post in a couple of hours after I get the voltages from the battery

 

Ok, I'm back with the measurements:

Maxima
Car off no key: 11.7v
Car off key on: 11.6v
Car Running: 14.1v

I check on my Corolla just for reference...
Car Off no key: 12.8v
Car off key on: 12.6v
Car running: 14.4v

This measurements were made direct on the battery terminals, and about that cable it doesn't get hot with the key on and turned to the last position before ignition, it's completely ice cold not even warm.

Damn, I just read your post again and forgot to run the car at 2k RPM, let me go and check that again.

Got it! but the voltage dropped when giving it gas was 14.1v but then it start to fail the idle so I turn on the lights and it dropped to 14.0v and then I give it gas to a 2k RPM and it stayed there at 14.0v.

So, what does the readings means?

 

Looks like one or more alternator rectifiers shortened and your battery is almost discharged. Of course, you're welcome to check connectors on the alternator first but it is not working as it is supposed to. You see, your voltmeter won't show ripple on the voltage and battery also smoothes it out so overall it looks like 'slightly' lower voltage. Your Corolla shows correct voltages, those tens of volt do matter and we can trust your voltmeter, BTW.

Just to give you a feeling of the battery voltage sensitivity: it depends, for example, on the ambient temperature so voltage regulator which happens to be part of alternator is temperature sensitive and changes its output voltage accordingly. I don't recall exact numbers but going from -20C to +40C it changes less than .5V or so and engineers bothered to build this dependency into voltage regulator.

Your battery is .9 volts less than it supposed to when engine not running (and alternator is not affecting its voltage). This is a lot in their world. I just wonder if this was the original problem - due to lower voltage of your battery alternator got overloaded for prolonged time burning its rectifiers in the process. So even if you fix your alternator (I'm pretty sure it's broken now) you might face exactly the same trouble soon afterwards.

The option that might be available to you is to take your battery out and bring it back where you bought it or to some other battery place for checkup. This should result either with you buying a new battery or having yours back fully charged and sitting at 12.6V. Then you can try to put it in the car and perform that engine running test again. I'm quite certain your wire will still be hot and you won't see voltage above 14.0V (it has to be 14.4V, Corolla is right). Then you can proceed with fixing your alternator. In any event, you should start from battery. It might be just severely discharged and just charging it outside the car would bring its voltage to normal level but you want to be sure before you put it back in the car.

 

Are you serious? there's no doubt every day is a new learning experience, I never thought the Alternator will suffer damage from a Battery being under voltage. So, what happens when you forget your lights on and your car won't start and you have to jump start it? Alternator is getting damaged in that process?

I forgot to mention that when I measures 14.1v the voltage seems to be increasing (I think this is due the Alt is charging the Batt) but at a very slow pace: I got 14.12v then after a minute or so 14.13v....14.14 and so on but it never seems to reach at least 14.2v.

But definitely everything makes sense, first days I got it working on all 6 cylinders (remember I had a plug swapped and I was running on 3 only) I got smoke from the alternator area, after that the smokes stopped from that area and it only came out from this part of the cable, so chances are the rectifiers from ALT were burning after turning on the car those days, Battery was seated for a looong time so I don't know if that get it damaged, it's an Optima Yellowtop and I have that for my Audio system because can't use a regular battery or I'll discharge the batt right away if I use my audio system with the car off.

Now, what about using the battery from the Corolla to start the Maxima, will I see any improvement? or what should I expect if I do that, still the Alt is bad,so should I clean my Alt first, or maybe replace it first, honestly I don't thing cleaning the Alt will solve this problem, if the rectifiers got damaged then I need to replace it.

 

As a heart attack . What happens when battery has one element shortened for example is that it will never be able to reach normal voltage no matter how hard alternator tries. Voltage regulator, being completly unware of this new voltage level will continue to push for its 14.4V target. This will create high charging current for a long time eventually overheating the rectifiers and killing them. The case of simply discharged battery is different - it will come to its normal voltage fairly quickly, decreasing load on the alternator.

Still too low, sorry and your battery still chose to be at 11.8 tops after that - something is not right there. If one of rectifiers is shorten it will create very high discharging pulses - from battery to alternator which will still heat that poor wire as it is heated by current passing through regardless of direction. These pulses will also cause high voltage ripple in the system freaking everything electric in the car. This can be seen by using oscilloscope but why bother if battery service would just give the answer.

You can try that. If my theory is right you should see the same problems with Corolla battery. I would give it a try just to perform another engine running voltage measurement. If it will still be less than 14.3V at least I'd take the alternator out. My only worry with this is after you fix the alternator and put it back it might be killed just as fast if it happens your Optima has a short.

 

Ok, so... one way or another I'm screwed right I'll be needing to do both at the same time (BATT & ALT) I guess...or...

I'll try later today putting the Corolla battery (funny this battery was on my Maxima before, but when I bought the optima I put the older Maxima Batt on the Corolla) on the Maxima and get some readings. Now what if with this battery reach the 14.4v target? that means the problem is the Optima Batt only?

What if the only culprit is the Alternator and the Optima Batt is only discharged due the alternator being unable to charge it back? I can confirm this if the Corolla battery doesn't reach the 14.4v (14.3v at least you said) right?

If the Optima Batt is the problem, can a place like autozone test it to check if it has an internal short? I've seen they have battery services but never worried about checking out what kind of services. or, is there a way I can figure it out for an internal short on the Batt?

 

At this point it is hard to tell who is the culprit. You can try to take measurements with Corolla's battery and report them here. I'd use battery service to check Optima. There're some special things involved like measuring density of electrolite and it is cheap (even free maybe). They would also have some charging/testing machine which might be even capable of burning that short inside the battery if there's one. This won't last though from my experience.

 

Ok, I just get back from my cars and I put the Battery from the Corolla on the Maxima and voila! cable was ice cold and readings as follows:

Car off no key: 12.6v
Car off key on: 12.5v
Car Running: 14.34v

However the cable didn't get hot anymore and no smoke at all finally, I still have the same problem with the idle.

It's even faster, I mean the jump of the neddle happens more often than before but this time RPM jumps 1.5k-1.8k and even with the headlights on doesn't solve the problem, so I just talk today with this guy at autozone and he said he will test the Batt and alternator for free.

So, what does this events means? no more burning hot cables, no more smoke, but idle still can't stabilize. batt is shorted for sure?

 

well... now that you two have basically identified the problem... go ahead and get the battery and alternator squared away completely before worrying about the idle. there's alot of things that can mess your idle up... IACV is just one of them.

 

Looks like your Optima has a serious problem. Your cold wire tells that charging current dropped to its normal level with another battery and it also looks like most of rectifiers survived. You see, the wire was heated by the current going into the battery and not out of it as I originally thought. Unfortunately, I'm still not 100% sure your alternator survived the ordeal even seeing 14.34V of output and wire being cold. Smoke from electric part usually indicates irreversable damage. Alternator can be repaired by specialized shop or simply replaced, depending on available money.

If Autozone is willing to test both for free I'd go for it, their equipment should provide much better information. I'd still not worry about your idle problem until you get both battery and alternator tested. As you don't have access to a scope this is the best option to make sure your electical part is OK before start thinking about idle.

 

Ok, so how hard is to remove the alternator from the Maxima?

Any idea of the cost to replace it? I'll be trying to take the alt out but I have no idea where to start, I never remove any alternator before and well this will be just for testing but in the event it turns out to be damaged, I have no idea if it's better to replace or just repair this alternator.

Well, Thanks!

 

It is not hard. From my memory for my VE engine:
disconnect battery
jack up front passenger side and put it on a jack stand. Don't go under the car if it is not on a stand.
remove wheell and plastic cover behind
disconnect thick wire, ground wire and connector on the back of alternator
loosen nut on the belt tensioner pulley
loosen 2 bolts holding alternator to the engine. It basically swings at the top on those 2 bolts
remove the tensioner - this will loosen alternator belt and allow you to remove it from alternator pulley
remove completely top 2 bolts and it will fall into your hands. Well, it might take some wiggling but this is it.

Check it first, then worry about repair - what if it has survived?

In any event I wouldn't recommend you to repair yourself even if the parts readily available. They are available as it turns out and cheap. The thing is not trivial to disassemble and assemble back. I'd leave it to specialized shop. Decision to replace or repair should be made based on the options available - call around and ask here with results. Friend of mine paid $200 for 'rebuilt' one at the car electric shop and they took his old one. He was in rush and this was the first shop we came across. Beat the price of general mechanic who charged $400 and it stopped working again 2 weeks later as mf broke one of the brushes inside assembling it back. Car electrics tend to know better and charge less.

 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to borrow a jack and jack stands to try to work on the alternator, so I took the battery to Autozone and they told it was just low on charge, so I leave it there on saturday and pick it up yeterday, I install it, measure the voltages and this what I got:

Car off no key: 12.6v
Car off key on: 12.5v
Car Running: 14.30v

so, I think they charge the optima back to the normal 12.6 as my other battery, and the cable doesn't get hot anymore with this battery, but I'm concerned about that 14.30v because it doesn't go any higher with the car on, actually I saw it drop to 14.29v for a couple of seconds.

My idle problem still there, and just to make sure the problem is not the IACV I just replace it with my older one, (the one that was on my old engine) but the problem is still there.

 

So, they managed to bring it back - good, let's hope it'll stay this way.

There's some tolerance zone for the voltage. FSM states 14.1-14.7 but doesn't specify the temperature and this voltage is definetly temperature dependent. It seems FSM gives values for the whole temperature range. OTOH if I just saw your readings without knowing of the previous smoke I would't be concerned at all.

The definitive test would be to disconnect alternator output wire from the alternator temporarily, start the car and check the idle. If it will be still jumping - this would eliminate the alternator. Unfortunately, just disconnecting that wire from the battery won't help as it will still leave half of the car powered by alternator which might affect your idle. My point here is now you have a battery with normal voltage and battery supplies very clean voltage to the system if alternator is disconnected. That wire is attached to the alternator with one nut which is accessible from under the car and has small rubber boot covering it. Just make sure you isolate it from the body of the car after it is disconnected as another end will still be connected to the battery. You should disconnect battery first before disconnecting the alternator wire, otherwise you could easily shorten your battery to the body of the car in the process.

 

Ok, I'll see if I can reach that connector, I think the one you mean is the one quoted in post #47 right? I mean the one close to the top right corner of the picture.

BTW, Alt is very dirty, any good tip to clean it safely? I remember when I was washing my engine bay I was told to cover up distribuitor and alternator so no water there but any degreaser is safe to spray over?

Ok, now if Alt is disconnected, will the car start? if yes should I expect any special behavior? The only function I know the Alternator do is to charge the battery, I'm sure it does more jobs I'm unaware of, could you explain what other main functions the ALT does? I would like to understand a little bit more how can the ALT affect my idle.

A friend told me if my Alternator was bad, my car should turn off by itself in a matter of minutes because my battery will run out of power and alternator won't charge it. is this true? how about turning the car on with ALT disconnected? should I expect the car to go off after a few minutes? he also mentioned to disconnect the battery while the car was running and if the car turns off my ALT is bad, if it's good then it will keep the car running, he's not a mechanic or anything he just said he test one alternator a few years ago that way by the suggestion of a mechanic and he find out his alternator was bad, but I don't want to trust and do what a friend of a friend of a friend did if you know what I mean.

Thanks!

 

well i think how quickly (or if at all) the car shuts off depends how far-gone the alty is. If it's still putting out 80%, then the car will still run.... if it's putting out just 5% then yea it'll shut off. It's not like a spaghetti stick... spaghetti is either broken or not broken. Alternators can fail slowly.

but yea you identified the right wire... the one covered by the hose in the pic

 

Ok cool, I think I got it, we are talking about how efficient the alternator can be.

So, the car is supposed to work as usual with the Alternator disconnected? I was confused when Max 5gen said disconnecting the cable from the other end still will have half car powered

 

Yes, the one with ripped rubber boot on the picture.

I'd just wipe it with cloth without spraying anything.

Normally alternator not only charges the battery but also powers the rest of the car. In your case I have a suspicion that due to overload it can have shortened rectifier(s) which could cause high ripple on the voltage which in turn could freak out something in engine control circuits therefore giving you that idle behaviour. You won't see this ripple with normal voltmeter as it measures averaged voltage level.

If you disconnect the alternator then for a short time (15-20 minutes) you should be able to start & run the car off the battery only. Battery produces very clean voltage without any ripple. If your idle will still jump around the same way then you can be sure it is not the alternator, connect it back and move on to solving idle problem. If, on the other hand car idle will stabilize with alternator disconnected - you will have to repair it.

He is right in more general case when alternator is completely dead or functions 100% properly. As I said, there's a possibility that yours is partially damaged and this test wouldn't give you much.

 

By 'other end' I meant the end close to the battery which used to be very hot. It would be easy to disconnect alternator there but unfortunately there're bunch of circuits left powered by alternator itself in this case. Disconnecting wire from the alternator end ensures that it cannot influence voltage in the car anymore.

 

Ok guys, sorry for the long wait for a reply, but here I'm finally.

Today I was able to lift the car (I borrow some ramps) I got under the car took out the splash guard cover and disconnect the cable from the alternator, of course before I unplug the positive terminal from the battery.

I check the Batt voltage with the car off and I got 12.47v so I turn on the car and it drops to 12.1v. This is with the Alternator cable disconnected.

I don't know if this is good or bad but I think the Alternator is not the problem, the idle problem is still there even with the alternator disconnected.

However, when I connect the cable back and measure the voltage I got 14.19v so it's dropping again? or maybe because it was disconnected for a while and will take a few minutes to charge it right? I just test the voltage very quickly because the idle was behaving pretty bad.

So, what's next now? what else can I look into? cable doesn't get hot anymore, IACV was replaced, I've been temped to drive it for a minute but I don't want to cause more damage if I'm clueless about this problem.

I move the car from one parking spot to another and when I put it on D or R the idle is perfectly fine, it's strong on acceleration but as soon as I put it on N or P the idle jumps like crazy.

Thanks!

 

do you still have codes that are not yet cleared?

 

If you had your idle jumping with the alternator disconnected I'd leave alternator alone, it survived. The voltages are consistent with battery not being charged for a while. In my opinion, your battery/alternator are good now, problem is elsewhere.

There's a socket going to IACV which controls idle. If you disconnect that it will prevent ECU from 'stabilizing' your idle and engine should run with idle speed around 400 rpm if I recall correctly. This can be adjusted by a screw on IACV. If the idle still jumps around with socket disconnected and doesn't depend on screw position it would indicate that you have some air leak.

If it jumps only when the socket is connected then this is ECU's fault. This wouldn't mean the ECU is bad it is more likely it is 'confused'. I'd re-check your grounds first in this case.

 

Ok, It looks like finally I got the problem solved!

Today I was checking my cables, playing with IACV without any rsponse from idle and finally I got my common sense talking to me: If I had a spare ECU why not test it?

Well I did, I disconnect my ECU and I just connect from the driver side my spare ECU and then turn on the car....

It was like a magic trick! since the start I notice a fast crank solid start and CEL was gone, so I tought I was being lucky, maybe new ECU need adjustment to see the problems, well my idle stabilize right away at 1.1k RPM's and start droping to 800RPM so I went to my IACV and play a little bit with it and right away it went up to 1100RPM, I leave the car running for about 20 minutes and idle was perfectly fine!

However I saw smoke again, from under distribuitor area, so I pay close attention to it and I notice it was coming from the front part of the red valve cover, it smells like oil, but it stopped after a few minutes.

So, I couldn't really wait any longer I replace and install properly the ECU and take it out for a spin.... GOD!!! I haven't feel that power in YEARS!! my first problem with old engine start back in 2006, the Tranny feels soooo smooth shifts better than ever.

So I went to fill up the tank and inflate the tires, I notice it heats up considerably for such a short distance I travel probably 1 mile and open engine bay and it was hot, I'm nt sure if this is normal or not, but my temp needle is ok reading a couple of lines under the middle.

I want to Thank all people here for the Help, your time, your patience with this Noob and I hope this thread helps anybody with a related problem, however as one of you once said, not everybody hire a stupid mechanic to swap the plugs and burn ECU with it.

Again, Thanks a lot and I'll appreciate if you have a suggestion for my newly installed ECU, should I do anything else before driving it more? I checked for codes and it give me a lovely 55

Well, I gotta go, Thanks, 1,000,000 Thanks! I'm very happy now, however I'm not want to dream about it because it could bring up something else so I rather be prepared.