[AMC-list] Pin in, Pin Out...Volts in, Volts Out.. Ummmm...I am listening.

[jerijan@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Greetings!
What you are about to teach me IS going to solve this mystery, I'm sure of
that...suddenly, without knowing exactly what you are about to tell me, my
initial ideation is that...we are going to test each and every sensor and
connector in the ECU one by one.  Output voltage to the sensor (from
'source'--guess that makes it 'input'), Output voltage (or whatever I'm
measuring) at the ECU (ie, the other end of the wire).
Is that sort of what I'm understanding here??
I do believe I've a 'roadmap' of what the sensor's 'expected' voltages are,
both in and out...
Now that I've taken a guess...what IS this proceedure?

Start with this: 
1-Where am I looking for grounds which may make these reading other than as
expected?  This truck is a 1996 from New Jersey and shows very little
corrosion in any way (although we all know it does not need to exhibit
this...what I'm looking for, I'm certain, is quite well hidden.)  I've pulled
as many connector apart as I could find, looked at each and made certain each
was without 'stuff' which wasn't born there...(and found none).
2-In the truck's history, there has been, umm, well, ...*sigh*...Ok, COBBLERs
working on it.  They have left no obvious trail except I know who they are
and what they've 'done'..which is...the truck was sold by the State of NJ at
auction with a failed automatic transmission...which was replaced with one
from a RAMVan.  "Its the same thing" (has anyone else ever heard THAT song
before??)  The same, but...Ummm, just how much 'the same'...??  In the early
days 'with me', the transmission's shifts always seemed a bit late and harsh.
Also, I can't claim that I ever thought that truck had the power it ought
have had...always seemed quite wimpy, chuggy under load, and could hardly
haul itself 'with distinction', nonetheless pull my trailer...  Be that as it
may, it never shot any codes of any type suggestive of somekind of
failure...beyond it's obvious lack of 'snot'...
3-One day, whilst draughing my trailer up a driveway, the truck, just like the
'little train that could' was moaning and mumbling, "I think I can, I think I
can, I think I can..."...about 1/2 up it simply COULDN'T..  It stopped dead
in it's tracks, smoking from underneath and revving like the driveshaft had
split in two..  I peeked underneath and there was a trail of ATF all the way
up the hill and splattered all over the underside of the truck...and the
dipstick from the tranny showed NAUGHT!  Awwww, hell!  The fella who was
going to store the cars on the trailer used his tractor to yank the Dodge and
trailer  the rest of the way up where I left it for a few days, convinced I'd
absolutely turned seals inside out and/or smoked the tranny for sure...  And
was it HOT!  WHOA BABY!  Could hardly touch the dipstick!
4-a few days later, I went back to the truck and put ATF into the trans just
to see what it was going to do.  To my stunned surprise, it not only didn't
dump the new fluid, but it moved as well!  And not only did it move...the
late shifting was GONE!  It did not, however, have the power I'd always found
missing.  It'd move...but no rocket ship that..
5-On the way to Virginia, it shot codes which suggested a coil issue.  (What a
freakout..2 AM and a truck shooting codes which 'are critical'...Oh, well~) 
It got here, got a new coil, and...no codes, no missing power, but...alas,
running as well as it ever did (which isn't really well...but, well...Oh,
Well!).
6-While in VA, the ability to accelerate was clearly diminishing.  You would
have to plan everything you did because of the slowness of acceleration. 
BUT...you could get it going dammed near as fast as you'd want, it just
required work (and light feathering)to get there.  But it would 'rock and
roll', but only after a frustration ridden 'getting there'.
7-Reached a point where the power became a problem.  Here is where it got new
wires, plugs, dist cap, O2 sensor (because those are replaced BY MILAGE since
they 'fail in a manner which may be missed'), Cat-Conv (to remove
KittyFurBalls?--it was marginal anyway), Muffler (rusted), and one or two
other sensors (I forgot which).  Measured voltage at sensors as suggested in
Haynes to verify 'does this sensor work?' and each 'checked out'. 
Compression test across the board 'excellent' and fuel pressure and volume
both 'fine'.
It was at this point that I've run out of things to check...so I did
reruns...with the same results.

So...That's where I stand..
The singular symptom is the inability of the truck to move now which is rather
an exaggeration of the previous 'poor performance' taken to the furthest limit
(ie, failure to move!)  False Fuel when throttle depressed indicates the power
that's lacking should still be there if only it would 'deliver' it's own
fuel.
It starts and idles such that you'd never guess there is ANY issue (wicked
fast start and smooth and quiet idle).
Along with the lack of power, by the way, was an incredible propensity to use
fuel (ironic, isn't it?  No power, yet it'll sure piss away fuel.  When
'clocked', it was about 12 to 14.  How can something which isn't 'getting'
fuel USE so much of it?  (no, it isn't 'dumping' any I can see, nor is it
hugely 'rich' from the exhaust's smell (it did 'blacken' the exhaust pipes
and I sort of suspect it may have been the cause of the Cat's 'hairball' (ie,
the beginning blockage of the CatConv).  (The Cat was 'diagnosed' as being,
shall we say, 'effected negatively' because it was WAY too hot on the wrong
end..been so long I've forgotton which was which, but it was 'verified' so
and after removeing it, it was visually 'impaired').  

There.  That's the Story...

Now..  Pin in, Pin Out...  what do I do, look for, etc.  This is likely new to
me unless I know it by some other name...
Please...  EDUCATE ME.
And I'll tell you what the cause was (as I'm somehow certain doing whatever
you tell me is going to finally at least diagnose the issue.  With that, a
'cure' can follow.  

Thanks in Advance,
Jerijan

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