Hello Everyone.  Just signed up today to try and find some advice for a buddy of mine.  I have searched most of the threads in section and did not seem to find any answers for the problem he is having.  So I apologize if this has been discussed before, but I didn't have any luck finding it.

Ok, my buddy bought a 94 Sidekick 16v, manual trans.  He is having some weird issues that we can't seem to get much help on diagnosing thus far.  The vehicle starts and idles fine.  The problem becomes that once it warms up, and he gets into second gear, it will bog down, lose power, and eventually die.  It will not do it when its cold and only under load.  If he can catch it fast enough and throw it in neutral, it idles and revs just fine.  If he drives around in 1st gear, he said he does not seem to have any issues that he can tell so far.  Its only when he is getting up to around 30 mph.

He has replaced plugs, wires and cap and rotor so far.  He doesn't have a fuel pressure tester, so he can't verify he is getting proper pressure, but not sure if fuel pump failure would still allow it to idle and rev in neutral just fine.  He also cleaned the mass air and noticed no change whatsoever.

The only time we have been able to get any codes from it, it came up as code 24 for the VSS.  He said the spedometer was not working when he bought it, so we are thinking its a cable problem and the VSS light is because of that.

Will the VSS not getting a proper signal cause these symptoms?  Or is it something unrelated to that code?  That is the only code we have gotten so far.  He is not getting a check engine light staying on, but it does come on when it acts up.  But once you shut it off and try to restart it, the light goes off.  So every time we try to check the codes again, we just get code 12.

While searching the forum to try and find similar issues, it seems most have problems on a cold engine, and nothing that seems to match any relation to speed.

He doesn't have much money, so just throwing parts at it is not possible.  We are just trying to find a way to narrow down a possible sensor problem.  We do not know what we should be looking for as far as which wires to test, and what voltages or resistances would should be seeing.  So any help would be appreciated.

It seems sensors in general for this vehicle are pretty pricey.  Are the parts from a GEO interchangeable since they share similar platforms?  They seem to be about half the price as Suzuki sensors.

Thanks in advance for any insight or direction you guys can point us towards.

Shawn

The VSS is built into the back of the speedometer, so if it's not working you will get a VSS error.  The engine should still be able to run without issues, it just won't go into a cruise mode when your going down the freeway.

When it's cold it is able to run at freeway speeds without any issues?

The speedo cable being disconnected or broken will cause that code 24, just replace the cable and it'll be ok. It really does not have anything to do with your other problem.
First, has it done this since he got it? I mean was it acting like this when he bought it?
Did the PO do anything to the vehicle as far as swaps or repairs ?
My first instinct would be to check the ecu for leaking caps. Earlier than 95 are known to have issues. Also make sure the one that's in there is the correct one for the truck. Also check the cat for clogging.
  It's important to know just what condition the vehicle was in before he got it, and if it's been modified or attempted repairs have been done to it.
You may be able to rent a fuel pressure test unit at a local auto parts store to determine if it's correct, should be running in the neighborhood of 38 to 40 lbs.