Andy's never ending weird engine problems

[Fierofool]

Yep.  My bad.

[cogcaviz24]

on my way to work, i stopped at the atm. when i looked down the SEL was on. when left the atm, it went off. it was 35 when i checked at work. the car ran fine the whole time.

I'm beginning to side with rob and the pickup coil theory. the idle air controler issue is intermitting, and when it occurs the engine is still running good. we will see

[cogcaviz24]

i'm also getting horrible gas millage. im almost on "E" and my tripometer is showing 100 miles. i know the gauge is pretty close to being accurate thanks to running out of gas the first day i had it. this may be another sign

[RobsFieros]

I just reread your original post and it sounds like, with the gas mileage being bad, that you've got the same problem I had about 6 months ago. Your fuel pump strainer is getting stopped up with trash and causing the car to run lean, this causes the computer to compensate for the lean mixture and dump more fuel. There's where your getting the bad gas mileage. The back firing is from the lean mixture. Replace your fuel pump strainer and filter. You'll have to drop the tank inorder to do this. Before you do this, hook up a fuel pressure gauge to the shreader valve and check your fuel pressure, it should be around 41 psi, then drive the car and check it when it's starting to act up. It sounds like the strainer is stoppig up and when it dies it drops the trash and then starts back up.

[cogcaviz24]

make since rob. i am spending the day in my dad's shop tomorrow, trying to fix this issue and doing some other minor stuff that needs to be done.

[cogcaviz24]

the car made it less than a 1/4 mile from shop, stalled and would not crank. i smelt gas when i steped out and seen it on the ground. called my dad, and he came with a trailer. we got it back to the shop. gonna start looking it over after lunch

[cogcaviz24]

come to find out, the reason it died was the ignition module inside the distributor decided to just to stop working. i checked the fuel filter while waiting on my dad and discovered the filter that was on the car was on BACKWARDS! i changed the filter and plan to change the strainer tomorrow.


the main problem is the exhaust leak. i knew it had one when i bought the car and knew it was at the manifold. BUT the we discovered the reason it was leaking there was because someone broke off 2 exhaust bolts in the block. the top one of cylinder 1 and the bottom one of cylinder 5. after some hard thinking, we've decided to drop the engine to drill the bolts out. fun stuff

[RobsFieros]

I used two gaskets and it worked great. And that was over a year ago.

[cogcaviz24]

the would be a hell of alot easier

[Fierofool]

Now that you're dropping the engine would be a good time to check out the clutch and the timing chain.  A word of advise, while you have the assembly out, never roll it without the axels inserted into the hubs.  It will destroy the hubs immediately.  And don't overlook the ground wires, especially the one on the right deck lid hinge.

You can get a good LUK clutch package from Pep Boys for about $125 or less, and if you put a wrench on the crank pulley, you can check for slack in the timing chain.  If you do replace the timing set, might as well put in a new oil pump while the pan's off.

If you got an Auto Zone ignition module, it has a lifetime warranty, but it's best to always carry a spare one with you.  Helps you get back to Auto Zone to get the bad one replaced under warranty. 

[cogcaviz24]

i'm gonna try robs double gasket idea 1st. if i do drop the engine it would pretty hard to check clutch....considering I have one. but thanks for the advice

[cogcaviz24]

my car is still in the shop  . the double gasket seemed to help big time. but i came across other problems. there is another leak i haven't pin pointed yet. the cat was replaced at some point and they put it on with clamps. i could rotate the cat all the way around the pipe and could not get the clamps off due to rust, so i welded each end of the cat to the exhaust pipes.

so far i've replaced the air filter,spark plugs(gapped to 0.045),wires, distributor cap, and rotor(button). i was going to rebuild the distributor too but i cant get it out, and can only rotate it with a set of rubber tipped vise grips. we adjusted the timing according to the procedure in the haynes manual. the engine sounds good.

the main issue we are having now is that there is no power. i mean, when i drive it, it feels like i am towing a truck with my car. i suspect the rear calipers are locked up. we bled the brakes, the fluid was really dark, and we could hardly get any fluid out of the back caliper(passenger rear was the worst). another thing that makes me suspect the calipers are locked,when i have the car off the ground and in neutral, the back wheels will not spin freely. my dad seems to think the fact that the distributor can not be freed, than that has something to do with the lack of power.

is there a way to disable the rear calipers, temporarily so i get eliminate them. of course i will have to take the wheels off and relieve the piston pressure.

[TopNotch]

If your rear calipers are locked up, your rear wheels will be very hot after only a short drive.
Check your parking brake adjustment using this procedure.

[Tha Driver]

Are you sure the e-brakes are not on (or stuck)? It's very common for newbies to not fully release the e-brake (or not release it at all), and thinking it's been released. The cables can also bind.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

"The police said he commited suicide: he shot himself in the head - twice!" (real news story)

[cogcaviz24]

yeah the e-brake on this car is new to me. not 100% sure if it completely down, but the light is off. i have to work with it to get to go off though.