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88LX Festie-Running In Second Stage
88LX Festie- running in second stage
…. Very recently I discovered why my choke wasn’t working properly on Festie. It appears that the counter weighted CAM on the distributor side of the carburetor has been FROZEN in position caused by dirt, crud, oxidation and other foreign matter along with just plain sitting for the past twelve years before I reactivated her again some 6 months ago. So I loosened up the 10MM bolt on the side of the carburetor and spit polished everything in the area, got the cam moving freely again, it controls the choke butterfly in the venturi. Tried it out and she worked like a charm, ran nice and smooth in very cold weather especially at start up. Than I noticed after a day or so the RPM's shot up around 3000 after she had been running for a short while then settled back down just under 2000 RPM's, still a bit HIGH. The day before yesterday, I went to play ball and got caught on the interstate after Festie got up to temperature. I was doing about 70-75 and she started to occasionally buck and slowly die then got a little worse. I was down to around 55 mph and was wondering if I was going to be walking but she made it. About two hours later, after playing ball, she ran fine. On the way to the store, saw another Festiva and turned around and tried to chase him down but he was too fast for me, sorry to say, he looked like he was in GOOD shape too. After this, started home about 10 miles away, got almost home and she started acting up again, same scenario but this time she did stop. The three cars behind me went around me and nobody stops. After this Festie started right up and we made it home running a little on the rough side. Prior to fixing the choke, once Festie warms up, she runs just fine for the most part, may be I shouldn't have fixed the chock. I just love intermittent situations like this but I guess I should be grateful for them at least I didn't have to walk.
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…. According to what I've read, Festie is set up to run in two stages: first stage she is allowed to burn a little more fuel, richer, until she gets up to temperature. Second stage after she gets up to temperature the emissions controls kick in and she starts to lean out and in the process burn off all the extra hydrocarbons at least in theory anyway. With a system like this, vacuum leaks are critical and I have double checked and found no obvious leaks and or cracks. Also the manual points out the EGR diaphragm attached to the intake manifold on the timing belt COVER side, in the back, next to the firewall can be checked. While idling, take two fingers 180 degrees apart and push gently from the bottom up making sure the shaft in the diaphragm motor moves freely and while idling when pushing up she should start to run rough and or stall altogether. My diaphragm moves freely up and down and has absolutely NO effect on the engine at all! It is suggested that it be replaced. Apparently EGR values aren't available over the counter and if they were I think they would be expensive. With the car being as cold as it is in the winter I almost hate to touch anything for fear of braking something due to it's age. With all vacuum plastic switches and brittle vacuum lines running all over. I broke and replaced ONE vacuum “T” connection the other night when I removed the air cleaner housing, put just a little to much stress on that connection and she broke.
.
…. I think this would be a good time to remove all the emissions controls from Festie. What I need to know is, can I take all of this off and still use the same carburetor?? I know it's been done with other carburetors and special mounting plates but can it be done with the existing carburetor and what must I go through?
.
Thanks
…. Very recently I discovered why my choke wasn’t working properly on Festie. It appears that the counter weighted CAM on the distributor side of the carburetor has been FROZEN in position caused by dirt, crud, oxidation and other foreign matter along with just plain sitting for the past twelve years before I reactivated her again some 6 months ago. So I loosened up the 10MM bolt on the side of the carburetor and spit polished everything in the area, got the cam moving freely again, it controls the choke butterfly in the venturi. Tried it out and she worked like a charm, ran nice and smooth in very cold weather especially at start up. Than I noticed after a day or so the RPM's shot up around 3000 after she had been running for a short while then settled back down just under 2000 RPM's, still a bit HIGH. The day before yesterday, I went to play ball and got caught on the interstate after Festie got up to temperature. I was doing about 70-75 and she started to occasionally buck and slowly die then got a little worse. I was down to around 55 mph and was wondering if I was going to be walking but she made it. About two hours later, after playing ball, she ran fine. On the way to the store, saw another Festiva and turned around and tried to chase him down but he was too fast for me, sorry to say, he looked like he was in GOOD shape too. After this, started home about 10 miles away, got almost home and she started acting up again, same scenario but this time she did stop. The three cars behind me went around me and nobody stops. After this Festie started right up and we made it home running a little on the rough side. Prior to fixing the choke, once Festie warms up, she runs just fine for the most part, may be I shouldn't have fixed the chock. I just love intermittent situations like this but I guess I should be grateful for them at least I didn't have to walk.
.
…. According to what I've read, Festie is set up to run in two stages: first stage she is allowed to burn a little more fuel, richer, until she gets up to temperature. Second stage after she gets up to temperature the emissions controls kick in and she starts to lean out and in the process burn off all the extra hydrocarbons at least in theory anyway. With a system like this, vacuum leaks are critical and I have double checked and found no obvious leaks and or cracks. Also the manual points out the EGR diaphragm attached to the intake manifold on the timing belt COVER side, in the back, next to the firewall can be checked. While idling, take two fingers 180 degrees apart and push gently from the bottom up making sure the shaft in the diaphragm motor moves freely and while idling when pushing up she should start to run rough and or stall altogether. My diaphragm moves freely up and down and has absolutely NO effect on the engine at all! It is suggested that it be replaced. Apparently EGR values aren't available over the counter and if they were I think they would be expensive. With the car being as cold as it is in the winter I almost hate to touch anything for fear of braking something due to it's age. With all vacuum plastic switches and brittle vacuum lines running all over. I broke and replaced ONE vacuum “T” connection the other night when I removed the air cleaner housing, put just a little to much stress on that connection and she broke.
.
…. I think this would be a good time to remove all the emissions controls from Festie. What I need to know is, can I take all of this off and still use the same carburetor?? I know it's been done with other carburetors and special mounting plates but can it be done with the existing carburetor and what must I go through?
.
Thanks
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