need a little help please

[johnnyrb]

When i turn on my headlights or when the fan kicks on my car will shut off. At idle the motor shakes pretty bad I'm thinking a vaccume leak. I tried spraying carb cleaner around all the vac fittings but can't find one. Any and all help would be appreciated. If someone is close enough I would meet you half way and supply the beverage of your choice to figure this thing out. The previous owner had the throttle held open with a zip tie and after removing it I see why the car has 252,000 miles on it. I hope I have supplied enough information and sorry for such a long post. This is a great site and have learned alot but when it comes to sensors vacume etc I'm just lost

[FestYboy]

please, more info on what happens and when EXACTLY and what you can repeat consistantly. are your battery terminals clean and tight? have you compression tested lately? how low is your idle? has the idle screw been adjusted?

[johnnyrb]

I did a tune up when I got the car battery terminals are clean. It runs really good in the morning when it first starts up but as the engine tepm rises the idles gets worse. I'm borrowing a compression tester this weekend and I ask the previous owner if he tried adjusting the idle and he said he messed with the idle screw underneath the little black cap he also messed with the screw on the underside of the throttlebody the air screw i guess? And while staring at the engine for an hour or so i noticed the dist is turned clockwise as far as it will go. Timing jumped a tooth maybe??? Thanks for the reply

[FestYboy]

I did a tune up when I got the car battery terminals are clean. It runs really good in the morning when it first starts up but as the engine tepm rises the idles gets worse. I'm borrowing a compression tester this weekend and I ask the previous owner if he tried adjusting the idle and he said he messed with the idle screw underneath the little black cap he also messed with the screw on the underside of the throttlebody the air screw i guess? And while staring at the engine for an hour or so i noticed the dist is turned clockwise as far as it will go. Timing jumped a tooth maybe??? Thanks for the reply

oh crap, that screw is NOT to be touched, EVER. as the engine temp rises, the IAC goes offline and the timing curve changes. this is also when the base idle screw takes over for idle speed. with the dizzy cranked the whole way advanced, this indicates a jumped tooth on the belt. pull the timing belt top cover and physicaly set the cam timing, you'll need a good flashlight and an offset 12mm wrench to see the crank mark and get to the tentioner.

[johnnyrb]

Im hoping to pick a a repair manual this weekend so I can see how to do what your talking about. Once this is check is their a factory setting to put the air screw where it needs to be? Anyway thanks again for the info hopefully by sunday I'll be posting the good news that it is fixed LOL

[FestYboy]

you'll need a feeler gauge set to fix the throttle plate set screw (proper name)

[johnnyrb]

Thanks alot

[johnnyrb]

Update!!

I checked my timing today it was dead on. I rotated to top dead center on the number 1 cylinder and the cam marks were on 12 and 3. Next I did my compression test I do belive I found the source of all my problems.
#1) 60
#2) 40
#3) 50
#4 110
By the way I am having tons of blow by so I'm guessing rings but I'll leave that up to you guys . I did find a terminal on the VAT with some corrision on I cleaned it off while I was at it. I am open to any and all suggestions. I'm willing to do an engine swap if I could find one, here in East TN its hard to find any Festy or Aspire's in the local Junkyards. This is my daily driver and I can live with the poor idle for now.Just hope it last for a while.

[kellen302]

At least the 1st 3 cylinders are pretty consistent

[FestYboy]

ok, try this first: (engine warm) pull the plugs and set the crank at 90* off TDC (so all cylinders are on the same plane). now fill the cylinders with seafoam or MMO, put the plugs back in and let them sit as long as you can (overnight or longer if possible). then when you're ready, remove the plugs and cover the holes with towles and crank the engine several times to clear the fluid. pop the plugs back in and fire it up. let it idle to temp and then FLOG it!!!!

now re-check your compression. it should improve greatly.

[Movin]

^^^ no more sticky rings and no more mosquitoes in your section of the county!!
Top end cleaning is highly recommended!
Rigging a tee into the PCV and using one of those kangaroo hose pinch things
you can "drip feed" another can of cleaner through the intake system to clean the intake valve area.

If none of the over haul in a can stuff works then you need a new or newer engine..

[johnnyrb]

Thanks for the info guys I'll give it a try this weekend and then post results. I've used seafoam before but never the way you mentioned