1990 Festiva automatic burning extreme rich help please =(

[gadgetguy]

my wife's 1990 Festiva's is running realty rich and sometimes erratic in idle and low bogging power , when you step on it at a light it is like its starving for fuel
but smell of fuel, when it does stall the only way to get it running is to hold it to the floor until it takes, black smoke and the plugs are carbonated black
i just changed the plugs not that long ago, its definitely flooding... any help here would be appreciated
her mechanic cant find anything wrong, we replaced almost everything except that sensor on bottom of intake and the air cleaner one, i tried the diagnosis using the check engine light,
i got a long 1 then short 5 and a 9 which i think is coolant temperature sensor and knock sensor?
as i read through this and muddled my way to this point,
have any of you seen this before and will this coolant temp sensor do this?
i am at a loss and ready to trade it off but she loves her car...
i too have a 1990 festiva and mine is like a 5 speed rocket compared to her automatic id say 70% more power
please if you can offer any input it would be appreciated 10x
Thanks, Dave

[jawbraeka]

i'd definately try a product called seafoam, it's designed to clean the interior of an engine and i have never found a product to be so effective.. mine was also similar to your problem in the fact that i too had a "starving" motor, i grabbed me a can and simply followed the instructions.

best product bar none.

I ran mine in the fuel and the pcv valve only. seemed to clear any problem i had away. you can also run it through the oil (prior to a major service) and it should allow a much thorough oil change, removing gunk deposits and also clearing any carbon in the cylinders...

there are videos on youtube describing and showing "how-to's" as well as some silly but somewhat funny "revenge how-to's" (basically emptying the contents of the exhaust smoke over the neighbours house kinda silly.

the product cost me about $33.00 from an ebay seller, but i know buying it from a store is a lot cheaper.. BTW, i'm in Australia and we can't get it here as an "Off-the-shelf" product.

there is also another product called Subaru Head Cleaner, which as far as i'm aware, does the some thing, and in some people's opinion, a much more thorough job, but i personally can't say that it does as i've never tried it.

i hope this information helps as it helped me and was one of the best, No-Nonsense products out there on the market today.

[gadgetguy]

no the engine is very clean inside/out ,
i had replaced the rocker assemblies thinking they were not pumping up or the seals were bad,
intake is clean as well , its not a dirt / mileage issue it only has 97000 km on it and is changed every 6000

[Festevil3]

I had the same problem a few years back and i replaced the mass air flow sensor (maf) and it solved all my problems.

[gadgetguy]

does that make the check engine light come on?
i guess i could swap with my festiva and try anything

[Festevil3]

I don't believe the check engine light was on, but it has been a few years

Post your location there might be someone close that could assist with trouble shooting

[gadgetguy]

i am in Vancouver BC Canada

[Pu241]

I had the same problem a few years back and i replaced the mass air flow sensor (maf) and it solved all my problems.

Festivas have VAF not MAF's.

[georgeb]

There's no knock sensor. Do the test again and report back here. If the diagnostic test points somewhere, that's where you need to start.

[Festevil3]

Festivas have VAF not MAF's.

He is correct it was late last night, sorry for the confusion

[Bert]

Just a 'stab in the dark' but a 'long past it's prime' 02 sensor (on the exhaust manifold) will not relay proper message of fuel mixture to the ECU and oftentimes this can cause rich mixtures. Car will run as if the choke is always on. There are posts on this forum regarding which manufacturer makes the better ones. As suggested in earlier posts; try swapping the VAF (vane air flow) out with the one on your car. As well, a few folks on the forum have been reporting on cleaning the vacuum hose-laden gizmo just back of the engine and to the right of the intake manifold (forgot what it's called) in order to regain some zip. There could also be vacuum leaks in any of the dozens of lines, especially seeing as these cars are senior citizens now.
Good luck and please report back.

[Spike]

I had the CEL on on my '90 for the first 9 months. Replaced o2 sensor, full tune-up, adjusted everything.. then thought, eh. I have three extra VAFs sitting here, wonder what'll happen if I put that on..

Boom. Not a single CEL since, and my MPG went up a fair bit. From 26 to 30-31 on regular '87 with 10% ethanol.

If you have a spare VAF, throw it on. Can't hurt, and only takes about 10 minutes!

~Joe

[Bert]

I had the CEL on on my '90 for the first 9 months. Replaced o2 sensor, full tune-up, adjusted everything.. then thought, eh. I have three extra VAFs sitting here, wonder what'll happen if I put that on.. Boom. Not a single CEL since, and my MPG went up a fair bit. From 26 to 30-31 on regular '87 with 10% ethanol. If you have a spare VAF, throw it on. Can't hurt, and only takes about 10 minutes!
~Joe

How many of us don't blink an eye to auto misfortune and merely start swapping parts from a garage or shed full of spares? My hand is up. I'm one of them. When you buy "a Festy" from a forum member, that is foresaking Festys forever, it is inevitable that you need a second trailer to carry off all the "might be useful" spares that have also been squirreled away.

[Movin]

You bet a coolant temp sensor can cause this if it still is reading 30 below zero and you are actually 30 above..Lots of extra fuel will be injected. If you threw the code you must be right at the limit of how bad you can get.

It could be a corroded connector, look at that before you replace the sensor.
You might have a new part and the same problem!