rpikle, this thread's for YOU!!

[rpickle]

Looking through some old posts, can I get an old carb and install, that doesn't have all of the feedback crap? The other idea is, a guy in town here has a '93 that has blow-by. I guess the rest of the car is OK. I could swap this motor into that car and be done with the carb! I also saw on craigslist a '91 motor/tranny for $100 that has 90k miles. Its is a few hours drive from here. Would I need to change my brand new gas tank or could get and external fuel pump? Just curious. All of the above would certainly get me into the biggest of dog houses, but.....


Rick

[FestYboy]

if you want to go w/ FI, go for it. i wouldn't change the tank, i would however use an external pump and change the lines to FI hose. i happen to have a good spare carb, but it has all of the electronics attached. if you were to swap motors w/ the '93, what would happen w/ your '88?

anywho, i've done some testing w/ mine and learned that the round connector does NOT have to be connected, the MAP sensor and blue and green emissions connectors do NOT have to be connected, and i'm working on seeing which of the square connector wires can be removed as well. if i can narrow it down to 2 or 3 wires that have to be connected, i think we can get away with disconnecting the main harness and splicing those few wires into it. also, though i haven't gotten a chance, i'm going to try fish bleeders on the air feed lines from the feedback solenoid to the carb and bypass the solenoid all together. just need some patience, i'll be trying those out on thurs (day off)

[rpickle]

I dunno what I would do with it. I may be taking more than the motor, depending on what the other car has/doesn't have. Are you interested?

So, are you thinking my problem is carb related? Would you consider sending your good one (I'll pay postage) to see if it would help?

Rick

[FestYboy]

1) yeah i'm interested.... but let's wait on that for now

2)yeah i still think it's carb related, but the cause isn't the carb itself (that's what i'm thinking)

3)i have no issue sending the carb, but i think after all the work you put into it, you'd rather use your own (an assumption on my part). i wnat to elliminate all possibilities first though before swapping parts, that way we know what is causing the problem. i actually want to find the solution, not just fix it, you know?

[rpickle]

Yeah, I know. I am a simulator technician and have been for 20 years. Initially, I wanted to find the problem methodically. I worked with parts swappers and it annoyed me. They would have a stack of boards and other bad ideas laying around quicker than you could blink. My co-workers then must have been not so confident in their skills, like I am with cars. Today it is even worse at work, we hire people that don't have the foggiest idea of how to diagnose something, let alone how to work test equipment....

Anyway, I'm with ya and will do as you ask.


Rick

[Tom]

Mine is running good again. All by itself after sitting for a week it decides to run good again. This will last something between hours and days and rarely even weeks. Then it will miss a little and then within the next few miles or starts and goes it will go to undrivable again and won't come out of it until it sits for several days. Ignitions can do this occasionally. I think it's electrical or air lock or vapor lock but I don't know what to do.

[FestYboy]

tom, i can't remember, but have you replaced your coil? and have you checked your pick-up tube in your tank?

[Tom]

Yup, I removed the tube and changed coils, I'm thinking about switching back to the origional coil and distributer and see if that might help. One of the big problems with this is that I always end up sitting along side the road and then have to get towed home.

[Tom]

If this is a vacuum lock or air lock or vapor lock like I'm thinking it is, that dissipates after it sits for a few days I'm wondering if I can figure out how to realease this lock by say unhooking a main air hose and bleeding it off or the same with fuel at the carborator end. It doesn't help to disconnect the fuel line that goes into the carb or fuel pump or fuel tank but the other half of the carborater might do it if I can figure out how. It let opff and started running good for me once when I covered and released the big hoses going into the breather. I could hear and feel it let loose right while I was doing it.

[FestYboy]

if it's any of those three, they SHOULD fix themselves in an hour or two, not days. those big hoses are your pulse air injection system, you're feeling exhaust pulse induced vacuum. that pulse forces air (O2) into the the second part of your cat so it can function properly. it has nothing to do with fuel or spark, just emissions.

[Tom]

It does sometimes fix itself in an hour or two and other times it takes days. The air I think I can release at the master cylinder, I tried it once but I couldn't get it off. Next time I will get it loosened and try to bleed the air off from everything. Pressure in that carb I don't know how to release. I know it sounds strange but I actually stood right there with my motor running and put my thumb on and off that big hose(it was already off and dangling open) and in the exact moment I put my thumb on and off it changed motor pitch. I got in the car and tried it and it was better but not all the way well so I got back out and found a plug for that hose and plugged it. The instant I plugged it the motor instantly changed pitches again and I could tell by the way it sounded and acted it was all the way well. Sure enough I got in and it was fixed. I left the plug in and thought I had a fix but the about three days later it did it again and plugging and unplugging that hose did nothing. I had been messing with it for several hours the time it did that and then I drove 75 miles home, trouble free. The catalitic converter has been removed and I think that that hose goes no where but it had a hollow almost sucking sound and feel the first time I did it. Then nothing the second and third times I tried it. Crazy but it seemed like it was related. Thats why I changed the co2 senser on the exhaust manifold but it didn't help.

[FestYboy]

that sensor you changed is an O2 sensor, not CO2. but that's besides the point, which 'big' hose did you plug?, and what did you do about the resulting hole that the hose was plugged into? not that it really matters because it's only emissions equiptment and won't effect fuel or spark delivery.

ok, tom i have a test for you... get yourself some brake clean or starter fluid and the next time your engine dies, remove the air filter cover and have someone crank while you spray... this will tell us if it's spark or not.

[Tom]

I left that hole open.

It's not spark because it starts and idles but it dies out if I try to give it gas. I can't feather past this and I can't give it lots of gas peddle up and down quickly on the foot feed and get past this either but sometimes when it half cures itself I can give it lots of gas and get past the idle but it is still not drivable because when its doing that its either all or idle, nothing in between. I appreciate your help.

I guess it could be spark that kicks back in and out at an idle and sometimes on high rev. It doesn't die though if you don't try to give it gas.

[FestYboy]

ok so it isn't spark (Per se), and it's not fuel up to the carb, so it's got to be fuel in the main circuit. try this, remove fuel cutout solenoid and plug it w/ appropriet (sp) bolt just enough to keep fuel from spilling out (you'll probably need thread sealent) then fire it up.

[Tom]

OK, it will take me a little while. I think my Festiva Shop Manual will show me where the cutout solenoid is. Thanks, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.