gmcfan

my '84 ea81 5 speed sedan drinks gas like it is going out of style. I need to get rid of that sh**ty single barrel and go for the weber 2 barrel! My grandfathers 86 lincoln towncar puts my car to shame. his gets 28 MPG! its got a big fat 7 litre V8 too!

A blown head gasket won't cause blow by into the crankcase. Blow by is a natural thing with an internal cumbustion engine, the rings can't seal 100% otherwise, engine makers wouldn't have invented road draft tubes, and eventually, PCV valves to help vent gasses and lower pollution coming out of the engine. Check your PCV valves, they could be plugged, causing excessive pressure in the crankcase.

6'2 1/2" 300 LBS. I fit in my car okay, I actually move the seat forward as close as I can, I dont like to be too far away from the wheel for some reason. My youger brother is 6'5" 180 LBS and he fits with little problem, except the knee in the wheel thing.

That's grade AA bull. They can get the parts, they probably didnt WANT to do it though.

I checked the disty, about 1/8" side to side play. THanks for the advice everybody, I think I will get it rebushed.

my '84 sedan has 173,748 & 4/10th's with a different ea81 swapped in not long ago. I personally have only logged 926 3/10th's on it since I have gotten it.

My 1962 GMC had self adjusting drum brakes on all four wheels. My dad had them on the rear of his '79 Dodge van too.

Mabye loose castle nut on front wheel. Mine makes a scraping grinding noise when I am just rolling, or when I let of the gas. The castle nut was loose on mine, well, still is. I can't seem to tighten it up enough. I would check the castle nut along with everything else the guys said. THe easiest thing to do would probably be to try to turn the nut back and fourth.

It is on the front of the engine.

http://www.clarion.com http://www.clarion.com/usa/service/manual.htm Try them, they probably have it, and if they don't, you can probably request it from them. Hope this helps, Jon

MilesFox-1984 ea81 1800, single barrel weber carb. not origional engine as far as I know. skip-I can only find one set of diag. connectors, they are green and the contacts are set up in a "T" configuration --| like this. I plugged them in, and checked codes, it sayed "ignition pulse system" with the connectors plugged and unplugged.

Hi all! I noticed today for the first time, that there is some kind of red plug on the front of the engine, on the right head. It looks like it used to have wires going to it, but they seem to be broken off. Could this be a sensor for the ECU? After about fifteen minutes of driving, the ECU light comes on. It does not go off. After the car has cooled, start it up, the light is off, but comes back on when the engine warms up. Can anyone shed some light on this thing? it does not show it in my chilton manual, but I figured someone on here knows what it is. Thanks in advance, Jon

1984 ea81 GL Sedan I was going down to the store last night, 25 degrees outside. The car was fine when I went down there. But, as I drove back, the tach started jumping around from 2000 all the way up to 4000 RPM, sometimes stopping at 4000, then going back down and jittering. I pushed in the clutch and revved it up a couple of times, the tach settled back down, smooth as its always been. Then, a little while later, it started doing it again! what is the problem, I have read on the repair manual section, that this is caused by a bad distributor, I don't believe it would just start doing it out of the blue. This is the first time it has happened. Could there be something else wrong? anyone else have expereince with this? I don't have the money to get a new or used distributor right now, and things keep going wrong with this thing. It is also my vehicle for going back and fourth to work in. What can I do?

Don't knock the pushrod engines. Where would we be without them? still guiding horses around pulling carts, thats where! I saw a chevy nova with a 989 HP PUSHROD engine once. Fast, awsome. Timing belts are a pain in the rump roast, and that is all there is to it. My uncle had to replace the timing belt on some car he had, and it took him 2 days. Had to pull half of the engine apart to get to it. I say on this point, we took a step back away from making cars anyone can work on.

I am having a problem with my '84 front wheel drive subaru. One day, I was inspecting the front brakes, and I had front jacked up off the ground. I found I could wiggle the right front wheel back and fourth, a sign of trouble. I checked the castle nut. I could turn it with my fingers. The cotter pin was still in it, so I pulled the pin, and torqed the nut to specs. I noticed, however, that the shaft turned ever so slightly, telling my that the splines are damaged Anyway, I tightened it, all was good. I drove it for about a week, and out of curiousity, I checked the nut again. It was loose again! the cotter pin was installed, so I know the nut can't travel far. What is the deal? I think from all the years of the nut being loose, and the wheel vibrating back and fourth, chewed up the splines on either the rotor, or the shaft. I guess I will have to pull the disk and all to find out. All the parts seem to be there, a donut looking thing, with a split in it, I guess its the "center peice" as my book calls it, as you tighted the castle nut, it gets pushed in, and keeps the rotor centered, and a thick washer between that and the nut. What do you guys think? Pull the rotor? with the car on the ground, I can push the car down and let it come back up, and the right wheel makes a metal on metal groaning noise, so I know it is still loose. I can also be driving, have my foot of the clutch at low speeds (I noticed this at the wal-mart parking lot) and the right wheel makes a rythmic metal groaning sound. When I push in the clutch, it goes away, so I figure, in the presence of torque, the shaft is moving around in there. I am really concerned about this. What shoud l I do? Sorry for the long post.

Did you check the antifreeze in the radiator? could be frozen, which would jam the water pump up. It can also crack the block.

Checker, Advance auto parts, Kragen and Shucks are all owned by the same company.

Checked throttle shaft, wiggles back and fourth a lot. Explains high idle, and why it will not idle down. I am going to get the hitachi intake and the weber 32/36 as soon as I can. Still don't know why ECS light comes on, but I am sure I will figure it out soon. Thanks to everyone for replying to my other post about this problem, I really appreciate it.

I looked on the carb, after taking the air cleaner off, and there is some kind of vaccum motor hooked up in conjunction with the electric choke. I have no idea what it does. the vaccum hose for it is connected to a port on the carb, and is getting vaccum. I unhooked it with the engine running, and plugged the hose, no change in engine speed, the car was warmed up by the way. I havent checked those solinoids yet, because I honestly don't know how the hell to test them. This system could be leaking in a hundred places. A lot of the vaccum hoses are dried up and hard, and could be loose, so I think I am just going to have to change all the hoses, and see what happens. But even though this is a problem for me, I still want to know what the hell the ECS means! It comes on earlier and earlier when the car is warming up, so my guess is it is indicating a failing sensor or something, but I cant tell. I dont know where the diagnostic plugs under the dash are, or what color they are, so I can read the codes. I suppose I can't just jerk the computer out, and the car will still run right. I'm guessing that everything is routed through it, including the radio! This is getting to be interesting. I like the car, and want to make it a "street machine" so I can race the other "ricers" 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS STYLE! Well, maybe not. I am not the racing type. But, I DO like fast cars, and I think this one has some potential.

Non AC, looked by the strut tower, there are two solinoids, both plugged in, but not sure if they work. THere is also a vaccum canister, I assume its a resevoir, there is another solinoid thing that is attached to a bracket, and looks like it has a rod or something going into the heater, so I assume it has something to do with the heater controls. I didnt see any relays, but they may be hidden under some stuff. I'll test those solinoids tomorrow.

That guy is funny! We need guys like him to counter all of the tightwads in the world. Cool soob too.

yeah, mine won't idle below 1000 either. It stays about 1050 or around there. I did notice though, if I physically push on the throttle arm on the carb, the engine will slow down to about 700 RPM, if I push too much, it dies. It will stay at a certain RPM, then when I push on the gas, it goes back up to 1000+. I checked the slack in the throttle cable, that's not the problem. Could something be jamming the throttle? could the gasket be protruding and stopping the throttle valve from closing? or could the throttle return spring be worn out and not have enough pressure to close the throttle enough. Although, I had to push on the throttle with a little pressure, so I think it is more likely and obstruction. Is there any adjustments on the carter-weber to change Idle? all there is is the choke adjustment screw to slow down the engine gradually as it warms up. When I first got the car, it would not idle below 2300 RPM! I even let it warm up, and it stayed the same, so I adjusted the screw, and got it down to where it is now. If I go lower, the car dies after it warms up, not enough throttle, or something. This thing has me scratching my head. I had less problems with my '62 GMC!

I have the carter-weber. I wish I had the 32/36. I would even take the hitachi, although I hear they have a mess of vaccum connections.

Hi! I have been having trouble with my 84 subaru, it wont idle down, i have checked for vaccum leaks, found none, everything seems to be in order. But, I read in an article on this site, that the computer can blink trouble codes to you through the computer. I looked, and I got a code 11. Ignition Pulse System. I did not have any of the connectors hooked together, because I am not sure which they are. There are like 10 connectors that dont go to anything. I did however, find a connector by tracing it back to the computer, and plugged it into a corrisponding plug, both are green. Nothing happened with the key on, it just kept blinking code 11. I know there are other diagnostic plugs, but what color are they? what is the ignition pulse system, and what would cause it to malfunction. I have a hard time fixing something when I dont even know what the hell it is. Any help with be appreciated.

definately not the origional engine, from 1983-86 the 1600 was only offered in the hatchback STD, hatchback DL, 4 door DL, and the hardtop DL. the only time the station wagon had a 1600 in it was from 1976-1980. Before that, it was the 1400 engine that they used, and from '81 up through 1986 they used the 1800.