hooziewhatsit

Basically... The Y axis will show voltage. There will be a knob to change the volts/division that it shows. The graph on the display will be broken into divisions. The X axis shows time. There's a knob to change the seconds/division. Most scopes have at least 2 input channels, so you can look at up two different signals. There is another knob to show/hide each channel, and to trigger off one channel or the other. Make sure they are all set to the channel you're using. If any of the above aren't set up right, it just won't show anything. To hook it up, just connect the ground lead to ground, and the tip to the signal you want to measure. You can start by hooking the probe up to the battery. You can see how changing the volts/division changes the scale on the display. At 5v/div the battery should read at just over 2 divisions. -Dave

On the EA series ECUs there is a wire coming out of the ECU that is either grounded, or left floating to indicate Auto or Manual. I'd imagine there would be something similar on the EJ ECUs as well. Time to study an EJ wiring diagram and see if you see something like that. -Dave

Connect the green test connectors (near the wiper motor, or should be), then turn the key to On (not start). The two solenoids under the hood should start clicking on-off, and the fuel pump should pulse with them. If it isn't pulsing, I'd start by jumping power directly to the pump and seeing if it works. From there I'd check the fuel pump relay. Good luck -Dave

If you have any junkyards nearby, try to find an '87. I believe that should have a disty shaft that is keyed. If you find one that's keyed, take the rotor off and look down into the shaft. There will be a phillips head screw to remove just the top part. Then find the screws to remove the cover plate so you can get the top part out. You can also do this to get one with good threads if you can't find a keyed shaft. I finally found and installed a keyed shaft after I ended up with NO threads left on the old one. -Dave

When you can make it sputter in neutral, does it seem to be dependent on throttle position? If so, it could be a bad TPS (throttle position sensor). There's a procedure somewhere here on how to test it. -Dave

The covers are easier to get to from the bottom, at least on the drivers side. Should only be four 10mm, bolts in each one IIRC. -Dave

I don't know these carbs at all, but there should be a high-idle cam. I believe the screw you adjusted there is the one that stops on that cam. When warm, that cam falls out of the way and lets the throttle rest farther closed on another adjustment screw. The high-idle cam is moved by the choke when it's cold. When you tap the gas after letting it warm up, the cam moves and allows the throttle to close farther, lowing the idle. It sounds like yours is gummed up and not moving. Same thing happened on my truck last year. You'll just have to poke around and see if anything moves. -Dave

It's possible the timing belt could be off by a tooth. It's fairly easy to check though. There is an outer cover on each side of the engine you can remove without taking anything else off. That will give you access to the cam sprockets. Then crank the engine over by hand (22mm socket, IIRC), and make sure the dot on the cam is straight up/down when the three marks ( ||| ) show up on the flywheel on top of the engine. The two cam sprockets should be 180* from each other. It should be pretty obvious if it's off by a tooth. -Dave

Sounds exactly like an accelerator pump problem. Especially the 'bad hesistation when first giving it gas' you described. Since carbs need airflow to 'suck' fuel into the engine, and air takes a while (relatively) to get moving, the accel pump sends a squirt of gas in immediately to give the engine something until the venturi's catch up. Look down the throat and move the throttle. You MUST see a squirt of gas. If you don't, the accelerator pump isn't working. I don't know those carbs well enough to give you an idea where to look though. Also, any carb will need a pump or two to get started. This is the accel pump shooting gas into the engine. With it not working, you'll need something else to fire the engine with, like you've discovered. -Dave

The biggest thing that helps me is to push against the springs on the tensioners, then tighten the bolt down to hold it there. Then when you put the belts on you don't have to fight the spring tension while making sure everything else lines up. I typically put the belt on the crank, around the cam, then get it over the tensioner. -Dave

Should only have hurt it if you somehow got a BIG backfire. Pretty unlikely. You did re-time the engine once you got it back together, right? -Dave

Go under the hood and manually move the throttle while it's running. Make sure it returns all the way 'home'. If not, find out why Also make sure any electrical connectors to the engine are firmly connected. I chased down a weird problem with the idle air control valve that was caused by a barely together connector after doing HGs. -Dave

I'll echo the above comments and say to keep trying. Try to rock it from top/bottom while spinning. Once everything lines up it'll fall into place

I've had the heat shield rattle itself loose on a couple cars now. Makes an aweful racket, but otherwise the internals should still be fine; unless it got hit on a rock knocking the shield loose.

There should be two studs on the bottom of the radiator that fit in their respective holes in the cross member. If it's just held in by the two upper bolts, that could cause a problem

The $19 one should work fine. You don't need a dial-back or other special features for this. Just an el-cheapo one is ok. -Dave

The electric fan is controlled by a thermoswitch in the radiator. It's possible that the switch died, which is why the electric fan never comes on. You can try unplugging the switch and jumping it with a wire. The fan should come on. A new thermoswitch shouldn't cost too much to replace. Since you moved the distributor, you MUST re-check the timing. Everything else is suspect until then. -Dave

I can almost guarantee your timing is a bit off. To check it, you'll need a timing light. Then, connect the green, single-wire, connectors near the wiper motor, and start the engine. Shine the timing light through the hole at the top of the bellhousing, and rotate the disty until you see 20* at the tip of the pointer. Then you can tighten down the disty, disconnect the greens, and call it a day. You may need to crank the engine by hand until you see the 20* mark, then use a pen/marker to make it stand out and easier to see. The purge control solenoid is one of the two solenoids next to the intake. It won't likely cause the stumbling issue you're having. The other solenoid is for the EGR. Searches will reveal much more information about each one -Dave

Once you have the belts installed correctly, crank the engine by hand until the passenger cam dot as at 10:30 o'clock (or, 45* CCW of Straight up). Now install the distributor pointing to the #1 plug. -Dave

That was my first thought as well. When my plugged, I was having trouble maintaining 40mph, let alone going up hills. If he has a whistling noise under the hood he can't quite pinpoint.... -Dave

I bought a car like that for my BIL. I think the guy thought I was going to trailer it away. Looked kinda surprised when I paid for it and just drove it away. -Dave

wow, that sounds _exactly_ like my 91 loyale. Sitting there, with 2/3rds of the dual row radiator blocked, it will eventually heat up and turn the electric fan on. It then has good heat in the cabin. Once I start driving, it cools off. When the fan kicks on, the gauge is maybe 3/8" from C. While driving, it's half that. It has a new legacy thermostat (online place sent me the wrong one, lol. had to make it smaller to fit), and a new water pump a year or so ago. I flushed everything when I refilled after putting on the new WP. I was eventually going to reverse the hoses going into the core to see if that helps. -Dave

correct. Once you know where the light is, you won't need to remove the kick panel to check it. You just need to look straight down the steering column to see it.

Sounds like what my BILs 91 loyale was doing. The fuel pump would get 'stuck' wherever it stopped (sometimes), and wouldn't start pumping until it was bumped. After it started pumping it was fine. I verified by connecting the green connectors and tapping on the pump, then having the pump start working. Replaced the pump and haven't had an issue since. Hopefully you got it figured out. -Dave

IIRC, there should be a set of three connectors. Two of them should be connected now. Just disconnect them and switch it to the currently unconnected one. I don't know offhand what color they should be, but they should have only one wire going to each connector. Or, open the cluster, and take out the switch. -Dave