New Subie owner in Hood River, OR

[RockRobster]

Greetings all,

 

I just bought a "new" car!  Aa 1991 Loyale Wagon 5sp/4WD.  238,050 miles.  It is actually in very good shape for its age.  Runs OK, but a little "raggedy".

 

To this end, I have been going through it replacing the obvious items.

    

     *Spark plugs and wires

     *Disty cap and rotor

     *Fuel filter

 

I found a vacuum line disconnected and hooked that back up.  Also replaced several other sections that looked a little dodgey.

 

All in all, some improvement, but still raggedy.  It starts right up and idles well.  Surges and hesitates while accelerating, even after warm up and temp gage shows normal operating temp.

 

With respect to the spark timing, I can only find one of the two connectors under the dash that are to be connected together to check the timing.  How critical is this step?  Can I just assume an "offset" to the 20 BTDC and set it like that?

 

Even without being able to find the connectors, I set it to 20 BTDC and, again, a marginal improvement.  But as a gross SWAG, which side of 20 BTDC should I be on without the connectors in place?

 

Left on the inspection/cleaning list for chasing the raggedness, is several components:

 

     *Fuel Injector?

     *Clean Throttle Body?

     *Replace Coil?

 

All in all, a fun little beastie.  I just wanted something to restore/fiddle with.  It came with a complete set of studded snow tyres on steel rims, which will come in quite usefull in Hood River in the winter.

 

Just want to say thanks to all for this site.  It really enhances the experience.

 

Regards,

 

Rob

 

P.S.   the car's name is Ruby Sue.  gotta call her something

 

 

[MilesFox]

Take a look aththe MAF element and clean that. Sea foam the idle air control valve. You can clean the contacts on the TPS.

 

Clean the contacts ont eh engine temp sensor if you have trouble with hot or cold starts.

[RockRobster]

Hi Miles, thanks for the reply,

 

Fortunately, i have no issues with starting, hot or cold.  it idles great, just doesn't want to accelerate smoothly.

 

How does one clean the TPS contacts?