I have a 87 GL wagon 4wd pushbutton Automatic that someone just gave me and im trying to fix it up. A small patch of rust and otherwise great in and out all electrical accesories even work. It has 187000 miles and has sat for a year.

 

OK , heres the problem, it has a hitachi carb which i had to jam my foot on the pedal just to keep it running to get it home. So I got a rebuild kit and rebuilt it, it runs alot better but i cant get it to idle. At speed the car runs great but under 1200 rpms it stalls and surges.

 

I have put new spark plugs and wires in the car, changed the oil/filter and rebuilt the carb. When i rebuilt it i carefully adjusted the float dead on to specs. Timing was checked and was at 20degrees way advanced so I set it back to 8 as it should be. After all this it would start and run but wouldn't idle right under 1500 rpm. Vacuum gauge at 1000rpm reads 10inches of vacuum. So I start checking and repairing vac hoses and accesories and have no leaks in hoses(yes i triple checked every item not wanting to have to tear of the intake manifold). Well as it turns out i ended up tearing it off and replacing the intake manifold gaskets, which helped a little now at 1000rpm it gives me 12 inches of vacuum. At speed(over 1500rpms) i get a nice even 21 unches of vacuum and in all other respects vacuum gauge reads as it should under acceleration and deceleration. I even triple checked the carb to manifold gasket, its not leaking...spraying with carb cleaner yields nothing.

 

Please help, whats next? Advancing timing to 20 degrees helps some but not much. What do i look for next ive looked over every vacuum hose 5 times in this darn thing. Also there is good compression and no oil in water or vice versa so I dont think there is a head gasket gone. Could one side timing belt have slipped and be giving me these sypmtoms?

 

Any other suggestions? I really love this car it goes well in the driveway with the 92 loyale which runs like a champ, they even are the same color but this darn thing has me at wits end right now!

 

Thanks,

bigtrout

Bump! Please give me an idea or two!

remove the egr valve, and put on a block off plate, use a new gasket as a pattern, sounds like how my car runs with the egr valve removed and nothing there

 

check the 4x vac lines

Sounds like you are hot on its trail Done some stuff, had some progress, but overall problem persists. A fresh mind and new angle from taking a day away might help

 

You have done a partial tune up. Complete that tune up with a dist cap and rotor, fuel filter(s), PCV valve, oil and filter... you get the idea

 

I agree with quadruple checking those vacume lines !_! Are you using those wussy old spring clamps on everything? CEL light on? EGR light on?

 

Also how many miles you put on her now? After sitting a year they can just be cranky for a couple hundred miles.

 

Good luck

I have already done the complete tune with a new pcv valve, air/fuel/oil filter, new NGK's and the egr blockoff is already on the car. Ive only put a couple of hundred on the car since it will not idle good enuff to run it as a daily driver unless i would set idle to 1500+ rpm. Should I monkey with the float level? The rebuild kit had generic instructions meaning the float levels given in the kit were not from an 87 car so I used the levels from an 84 as a guide. The only part of a complete tune that was not done was new plug wires. There are no lights on, the egr light was on when I got the car and I reset it...there is no cel light on...this carb is a hitachi NON-feedback.

 

Thanks for the ideas, keep em coming!

 

bigtrout

Any other suggestions? I really love this car it goes well in the driveway with the 92 loyale which runs like a champ, they even are the same color but this darn thing has me at wits end right now!

If you haven't done it yet, I'd give it the full Seafoam treatment (feed four or five ounces into the intake manifold via PCV line, four ounces in fuel tank, four in engine oil). The intake manifold is probably carboned up pretty good, and the fuel tank and lines might be varnished up too. Good luck. Stick with it.

Tank and fuel lines not in bad shape...check

 

PCV valve is new from Subaru...check

 

I already tore the intake manifold off to replace the gaskets...it looked fairly clean and the pathways down to the intake valves looked fairly clean also...it wasn't all carboned up

 

Today i pulled the float bowl just to recheck float not sticking and that idle circuit didnt get something hung in it, it didn't.

 

Could the head gasket be leaking air big time and not anything else??

 

If a timing belt on one side slipped one groove could this do this?

 

 

Thanks for the ideas...the tune-up has it running alot better and on highway it runs great...steering tight...tranny shifts right...just need to get this idle/low vac thing tracked down and ill have a nice daily driver/deer camp car

 

bigtrout

Well im taking a setp back for a few days.

 

I seafoamed the intake manifold, put new plug wires and for the heck of it a coil...kinda a little improved, i can at least drive it now and I can get it to idle at 1100 rpm@15 inches of vacuum...not right yet but its close...maybe the valves are sticking and since i trust it now, ill drive it hard at high revs for a few days and see if that loosens thing up a bit.

 

I'm still looking for suggestions though.

 

Thanks,

bigtrout

Bump! Any experts wanna chime in with a thought or two?

 

I've had and worked on chevy's my entire life until my first Subie a 93 Loyale 2wd 5 speed and I love it, now I wanna fix this wagon for some 4 wheel action!

 

bigtrout