dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Well I must say thanks to all who helped with my situation prior with my egr solenoid and coolant temp sensor, I got those replaced and my 89 gl 2wd wagon has run great for the last two weeks. Last night leaving my shop and heading home she starts to sputter and cough and when I gave it gas it acted as if I was choking it to death(kinda like when you shut your ignition off and give it full-throttle) I was able to coast into the driveway and this morning I have tried unsuccessfully to get 'er going. I have spark, I have gas and the ECU is not sending any codes. Any ideas where to start? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 I would guess that this is really a fuel problem. You could prove it by spraying a small amout of starter fluid into the intake and see if it tries to run when you try to start it. If that doesn't work then I would guess one of the timing belts may have broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 When you turn the car over you can see the fuel spray coming from the injector, and timing belts have less than 500 miles on them and I popped the disty cap off and it turns over whe you crank the car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Roberts Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Any chance you went a while with a mostly empty gas tank? If so you'd have water accumulated there -- condensing from the air inside the tank at night and sinking to the bottom (and each morning the tank is warming up, 'exhaling' and then next evening 'inhaling' more cool damp air). If so some alcohol would help (it mixes with the water, and the mixture will burn instead of killing the engine when it gets sucked through). Just an old coot type guess. It's the argument for trying to always keep the fuel tank close to full when the car's sitting around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 the tank is at 3/4 of 91 octane so I hope it is not bad-gas!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Does it sputter and cough when you try to start it, or just turn over? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 it stalled in an intersection and it sputtered back to life and three blocks later just died, and now it just turns over an over, it is not even acting like it wants to start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 it stalled in an intersection and it sputtered back to life and three blocks later just died, and now it just turns over an over, it is not even acting like it wants to start When it 'sputtered back to life" was it full life, or like it was running on 2 cylinders? Could easily have broken a non-disty-side timing belt. (You said that you had spark, so I assume that the disty-side isn't broken, though it could have skipped/be skipping a tooth. Loose belts after a replacement is not unheard of.) "Almost new" doesn't mean still good... a belt with less than 1000 miles shredded on me, and took part of the oil-pump pulley with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 I concur with Northwet. That was my first thought, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 When it fired back up it was running on all four cyl., when the timing belt broke awhile ago on the non-disty side it would turn over and run but only on two cyl. Thsi time it just cranks away and doesn't want to fire. Maybe a TPS or fuel injector went south? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 TBFI or MPFI? Kind of sounds like lack of fuel pressure, but you said you could see fuel spraying in the throttle body. So, I presume it's TBFI and there's enough fuel pressure to squirt fuel. But, may not be enough to run.Disconnect the fuel line somewhere between the fuel filter and the throttle body and see if you have pressure. Be careful, cuz' it may be pressurized and squirt. If there doesn't appear to be. Try putting the end of the line in a suitable container and turn the key to run. You should hear the fuel pump run and get a good flow into the container. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 It is a SPFI.I disconnected the fuel line at the inlet to the trotthe body and I cranked it over, lots of gas shooting out in like a 2ft spray, So I think it as enough gas, maybe too much?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Do you know if the injector is working or is getting signal to open from the ECU? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 Where should I start to check that, can I meter for power to the injector at the plug coming out of the harness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Yes, you should be able to see some sort of pulsing DC voltage with either an analog or digital meter though I am not sure what the value will be. I think the pulse is a 5 volt pulse but I am not real sure on that, it may be 12 volts. Some folks have made up a NOID light to check this which consists of an LED with a series limiting resistor. The LED will flash with the pulses. You may also want to try measuring the resistance of the injector coil. I think they should be around 12 ohms if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 If it was an injector problem wouldn't it run when fuel is poured in the throttle body though, Cougar? Even though just till that fuel is burned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Yes, it should. That is why I suggested the starter fluid in my first post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 Dislo, have you tried starter fluid or fuel down the intake? WD40 is supposed to work too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dislocated1 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 Well I did the old giggle some wires under the dash trick and she fired up so I must have a short of some kind, somewhere!! It still stumbles real bad when you go from idle to 1/4 throttle then it clears up. So it runs but not great, so I am still lost, but lost when a half-running car now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 If you have a TPS I would try to clean the wiper contacts on it. You may be able to track down the loose connection by tapping on suspected bad areas with a screwdriver handle while the engine is idling and see if things change while you tap on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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