I was playing with the coupe today after work.(the mechanic guy didnt show ..probably didnt have time) I pulled Buckys Battery to toss into the coupe so it would be easier than having to jump her. She started OK but seemed weak.(great now Bucky needs a new battery too) The Voltage guage was reading normal but then you would hear a buzz and it would drop to 8 for a second then jump right up to normal again...about a minute later it would do it ok..I am thinking .OK something is shorting out..but what. Now the whole time she is smoking up a storm but seems to be running smoother. I turn her off for a bit..pull the air cleaner and spare tire and find a completely chewed through wire going to the side of the tranny...OK thats not good..what is that for??

 

So I pull the cap and rotor and clean them off with some sand paper put it back together but leave the air cleaner off. I try to re-start her and slow crank..too slow to start her.. GREAT!!. So I jump out and quickly pull the Battery and toss it back in Bucky and he starts right up like the battery is fully charged??????

 

Then my one neighbor walks over and say that first he has to say he is amazed to see a girl out there working on a car..by herself..And then asked if I saw the smoke come out from around the coil when I tried to start it... I didnt see it cause the hood was up.

 

I looked and found some more chewed wires and 1 disconnected well actually abunch disconnected.. I dont have a clue to where they go..the one I noticed thye most has an O ring connector and attaches to a cylinder type thing (small) right below the the coil.

 

Any Ideas??? I warned ya'll that I would have alot of questions:grin:

First of all, you need to clean all the electrical connections, even to the alternator. The wire to the tranny could be for a temp sensor (AT?). The other wire below the coil is for the RFI and isnt needed at this time (radio frequency interupter, static blocker). Mainly clean all the charging terminals and the grounds and the secondary ignition system (coil, etc)

ok, since I seem to be nearly the only one on the board with an EA81 and still having an 3AT Ill try and answer the AT questions.

 

The wire going to the tranny should be for the electric downshift (if you notice when you push all of the way down on the pedal you will hear the click of a switch). This tells the car that your flooring it and to downshift to the lowest gear.

 

Make sure you dont overfill the tranny even a little bit, makes it act weirder than normal (i.e. slipping when first started etc...), also if you try to put too much fluid in it will dump out of the vent on the top of the tranny, needless to say, very messy.

 

The1982's will eat alternators every few years. Get a lifetime warranty one from your local shucks/autozone. you will also have to do some hinky stuff to get them to fail the stores test when it stops charging the car (easy trick of snapping a wire inside for the brushs(yes I know it sounds underhanded, but if it didnt work in the car, what are you supposed to do)).

 

As to the starting problem, I might have an answer to check symptoms. Try running a starter switch. Basically run a wire fromt he hot side fo the battery to a starter button switch (napa, about $12), and then run the other end of the wire to the top fo the starter where the normal ignition start wire connects. Its a brown clip with a female blade connector on the wire. This trick solved my "dead" battery problem I was having. the normal wires for the job were only passing 11.4 volts, instead of 11.8 or so, which cause me massive starting problems.

 

If you could take a close up pic of the chewed wires, I will then take pics of how my car is and we can compare.

 

Goodluck,

 

 

Alex

sounds like you need to catch that "here lizard lizard" that's eating your car's wires!

Thanks Alex!

 

I have a close up pic in the photo album I posted under "Pics of my Coupe". I am soooooo tempted to do a 5 spd swap but with 32K miles I just can't bring myself to do any mods.

 

I havent even driven this car.its only been home since late Sat night...and with its ill running and smoking it just can't be driven yet. My mechanic friend stopped by late last night and looked at it ..Even he is confused on the smoking but is going to help figure it out (He is just dying to work on an EA81 again)

I am going to re-attach the wire after work today and do a search for more.. I have no clue to how long it has been sitting but I am figuring at least a year or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok, since I seem to be nearly the only one on the board with an EA81 and still having an 3AT Ill try and answer the AT questions.

 

The wire going to the tranny should be for the electric downshift (if you notice when you push all of the way down on the pedal you will hear the click of a switch). This tells the car that your flooring it and to downshift to the lowest gear.

 

Make sure you dont overfill the tranny even a little bit, makes it act weirder than normal (i.e. slipping when first started etc...), also if you try to put too much fluid in it will dump out of the vent on the top of the tranny, needless to say, very messy.

 

The1982's will eat alternators every few years. Get a lifetime warranty one from your local shucks/autozone. you will also have to do some hinky stuff to get them to fail the stores test when it stops charging the car (easy trick of snapping a wire inside for the brushs(yes I know it sounds underhanded, but if it didnt work in the car, what are you supposed to do)).

 

As to the starting problem, I might have an answer to check symptoms. Try running a starter switch. Basically run a wire fromt he hot side fo the battery to a starter button switch (napa, about $12), and then run the other end of the wire to the top fo the starter where the normal ignition start wire connects. Its a brown clip with a female blade connector on the wire. This trick solved my "dead" battery problem I was having. the normal wires for the job were only passing 11.4 volts, instead of 11.8 or so, which cause me massive starting problems.

 

If you could take a close up pic of the chewed wires, I will then take pics of how my car is and we can compare.

 

Goodluck,

 

 

Alex

If you can persuade another local EA81 car of similar vintage to come visit, it should help figure out the wiring. Good luck with it. The HTKYSA disk is on it's way via 1st class mail; I hope it helps.

I bet the smoking is from dry valve seals. After you get it running ok, they should seal up again (hopefully). Maybe a can of carb cleaner will help out, also I would definatly get a can of Seafoam for the tank with some fresh gas.

I am going to get a tune up kit for it this weekend (hopefully) and do some temporary wire fixes (just wrap in electrical tape temp to keep them from shorting)

 

 

The only person in my area who I know has a running daily driver EA81 is Moosens...and he is so busy right now..he needs some time to his family.

Believe me..I really could use someone here to help...But I will keep plugging at it until I get it right....or screw it up more.

I took a break from her today.

I'll try to contact Rory in Danbury.He owned the yellow lifted EA81 wagon that's still around the east coast.