Kiln_Red

Sooty plugs with L-jet is often the result of poor connections at the ignition coil ballast resistors in my experience. Trace the wire leads from the coil to locate the resistors. They are on the left side of the engine bay in front of the coil and almost adjacent to the radiator. It can be kind of tricky to button it all back up after cleaning as it is not in the most convenient location.

Make friends with a Dremel tool for a while. Clean these connections along with all of the ground connections at once. I bet your car will run much smoother.

Bruno DeSousa

im new to these cars and this is a random question but i was just wondering is a bad alternator or bad charging system possibly cause the MAF to not function properly? i have an 1981 928 US L Jet car.. the car runs poorly/rich/low idle/stalls etc.... when i unplug the MAF there is no change in performance.. im assuming the MAF is not working..i also am aware that the cars charging system is not working.. i have to charge the battery all the time.. sooo i was just wondering if the two had anything to do with one and other.. thanks

Mongo

L-Jetronic cars contain a "barn door" type airflow meter (AFM) and not a MAF. Unplugging the meter the car can idle fine on occasion but stall when load is applied.

A good way to see if your AFM is bad is to swap it for a known good one. Based on my reading of this thread, it sounds like the injectors and ignition need to be addressed first.

Mongo

Also these cars have the infamous green wire that goes bad. You may want to inspect its condition as well.

L-Jet cars I find are a lot simpler to work on than the later cars with LH.

Mongo

http://nichols.nu/tips.htm

The link above is very helpful when it comes to troubleshooting.

Bruno DeSousa

maybe im doing it wrong.. ive tried having the spring on the key lock as the picture shows but when i goto slide into the housing it just falls out of place and i cant seem to understand the issue.. but thank you for the response

johncos3777

You should really verify whether or not you have a blown head gasket before doing anything else to the car. That should be your primary goal right now. Otherwise, all this other stuff you are doing is just kind of a waste. Is the coolant level going down? Is your oil level rising?

Bruno DeSousa

thank you.. i normally use basic mineral spirits to degrease parts.. works pretty well and is pretty affordable.. seems like you cant fix one issue on these cars without fixing other issues.. all i wanted to do was remove the alternator for testing and rebuild... now im rewiring the 14 pin harness and chasing an oil leak.. haha.. ive contemplated pulling the motor and just going over everything.. seems easier in the grand scheme of things..