Kuroki924

Trying the 1500-2000 method now. I got it to sit at 1500, and throttle response right now climbs very sharply but falls very slowly.

Kuroki924

Just noticed a constant, light stream of whitish smoke coming out of the exhaust as well. Thoughts?

thomasmryan

does the flap move smoothly in the fuel distributor? I think there are two O-rings on the plunger .

morghen

If the response is sluggish that's usually evident of a lean mixture, try adding a bit more fuel by turning the CIS mixture screw clockwise 20-30deg. Then take it back to 950rpm and see how it behaves there.

Every once in a while go for a short drive and check one of the spark plugs for color, you're looking for full brown, white or light brown is too lean, black is too rich.

If you cant get it adjusted it may be that you need to rebuild the fuel distributor head...but usually that's not the case.

Unless the exhaust fumes smell sweet (glycol) you have nothing to worry about.

Kuroki924

So here's where I'm at:
My dad and I disconnected and took off the fuel distributor, but we didn't take it apart, as I'm not entirely confident in doing so without breaking something. But the o ring that the distributor assembly sits on top of was good, as well as the gasket. The piston/plunger in the center of the distributor was free of any surface imperfections, as well as the sleeve it fits into. We also noticed that the two middle bolts that hold the air sensor plate housing down were missing. (Been like that since I bought the car) Could this have been an issue? We found bolts that fit and put them in so it's completely fastened now, but I've been driving the car for a year now and it hasn't caused me any problems. I want to believe the mixture is absolutely the issue here, but my whole situation began after it had rained. The car had been running beautifully for a couple weeks until it rained, then the idle problems came, so my first thought was ignition. I've checked every ignition component from the coil to the plugs as well as the idle stabilizer, and everything was in check so I've since ruled that out (Let me know if you have any thoughts toward this). And I know there are no vacuum leaks, as I've checked all the hoses and every injector o ring is good, as well as the holders they're threaded into. I'm sure my mixture is definitely off since I've tried adjusting it in an attempt to correct the idle, but I feel that something else may be causing this, I'm just not sure what.

morghen

Get it as good as you can, as close to perfect as you can and start driving it...it will make a difference.

Kuroki924

Well I took your advice (And a shot in the dark) and drove it around the block after getting the idle as close to good as I could get it (About 950rpms, running at least smooth enough not to shake but still not perfect). Throttle response was still sluggish and sputtery but I figured I'd give it a go. It wanted to die every time I tried to take off, almost going completely silent as soon as I let the clutch out. It would keep going with just a little bit more gas (I never floored it or got anywhere close for that matter) but was running very hard, enough to shake the steering wheel from about 1200-2500 rpms. Throttle blips were very slow and sputtery too (I usually push the clutch in and blip the throttle every once in a while on drives just to get a sense of throttle input and just because it looks/sounds cool) but the car never backfired or spit anything out of the exhaust, nor did it ever smell excessively rich or oily.

morghen

Then its running lean
Do really check again for vacuum leaks...do the smoke test...it may be you have a cracked hoose somewhere that lets air be drawn in around the CIS plate so its not adding enough fuel.