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I have a 1983 NA automatic with 147K thats a little rough around the edges, It runs and drives but not well and I'm looking for some overall general guidance. Here Is what I know about the car, according to the paperwork a water pump and timing kit was put in 2016 and only has 3500 miles on it, the thermostat has just been replaced, the cooling fans do no operate correctly (in my opinion), I have to pull the relay out from under the glove box to make them stop, the hvac only works on high, the AC does not work, I did a compression test and all four cylinders came in at 140 and it appears to have had oil in the coolant at some point in its past as the inside of the expansion tank looks a little black in areas. I want to focus on making it run well first ... it idols ok and kind of smooth but if I blip the throttle it accelerates fine but seems to stumble to a quick second to find idol again... any ideas? or is this just normal
I'm sure others will correct me if I am wrong, but I think the stumble on deceleration just before idle is a common issue that's particular to American-bound models. It has to do with the DME programming...an emissions thing. If you fitted a European DME it wouldn't do that, As for your radiator fan, when you shut down the engine, ONE of the fans MAY run at a low speed for a while, if the engine is hot enough. That is normal. If BOTH fans are running all the time with the engine on or off, regardless of engine temperature, you may have a bad fan switch in the radiator, or a bad relay. I set about replacing every relay on my 924S' relay/fuse panel for preventative maintenance and found a got a bad factory fan relay, new out-of-the-box. Regarding the HVAC fan only running on high speed, which fan are you talking about? These cars are unusual in that they have two, one 'fresh air' blower in the cowl, operated by **** to the left of your temperature sliders, and an AC blower which sits in the 'AC box' underneath the glove box. But honestly, a failure for either one would probably be the same cause-the resistor. For the fresh air blower it's in front of the blower motor itself on the cowl, underneath a plastic screen/cover. That resistor is sold as a harness that plugs in up underneath the dash. I think it would be a pain to replace because the plastic screen is held on by this weird sticky, gooey stuff instead of screws or something. The resistor for the AC blower is mounted in the AC box and likely could only be replaced by removing the AC box itself. It's not as difficult as it sounds-beats pulling the evaporator box out of a late model any day!
While I wish that I could say here's your trouble and what you should do about it, I can't. But I can point you towards Clark's Garage should you not know about it. Click Garage Manual, scroll down for the likely suspects or head directly to the bottom where you'll find a trouble-shooting list.
I would guess the black in the expansion tank is aluminium oxide, not oil. If the coolant isn't changed often enough the corrosion inhibitors get used up and the block starts to internally corrode a bit.
(If it's oil discolouration it'll be at the top water line; aluminium oxide would be at the bottom.)
There is a great deal of debate about the years vs. miles when it comes to the timing belt, but I would think that if yours was changed five years ago, you might want to consider doing this soon... .and you can then check out the oil cooler, seals and general front end engine condition. Hopefully, all is well but this might be a good opportunity to do some checking....
I'm sure others will correct me if I am wrong, but I think the stumble on deceleration just before idle is a common issue that's particular to American-bound models. It has to do with the DME programming...an emissions thing. If you fitted a European DME it wouldn't do that,
Hmmm.... thats an intersting!
As for your radiator fan, when you shut down the engine, ONE of the fans MAY run at a low speed for a while, if the engine is hot enough. That is normal. If BOTH fans are running all the time with the engine on or off, regardless of engine temperature, you may have a bad fan switch in the radiator, or a bad relay.
Both fans stay on high speed then the primary fan (drivers side) shuts off and the high-speed fan stays on, I already replaced the thermoswitch.
I set about replacing every relay on my 924S' relay/fuse panel for preventative maintenance and found a got a bad factory fan relay, new out-of-the-box.
I like this idea
Regarding the HVAC fan only running on high speed, which fan are you talking about? These cars are unusual in that they have two, one 'fresh air' blower in the cowl, operated by **** to the left of your temperature sliders, and an AC blower which sits in the 'AC box' underneath the glove box. But honestly, a failure for either one would probably be the same cause-the resistor. For the fresh air blower it's in front of the blower motor itself on the cowl, underneath a plastic screen/cover. That resistor is sold as a harness that plugs in up underneath the dash. I think it would be a pain to replace because the plastic screen is held on by this weird sticky, gooey stuff instead of screws or something. The resistor for the AC blower is mounted in the AC box and likely could only be replaced by removing the AC box itself. It's not as difficult as it sounds-beats pulling the evaporator box out of a late model any day!
As for the fresh air blower and AC blower I think I will tackle these once I get the motor running the way I think it should
These are all good bits of information, as neglected as this car has been it is still too good to be a parts car....here I go chasing rabbits again
These items are on my list of to-do's, given the condition of the car I will feel better when I know the work is fresh... my wife calls me a control freak...lol
06-04-2021, 12:42 AM
1983 944 NA Help
