MikeinBloomfield

I finally got my injectors back on. I had taken them off because one was leaking and I wanted to get clamps on both ends. So they are back on, and not leaking.

However, the car is running very very rough. I had to turn the idle screw up very high to keep it from stalling. Idle is very rough. Above idle, car runs great. Pulls very well. Its definitely not running on 7 cylinders.

I think its my Air Flow Meter because when I start the car without plugging it into the sensors, it runs the same. Car idles marginally better after idling for a while. In other words, warm or cold, at start the idle is very low but after a minute it gets better, although very rough.

Just to eliminate other stuff: Temp sensors are two years old. I had a spare injector relay, so I swapped that in. Fuel pump relay is 6 months old or so. Check the grounds at the valve cover (cleaned it just in case) and the ground wire underneath. Seems fine. And like I said, car pulls really well at speed. Just complaining at idle.

So what's my next step? How do I test? I have seen that refurb involves taking it apart and moving where the pointer tracks. If I can confirm that its the AFM, I'm just as happy getting a rebuilt one. The cover on the allen screw that allows you to set mixture is missing. So the PO was messing with it at some point.

Thanks for you help.

MikeinBloomfield

Hey, just an update. Car is running slightly better, but it still won't idle unless I let the screw out. Still running very rough. When it starts it is a really slow idle, after 3 or 4 minutes it climbs. Never smoothes out though. It almost exactly the opposite of what it was doing when when it was running properly. On cold start the idle should be high, then get lower.

I am thinking in addition to the AFM, it may be a big vacuum leak, but I am at a loss as to where that would be. Opening the barn door with a ratchet extension makes the car idle higher, to a point. If i keep opening it it attempts to stall again.

I am curious about the "caps" the car should have on the throttle body. Missing these apparently cause a big vacuum leak. Where exactly are these located? Attached is a pic of the rear of my throttle body. Everything seems connected, except for the big port at the bottom which looks closed.

Please weigh in. I'm at the limit with my knowledge on this one.

Thanks in advance.

MikeinBloomfield

After I posted I realized where they were. They don't look too bad, but I haven't tried to take them off yet. The one on the top appears the worst, but I think that's just dust.

MikeinBloomfield

For anyone doing a search on this, here's the update: bad AFM as I suspected. I'd suggest anyone having problems keeping your car idling to have this tested, at least.

I got supremely lucky in that a salvage yard an hour away had a used one for sale super cheap. It was worth it just to eliminate it as a problem. I got pretty excited when I saw that the cover on the adjustment screw were still intact. In my mind, that increased the chances it came off a car that was running well until its accident or whatever.

So fitted it, car fired right up and idle shot to the moon (because I had turned it way up to get it to idle). Still running a little rough, but I attribute that to the new AFM possibly needing adjustment.

Current plan is to have the old AFM sent out for rebuild. Once it comes back and is running properly I can keep the junkyard one as a spare or sell it for twice what I bought it.

Ducman82

the caps are for the Decel valve on manual cars, caps are cheap enough. you are getting closer! keep us updated.

hb253

Mike,

What salvage yard would that be? It may come in handy in the future....

Hugo

MikeinBloomfield

Hey hb253. It was Beacon Salvage in Beacon NY.

Not sure I am out of the woods. Although it idles, its really rough. Ordered caps and new AFM o-ring from Roger.