im baffle! help!

[ethangsmith]

ok, recently my car has been running terribly. the thing that i note the most is when you first start it, it wants to stall. the cold idle for that car is supposed to be at 2200 but it only gets to about 1400 and it begins burning super rich. could this be caused by too thick of an oil? i have 4 quarts of 10w40 and 1 quart of lucas oil in it. could the cold oil be bogging it down that badly. also, it sometime (the engine) seems to vibrate a little after long periods of driving. also, the idle is rough once and a while. could this be bad gas or water/ice in the gas and carb??? i figure it isnt a vacuum leak due to the car running fine most of the time and the idle being smooth 90% of the time. i will try drygas to see if that helps but what about the cold stalling??? is my oil too thick, is my egr not closing, or something else. why does it burn so rich while its in cold idle? any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

thank you,
ethan smith

[V6DR]

well its definitely not the oil. how is your tfi? i know i'm currently having problems with mine due to the cold,once it gets warmed up its ok. dry gas is always a good idea in winter try that.

[ethangsmith]

can the tfi get bad like that in cold weather? i know it gets funny when its hot. well, like i said earlier, it occasionaly idles poorly and it wont get into high idle until you start it when its warm. when it is cold, it wants to drop into hot idle the second you hit the gas instead of stay around 1200rpm until the engine warms up. the cylinders click (lean mix or timing prob???) around 2000 rpm under light acceleration too when its cold. i think i can rule out a vacuum leak because it does idle well after its warmed up most of the time. this spring im going to replace every inch of the vacuum hose, tighten the intake gaskets, get a trans. flush/fill and vacuum modulator, new spark plugs, and clean the egr valve. it should run like a billion bucks (or 1200 bucks :roll: ) after that!!!

[V6DR]

what i'm experiencing is the car will idle at about 250 rpms,until i hit the gas a few times, then it will idle but shake and vibrate. when i try to go it has a miss, and the rpms don't climb like they should. i had the gas to the floor, missing missing missing, all the way up to 3500 rpms and it just stayed there,then i let off the gas. dry gas didn't help me.

[jazzcat2001]

MINE DOES THE SAME DAMN THING!!! ive been blaming it on the fact that i have less than 100 horsepower...you ever get the thing when you shift(manual or auto?) and the car is at or around 2000rpms the whole thing shakes violently? that is one of the reasons why i hate my coupe

[ethangsmith]

i have the beloved 3 speed automatic in mine. if your car shakes like that you may have cracked or loose engine/transmission mounts or damaged suspension components along with your vacuum modulator (if it has one- im not sure) on your transmissions may be shot. so you have the cold engine stalling too????

[jazzcat2001]

i have the beloved 3 speed automatic in mine. if your car shakes like that you may have cracked or loose engine/transmission mounts or damaged suspension components along with your vacuum modulator (if it has one- im not sure) on your transmissions may be shot. so you have the cold engine stalling too????

takes a coupe starts for it to get it going...ill look into the mounts on that thing..i have already replaced all the vacuum hoses on this pos..transmission is in good shape still but im going to look at the mounts soon as it stops raining...car has a full 87-93 gt suspension waiting in the garage to go on

[ethangsmith]

well, as much as the 2.3l engines can be slower than frozen molasses goin up a hill in january and, yes, they can be picky sometimes- they run for a heck of a long time and when they do run right, they run smooth and you get good gas mileage. that and parts are cheap and easily had!

[V6DR]

the 2.3L gets a bad rap because most people who had them neglected them ensuring an early demise. it is actually a durable engine that saw a long production life.

[ethangsmith]

amen to that!

[Evil86lx]

They also like boost... Their are a whole bunch of 2.3ts out their making 400hp...

To bad i wanna keep my GT Turbo fairly stock.. I really wanna turn the wick up on her and go chasing imports and slomaro's. but i wanna keep the mods to a minimum on that car...

kyle

[jazzcat2001]

They also like boost... Their are a whole bunch of 2.3ts out their making 400hp...

To bad i wanna keep my GT Turbo fairly stock.. I really wanna turn the wick up on her and go chasing imports and slomaro's. but i wanna keep the mods to a minimum on that car...

kyle

not carb'ed or i would already be boosted :cry: time for a motor swap

[V6DR]

i put a hot rag on my tfi after letting the car sit 3 days in the cold,and then i started the car and it did not exhibit the symptoms i described above.
looks like i'll be getting a new tfi.that one lasted me 3 years.