Eric: I have a few questions and some suggestions. I haven't examined
the alfabb posts so I apologize for any redundant suggestions....
Q1) Where are you grabbing the engine to "rock" it?
Q2) Can you run the engine with the idle air controller disconnected?
(maybe after it's warm?)
Suggestion 1) Your issue may be due to the idle air controller. Its
Bosch 2-pin connector retainers will have broken by now and have perhaps
not been replaced (like my cars' broken connectors are still broken).
This leaves the IAC power in a questionable state. One son drives a
'93L and was having intermittent stalls upon stopping. We swapped out
the IAC with a spare and things are working now.
Suggestion 2) you should look over your distributor cap. I've had them
break in funny (ouch) ways, and if you're stressing the cap when
"rocking" the engine, you may be affecting where the spark goes. I've
seen one 164 distributor rotor which lost its nose, and the spark was
being delivered to the contacts by a bit of fiberglas fluff that
remained in place. I still marvel over that one.
Suggestion 3) Do a leak check with brake fluid or starter fluid around
the plenum area while the car is running. You may find something of
interest.
Suggestion 4) I've seen oddball failures of spark plug wires in the
final plug boot, as well as problems due to oil filling the plug wells.
Well, I've heard of the full plug well problem.... What happens is that
the oil gets crudded up with carbon via sparking and becomes conductive
enough to draw off the spark. If your plug well isn't -quite' overfull,
you might have an orientation-dependent (or accel/decel dependent)
shorting out of a plug.
Suggestion 5) You might have a fuel pump problem or a fuel pressure
regulator problem. Applying strain to the regulator might change the
fuel pressure and thus the mixture. The mixture could also change if
you're bumping the little vacuum hose connecting the manifold vacuum to
the regulator, too.
Remember: everything's connected.
Michael
Eric wrote:
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:30:53 -0500
From: Eric <[email protected]>
Subject: [alfa] 164 issue - John Hertzman's car is behaving strangely
I've been seeking help on 'another network' as it were. In that world, it
seems to be expected that a man named Steve who lives Virginia will solve any
and all 164 problems. I like Steve but he seems to be a busy chap.
So I'll present this issue here to the huge lurker population which was proven
last month (or was it in November?). Perhaps someone may have some insights on
an odd problem I'm having...
[The following is pasted from a post I made to the AlfaBB or somesuch. The
"lack-of-codes" issue mentioned in PP1 is exactly that: push the square button
in the manner defined by Fred DeMeteo and nothing happens...no slow flash, no
codes, nothing. The button switch has been tested OK, the CEL lights up along
with the rest of the lights when the "TEST" button is pressed, and the
'service connector' on the passenger side has been tried.]
The lack-of-codes issue is tabled in favor of the actual problem where the
engine 'surges' -- revs up while idling. (To the extent that you need to be
sure that you're applying full brakes if you're in gear.)
This is the weird part: if I pull the engine forwards (towards the nose), the
idle drops to 'barely running'. If I push the engine rearward, it revs.
Sometimes it seems to do the opposite.
This is an early '91. No rubber between the plenum and right (rear) valve
cover. While the car is 20 years old, it has only 64K miles on it. The problem
is most obvious when just started or when cold.
I've poked, prodded and disassembled most of the air intake system (to include
the oil separator, idle stabilizer and main air intake). It all looks good --
no cracks or sloppy connections.
Spark is good too. I've reseated all the plug wires on both ends plus the
coil.
If this were a 105 car, the geometry between the chassis and the engine with
regard to the accelerator pedal or choke might be an issue. But the 164 uses
modern cables which aren't affected by the engine position.
Has anyone seen anything like this?
[End of AlfaBB post.]
My experience has been that the Digesti give a bit more thought to things
before answering. Please take your time, think about experiences, phone a
friend, etc. I would very much appreciate your observations.
Thank you in advance,
- - Eric Hambleton, Marietta, GA
Current stable: 1991 164 base - 1976 Spider - 1984 Cadillac Coupe De Vile (3rd
generation owner - Grandpa bought it new in Naples, FL) - 2009 Mazda RX8 R3
------------------------------
--
to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
