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91 metro sluggish
Topic Started: Apr 19 2011, 11:30 AM (1,079 Views)
bourmanr
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Hey all, the ol metro is sluggish on take off, loss of power to, just wondering when is it a good time to change the plugs, cap and rotor? It has 72,000 original miles on it, i put new plugs in at 65,000, but i think they were the dredded champion plugs, i know they are crap from the get go, but its all they had... any way thinking about placing an order on rockauto.com, seems to be reasonable there. But back to as what would cause this, I seafoamed it about 600 miles ago, and it just started diong it about a week ago, havent drove it since though, dont dare, I know when it started to happen it would not start, almost like it was flooded, must cranked it over for a good 6 minutes before it took off, then it just stared and stumbled then ran to where i needed to go, got home shut her off, and went to ga to work and it would hardly move...dosent sound like its missing at all, any and all help greatly appreciated!! Bob
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snowfish
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Basic GearHead

72,000 miles, on a 91, could very well be 172,000. With the 5 digit odo, it's hard to tell. Logically 72k, over 20 years, is 3600 miles per year. Questionable at best.

Time to compression test and see where you're at. Could be time for a refresh.
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mcmancuso
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:+1 on the compression test
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Bad Bent
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Facetious Educated Donkey

Since it took 6 minutes for it to start, I'd be looking at compression, and the wires on the starter for corrosion, mainly clean the tab/wire on the solenoid. Apparently it takes a lot of cranking to get compression up. At the same time the plugs may not be firing well and needed to dry out. Gas pedal to the floor adds more air of course.

The distributor cap and rotor may need cleaning which would help with the spark. So Maybe a new dist. cap and rotor, plugs, maybe even plug wires if you need to increase your RockAuto bill. :-/

I suspect my '91 is turning over 200,000 pretty soon, and not 100K. :rasp
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bourmanr
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It only has 72,000 original miles on it, I personally know the family that bought it new, it was an old lady that bought it origanlly to drive to the post office once a week in arizona, she sold it to her grand kid in 2005, here in minnesota, and he lives in town, he drove it to school which was only about 7 blocks one way, and i bought it in 2008 and have drove it off and on now since, did have the auto in it but it went south so i put a 5 speed in it. But yeah i know for a fact it only has 72,000 miles on it...Bob
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bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

Nothing like a car you know the history on :thumb
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snowfish
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Basic GearHead

:+1 on knowing the history! Nice find! This baby sounds mint. Some pics would entertain us quite well. :thumb

I agree with New Cap, Rotor, Wires, & Plugs (NGK V-Power) Could very well wake it up nicely.

You're obviously skilled, tenacious, and knowledgeable :news to have swapped in the 5 Speed. Then we don't have to remind you of the value of a compression test. :coffee

Would be interesting to see the results. :popcorn
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bourmanr
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just came in from running a dry compression test on it, #1 cyl was at 190, #2 cyl was at 190, and #3 cyl was at 170, dont know what they are supposed to be though, but it seems that that is about rite...Bob
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mcmancuso
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150 is factory manual minimum, 90 is absolute minimum, 200-210 is new.
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snowfish
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Basic GearHead

Wife's 93 is 165 across the boards. Burns about 1/2 quart in 3000 miles. Runs great. 40-45mpg winter with snowie's on. We can live with that. :thumb

Scrub it down & let it buck! Congrats! :cheers
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Mikey9999
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Delusionally qualified

These distributor caps wear out faster than most other cars. I would replace cap, rotor, wires, and spark plugs. Your wires may have "only" 72k miles but they're still old. You can get OEM parts for around $60. Order from RockAuto or Amazon, and it doesn't matter what your local store has.

OEM plugs NGK, wires Denso, cap/ rotor IDK (I Don't Know)
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bourmanr
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I did notice that when i pulled the plugs on it #1 was still soaked in gas, so im assuming that that is the prob with it, flooded and just didnt come back alive, i regapped them, when dad and i put them in he didnt bother to gap them, yeah they was gapped to 70-100 thou, way to big of a gap, surprised that it even ran as long as it did, took it for a drive after that and it did good, but the parts are on order though gonna put them in as soon as i get em, i did take and use a butane torch on the one plug to dry it off, wire wheel on bench grinder to clean them all, regapped em all and seemed to help, but yeah it is getting new stuff asap!
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bourmanr
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well i drove it to work yesterday, and seemed fine, that was about 50 mile round trip, parts are on order though cause i know its time to replace them, plugs were ac delco, dont know if they are recomended or not, but i am going to put the ngk in it...Bob
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