Welcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are features you can't use and images you can't see. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: Join our community! |
| New to Metro - Need Help | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 27 2012, 04:38 PM (775 Views) | |
| eabooher | Apr 27 2012, 04:38 PM Post #1 |
|
New Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Help please! Just bought a 2000 Metro with the 1.0. I knew it had some issues when we bought it so I'm now trying to sort it out. OK, here goes. It starts up and will run fine ago down the road at 65 - 70 ok. Problem is it is VERY sluggish when starting off in particular. I know its a 1.0 which by definition isn't going to be quick but it doesn't want to rev even in neutral. You can floor it and it just basically bogs out for 5 or 6 seconds then slowly revs then picks up like I would expect. Acts the same way when starting from a stop. When I got home and shut it off it wouldn't restart. Did fine restarting 5 or 6 times when testing it out. Compression came up on all 3 cylinders and held, plugs look good with no sign of fouling. Can't see any oil burning or smell it. I though it was maybe a fuel filter as when I put some gas in the carb it hit, sputtered and died. Eventually it restarted and drove again. I understand that the timing is not adjustable. I hear the fuel pump running so I don't think that is it. From what I understand, the fuel filter is part of the fuel pump. Is this correct? Dealer can't get pump/filter anymore nor carb/throttlebody. Auto parts houses don't have carbs either from what I can find. What I am asking is, first, has anyone had a similar problem and what if anything fixed it? Second, where do you guys get parts for these cars if they are discontinued? Thanks in advance, Eric |
![]() |
|
| Bad Bent | Apr 27 2012, 06:46 PM Post #2 |
|
Facetious Educated Donkey
![]()
|
Welcome to your new forum, eabooher! My first thought was catalytic converter. You can test it with a gauge with Clogged Catalytic Converter or you can disconnect the Cat. pipe at the exhaust manifold (2 bolts w/springs), start it and see if it is better. Loud but better and you can wire off the pipe and test drive it if you wish. What was the compression? Should be greater than 156 psi, warm engine, throttle open all the way, fuel pump relay disconnected. So if you put gas in the carb, and it runs better (or do I read that wrong? ) let's call it a Throttle Body (TB) because it's fuel injected... then you can look at cleaning the Fuel Injector or changing the fuel filter. You can disconnect the fuel inlet line at the TB, insert it in a gallon container and start the engine to see if you have food flow or you can "T" a pressure gauge at the hose/TB connection and see exactly what the pressure is. Report back the pressure if you do.Another simple thing is to look in the throat of the TB and see if you can see a nice cone spray from the injector. Also check the wiring as it might be an intermittent short. Here is a thread on Fuel Injector Cleaning. or you can get one from a junk yard and clean it. Perhaps sen it to http://geometroforum.com/topic/4247660/1/ for cleaning. Also at http://www.gmpartsgiant.com they have one for $334.53 so test it and clean it first. From Diagrams 98-01. The simple injector cleaner is either Seafoam or Chevron Techron (ingredients may have changed lately) in the tank. Hope that helps, check back for more suggestions. |
![]() |
|
| eabooher | Apr 27 2012, 10:09 PM Post #3 |
|
New Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Thanks for the response. The compression was right at 152 in all three cylinders but I didn't open the throttle, can try that tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of TBI, I've always considered it a glorified carburetor but understand the difference. I'm going to start working through alot of the stuff you mentioned, thanks for the suggestions, I was just hoping that there may have been a weak link common to these that caused these symptoms that several folks would say, oh yeah, I had that happen and this is what it is. Doesn't look like it will be that simple. I did loosen the two bolts on the distributor and turned it clockwise and a good deal of the sluggishness went away. It felt like not enough timing and like it isn't advancing enough. It seems to be starting fine right now. Whenever I put gas in the car. Is suspect that something in the fuel system is dirty or clogged. That is why I started looking into TB rebuild kits and remanufactured units but was disturbed when no one including the Stealership had them. I'll check the cat but the guy I bought it from said he had it checked and everything else he had told me has checked out but his mechanic may or may not have checked it. Like I said, I was hoping maybe there was a common problem with a standard fix but it sounds like it may just be the slow process of running it down one step at a time. THanks again and if there are any other ideas, I all ears. |
![]() |
|
| Bad Bent | Apr 28 2012, 12:21 AM Post #4 |
|
Facetious Educated Donkey
![]()
|
"I did loosen the two bolts on the distributor and turned it clockwise and a good deal of the sluggishness went away. It felt like not enough timing and like it isn't advancing enough. It seems to be starting fine right now." This is good information. How old is the timing belt? It may be stretched and jumped a tooth. It will take loosening the Alt. , removing the water pump and crank pulleys to get to the belt cover and then aligning the crank sprocket/mark and cam gear/mark. That is likely. Many of us have put the belt on one tooth off. Timing Belt Replace/Repair Well, in the fuel delivery I have not read to many 2000 fuel pumps going bad so that is why I suggest testing the pressure at the TB. It could be a clogged line. But it may not be starving for fuel. If it's not an errant spark, bad plug wires, clogged vacuum hose (MAP?) or bad plugs it could be running rich as in bad CTS. Another item to check is the Throttle Position Sensor. The TPS could have been messed with or it is simply out of calibration. I would speculate that if the ISC motor was acting up or the plug wires were old and the idle was a little rough that a mechanic might change the Throttle Stop Screw (Allen screw) to up the idle and that changes the TPS . Those discussions are Factory Preset Idle Speed Set Screw and TPS Report. As for someone having the same problem you are probably correct but it hasn't been 12 hours since the thread started and so for you are stuck with moi.
|
![]() |
|
| Woodie | Apr 28 2012, 06:25 AM Post #5 |
![]()
|
Bad Bent just said what I was going to say, timing belt is off one tooth. If you got 152 straight across without opening the throttle, then your compression is okay/good. It's the 98-01 FOUR CYLINDERS that don't have an ignition timing adjustment. Your three cylinder is normally timed at about the center point in the slot. Turning it halfway between there and the end of the slot in the clockwise direction, is a good mod for any Metro three cylinder. ![]() But it shouldn't be necessary in order to get it to run right. If your timing belt is installed with the cam one tooth retarded, then turning the distributor clockwise will help get the ignition timing back closer to where it should be, but it still will have retarded valve timing. |
![]() |
|
| eabooher | Apr 28 2012, 07:33 AM Post #6 |
|
New Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Thanks again guys. Here is a little more history the last owner gave me that I should have passed along but didn't think to. Timing belt, plugs wires, cap, rotor, and battery were all replaced in the past 10K miles. A mechanic did the work but that doesn't mean he may have missed aligning the gears by a tooth. I'll take a look at it, it's definately a likley candidate. I haven't had a lot of time with it yet as I haven't had it 24 hours yet. |
![]() |
|
| Memphis metro | Apr 28 2012, 07:39 AM Post #7 |
![]()
|
Remove, timing cover and align crank gear timing mark straight up with the mark on the block and then see if the cam gear timing mark is straight up to the cam cover notch. If indeed the timing belt is not slipped or has broken cogs then put a timing light on it and adjust the distributor to the correct posistion. This will for sure illuminate timing issues and you can look further then. I prefer to remove my timing covers and knotch them out and run without the cover for ease but mod the mark so I can still check the timing. If you find any issues between the timing marks you might also look at the crank gear bolt as well. Some have issues with them getting loose and wobbiing out the slot in the crank. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Engine Tech & Diagnostics · Next Topic » |


Welcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.


![]](http://z3.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)




) let's call it a Throttle Body (TB) because it's fuel injected... then you can look at cleaning the Fuel Injector or changing the fuel filter. You can disconnect the fuel inlet line at the TB, insert it in a gallon container and start the engine to see if you have food flow or you can "T" a pressure gauge at the hose/TB connection and see exactly what the pressure is. Report back the pressure if you do.
Also check the wiring as it might be an intermittent short. 

7:47 PM Jul 10