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| Won't run after cleaning engine | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 25 2013, 04:38 PM (670 Views) | |
| John84gn | May 25 2013, 04:38 PM Post #1 |
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Fresh Fish
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Hey all. First post here...I searched and couldn't find what I was looking for. Just cleaned the metro up today and I pressure washed the engine. When I went to drive it, it idles fine, but when I give it gas it falls on its face and then just kicks in again. If I hold the linkage under the air cleaner at a constant, it just revs and dies, revs and dies. It doesn't stall, just like it won't take fuel all of a sudden. If I cut the car off and restart it, it'll rev up as far as I let it but when the idle drops and I hit the gas again, same issue. It just revs (to about 1000rpm) and falls off again. What the heck? Car ran great prior to this... '89 xfi John |
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| Memphis metro | May 25 2013, 05:35 PM Post #2 |
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Start with removing the distributor cap and blowing it out good with compressed air. |
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| Scoobs | May 25 2013, 06:24 PM Post #3 |
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:D
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sounds just like you got water into your distributor cap
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| John84gn | May 25 2013, 07:43 PM Post #4 |
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Fresh Fish
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I started with the distributor...took it off and sprayed some wd40 in it to rid it of water. I also left the car facing the sun, hood up, for about 2 hours. Tried it again, exact same symptoms. |
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| dayle1960 | May 25 2013, 07:46 PM Post #5 |
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Fastest Hampster EVER
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Look closely at all of the vacuum hoses. Maybe you have one that came loose. Also look for loose wires. Maybe even try to brighten up all of the negative wire ends. The metro has weird problems which happens when ground wires get rusted or loosened. Any wire which is black, pull it off and clean the fastening side of it. |
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| Deleted User | May 25 2013, 07:49 PM Post #6 |
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Deleted User
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You got water in something related to the ignition system. Blow out the distributor and distributor cap with compressed air. If you don't have compressed air, use paper towels and/or Q-Tips to remove moisture. There may be moisture under the spark plug wire boots at the spark plugs, distributor, or coil. Been there done that. Got a new distributor cap seal from NAPA. |
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| Memphis metro | May 25 2013, 08:43 PM Post #7 |
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You might try removing the air filter as well. Sometimes they can get soaked and hinder airflow. |
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| cwatkin | May 26 2013, 11:01 PM Post #8 |
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I guess pressure washing the engine bay is bad news for our cars. I did this and it ran funny. I literally didn't have to give it gas to go down the road. The idle was racing and surging so I think I got something related to the TPS wet. It got slightly better over a few days and returned to normal not long later. I was cleaning up an area to treat rust but won't be doing it this way again. Give it a few days and try driving it if you can. The heat from the engine may help. Conor |
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| 91 ragtop | May 26 2013, 11:32 PM Post #9 |
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I tape plastic bags over the dist,coil and especially the tps whenever I have to wash an engine. Ken....... |
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| JellyBeanDriver | May 26 2013, 11:50 PM Post #10 |
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Going to pressure wash mine tomorrow but mostly just the transmission in preparation for it's disassembly. |
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| shaydetree | May 27 2013, 05:29 PM Post #11 |
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New Member
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Just got through doing mine the other day at the local DIY pressure carwash. I anticipated wetting the distributor, so I picked up some wd40 & paper towels on the way Even after drying everything it ran a bit rough for the 25 minutes or so, but straightened out quickly from there. The weird thing is my alternator started working a lot better, though I still plan on installing a cs130 alt when time/finances permit. |
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| John84gn | May 28 2013, 11:23 PM Post #12 |
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Fresh Fish
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Ok, update... So I haven't driven the car since Saturday. Figured I'd let it sit knowing that it HAS to be water that got into something. Just to be on the safe side and to rule out the obvious; aside from wd- 40ing the distributor cap, I bought some di-electric grease and did all the spark plug wires. The plug ends, and the cap ends. Also did the coil. Car fired right up just like last time, only this time it works perfect! Just like before! I guess water did get into something, just don't know what, and that it needed some time to just dry out. Although now when I come to a stop after driving for a little bit, it has a high idle. When I got the car back to the house I did some "tapping" on some things and when I tapped on the TPS sensor, idle dropped down where it's supposed to be... Coincidence??? Thanks for the responces guys... John |
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