I bought this 89 dx wagon as a work car, and it has a few issues. It has intermittent fast idle, id say about 2000 rpm once fully warm, since I don't have a tac.
Also, it often continues to chug/turn 1-3 times AFTER its been shut off. I assume fuel is still getting in there when it shouldn't.
So I took a look at the carb and there was a bolt just sitting there! I believe its supposed to hold in this arm that comes off the throttle cable. I found a picture on these forums to show where its at:
Can anyone tell me what this arm is doing? because now its totally free and loose and it appears to have a male stub on the end of it for actuating something. There is a squirter of some kind on the far side of it but its hard to get at, I may have to properly take this thing apart to get a better look at it.
But I'd like to know if this could be causing my problems, and how its supposed to be oriented before I start troubleshooting idle levels.
Should this bolt be fully torqued down, or will that not allow it to pivot properly?
I don't know exactly what it does but I think it's like a fuel primer for the carb when step the accelerator. I can provide a picture to help you, I unfortunately (power-wise) have a carb.
But I don't think it'll cause the intermittent fast idle, I have that problem too. Once warm, it sits around 1100 RPM. Then at time, it runs near 2000 RPM but it may go down by itself or I have to tap the gas.
I don't know exactly what it does but I think it's like a fuel primer for the carb when step the accelerator. I can provide a picture to help you, I unfortunately (power-wise) have a carb.
But I don't think it'll cause the intermittent fast idle, I have that problem too. Once warm, it sits around 1100 RPM. Then at time, it runs near 2000 RPM but it may go down by itself or I have to tap the gas.
Right, yea the idle i could live with, its the continued cranking after i shut it off that I'm more worried about. Can't be good for the motor.
Fuel is getting in there somehow after shutoff and I need to stop it.
When I manually push that little pump type thing on the other end of the fuel primer, I smell fuel inside the carb, and I can see it squirt.
I thinks its all related.
Does anyone have a picture of what this area looks like stock without the upper part of the carb on so I can see what it looks like?
Last edited by doublethink; 02-26-2009 at 08:11 PM.
For the dieseling, try adjusting the timing, your idle, and/or running fuel additives to clean the firing chambers (I like Seafoam, good stuff, plumey too). If it's the carb doing that, it means it's rushing too much fuel (too rich) and that extra fuel combusts itself once compressed within the cylinder. Like Ghosty said, it's many things...
And that bolt you're asking about. It should allow that rod to pivot. I just remember; if you floor the gas pedal, the mechanisms will contact the rod you highlighted blue, moving the rod on the pivot point in red, pumping the fuel for the increased fuel necessity... or somewhere along that line. Even with the bolt tight, the rod should still be able to pivot.
The other symptom I forgot to mention is the car is a bit hard to start in the mornings, I'm thinking it might be flooded from some fuel creeping in there overnight, and when I saw this valve that I push and squirts fuel, I figured I had found the culprit. I just hope all this time being loose hasn't damaged it.
Thank you all for the replies. I will fix this rod first, then try other things.
It's a carb. Try pressing the gas once or twice and then crank the engine.
I know that, but these are very long 6-7 second long cranks, 2-3 times, while pumping the gas. Something isn't healthy, if it was 2-3 seconds and a few pumps of the gas I wouldn't mention it.
The car is getting old.... You could replace the carb and a bunch of the wires around for the ignition and such but it'll never be perfect unless you rebuild it. I have had to hit the gas starting it in the cold since I have owned it, part of a carbed car lol. As for it continuing to fire after the ignition is shut off, give it a quick rev and turn the key off while it's around 2000 - 3000 and it won't do it. I find it will start easier the next time as well if you do it.
You sure you have the timing of hitting the gas right? I have a rhythm now but when I first started doing it I found it took longer to get it going with pumping the gas then it does now.
The car is getting old.... You could replace the carb and a bunch of the wires around for the ignition and such but it'll never be perfect unless you rebuild it. I have had to hit the gas starting it in the cold since I have owned it, part of a carbed car lol. As for it continuing to fire after the ignition is shut off, give it a quick rev and turn the key off while it's around 2000 - 3000 and it won't do it. I find it will start easier the next time as well if you do it.
You sure you have the timing of hitting the gas right? I have a rhythm now but when I first started doing it I found it took longer to get it going with pumping the gas then it does now.
Well it could be worse, fast idle is certainly better then stalling.
And I understand it takes a bit of work to get a 20 year old car started, but this is a scary amount of time. I'd like to at least do what I can and if it doesn't improve, I'll deal with it.
I honestly think this squirt valve is broken from being rattled around with engine vibration and nothing holding it properly for a while. This vehicle was female owned before which is both a blessing and a curse. Its immaculate inside and out, and it appears to have never been beaten on, but when I looked under and behind the carb I noticed that bolt literally just sitting there. Its a miracle it didnt fall or I might never have noticed it.
There's no telling how long its been like that, and if its meant to dump fuel in there when you floor it that means when I've been trying to merge on the highway I'm probably running quite lean too.
Does anyone have a scan of the service manual's exploded view of this system? I'd like to take a look at it and familiarize myself with it. I come from a background of 6 different CRX's. Working on 20 year old japanese cars is nothing new to me, but this carb business is like alien to me. I should have waited and picked up one with EFI but this wagon was very clean and the price was right so I figured why not.
Does Helms reprint the factory manuals for these cars?
Mods I've done so far:
1) Repair a short from the factory interior fuse panel to the cigarette lighter
2) Replace the two front 4 inch speakers with pioneers
3) Replace the radio with a single din unit from a 2002 Corolla (god bless 'yota for using the same harness for 2 decades, lol)
This weekend I'm going to sand and paint the rims & center caps flat grey, they havn't aged well.
I know its only a station/work car, but I like to take car of my vehicles.
Also, there are hairline cracks on the positive termial of the battery with that little 3 position fuse holder. If I get a standard positive battery terminal and length of wire can i remount that unit to the drivers side fender? Or will I have problems trying to reuse that panel?
If so, does anyone know which year they stopped putting the fuses directly on the battery like that so I can possibly source a different oem underhood fusepanel?
Thanks again for the responses, sorry for the marathon of questions. =)
-Mike
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