84 22R-E Rough running No power

[Super-D-38]

Hello all.

My 84 Celica GT-S was parked for about 3 months, randomly started and moved..
The First day out it ran fine. The next morning, however, the car had No power and ran so rough I had to pull over to let other cars pass.

I replaced the fuel filter, checked the cap and rotor, put new plug wires in. (plugs are about a year old) .. Found that the O2 sensor was loose.

Pumped out the fuel to find crud and water in it.. So pulled the tank, cleaned it out, put new gas in.. First test went fine. But today it started to run rough and have no power again...

It acts like a major misfire from 900 RPMs to about 3300. The only way it will accelerate is at 1/4 throttle or less.. Any more than that and it misses, sputters, and loses revs..

IF I can get it to 3500 or more it smoothes out.. keep it there for a while and the problem gets less and less, untill it clears out...

But the time frame of all this seems random. It could run for who knows how long befor it starts the rough running, and not sure how long it will take to clear up..

So, could the water have messed up a sensor or the injectors? Or is the problem something else and it just seems like the water did it..

I have a repair book for it, but the book says Nothing about the computer,or how to check for codes.

[Super-D-38]

Just swaped coil..... that didn't help...

Just curious, could it be faulty spark plugs? They arn't that old, but could they have died in the 3 months?
With the random starts and very short running. (just to move the car out and back in again.)

[WRS]

i would say check your plugs. my 89 ST was doing this after i bought it so i pulled the plugs and the gap was about twice what it should've been.

[fredk]

better swap the plug wires too, eyeball the cap/rotor

[Super-D-38]

Wires are new as of 2 days ago... cap/rotor look good..
Put new plugs in and I'll test drive it later tonight...

[Super-D-38]

OK, Well, I kinda made it back from the test drive...
It has changed but still a major surg from 1/4 throttle up to Full..

1/4 and under the car will pick up speed (slowly) without much surging, but any more than that, and it bucks so bad I almost got whiplash... lol

Next test? ??? Any Ideas?

[Super-D-38]

Also a guess,..... Could the exhaust be pluged a bit?

The only way that could happen is if the catalitic converter has broken.. But I guess that is possible. Right?

I say that ^ because the car has a "Glass Pack" muffler on it, that is straight through...

Seriously I'm out of ideas, any guesses would be welcome...

Edit: Durring a test I saw small bubbles coming from the intake manifold and the head..
A bad gasket maybe?

(The test was to dribble gas arround to check for leaks)
This is a dangerous test, true, but also effective.

[Super-D-38]

After many tests, all the electronics are within spec.
I did find that the fuel pump is only about 15 - 20 PSI The book states it should be 33 -38.. Could this explain the problem?

The car won't even idle any more, what took 5+ min to happen now happens right away..
(rough low idle, and shuts off)

with low fuel pressure, shouldn't the car still run better?

I'm just not familiar with EFI, does it need full pressure to run right?

[fredk]

your pressure is too low

[Super-D-38]

yeh and that means??? the cause of the problem?

OMG!!! I just saw the prices of those pumps!! the cheapest is $112...

[fredk]

welcome to the exciting world of auto repair, the psi is too low making your motor weak

[Super-D-38]

Nooooooo.... Can't we go back to carbs... it was much easyer. fuel,air,and spark. That's all you needed..

Ah well, now I need to decide the arm/leg to give for a new pump.

Maybe I'll just park it and get to work on fixing the Subaru...

yep all 4 cars had problems at the same time.. "When it rains, it pours".

Thanks for the help guys....

[Super-D-38]

Woo Hoo.. li'l zoomy is back!
Yep seems it was the pump... Gave my left arm for $136.. but it runs like the little champ it was..

Still need to road test it but gota insure it again to do that..

Thanks for the help T.N. ...

[fredk]