It has the LH Jetronic fuel control system. THis is very strange. I was running around town when it began to die when I released the gas pedal....the idle was gone. Then it rapidly progressed to where the car would sort of start, but very rough, and then since it seemed to have started, I released the key, and it immediately died without ever accelerating any. When troubleshooting it the next day, the leak had temporoarily lessened to the point that it would start and run, but rough...so then I was able to hear a leak,locate, and fix it. A rubbber cap I had installed on a tee on a vacuum line coming off the intake manifold had deteriorated and split, and so it was sucking a lot of air....you could her it. So immediately after replacing the bad cap, then the car ran perfect again. But,,, in the evening of same day, my wife tried to drive it, and it would not start again! And it was the very same symptom again. You hear it beginning to catch.... the cylinders are firing, but very rough.... and so you release the key and a second later it dies, without being able to accelerate. If you don't give it gas, it dies; if you DO give it gas, it still dies. Every crank you get the same thing. So I put my fuel pressure guage on it, and there is good pressure. I put my vaccum guage on, and at the point when the cylinders fire for about a second, maybe two, before releasing key/engine dying, the guage stayed at ZERO. So....how could it be that it just happens to spring another massive leak? I had a problem similar to this last year, and there was a barbed union on the inlet tube to the idle air valve where one side of the tube had come loose, causing a masive vaccum leak. I checked that again, the whole length of it on inlet, and the other side, and it seems OK. I looke at all the vac lines in the top of the intake manifold, but I found no leak, and now you do not hear any tell-tale hissing. THe ECU is not setting any codes, either. SO...what to check next? I am still suspicious that it is a big vaccum leak, as with the engine firinng/sputtering like that for 1 or 2 seconnds, it sieems like I should see the vacuum guage kick upscale some.....right? Should it show a little upscale movement even when just cranking? I ckecked the timing, it has not changed. Any ideas?
- posted
16 years ago