More fun with the '88 Reliant

Hello all, once again...

The car itself is a 1988 Reliant LE wagon, 2.5L engine with the three speed automatic. It ran a lot better when I put a good battery in it. The "check engine" light works, but it is not on right now. Codes in the computer are

12 and 55, which seem to indicate a "normal" state. With the old bad battery in place, the light would come on in seconds after startup. I never took any chance to get the codes at that time.

It was running with a miss, so I took a look at plugs, plug wires, distributor cap and rotor. The plugs looked OK, and the cap was probably passable. But the wires and the rotor were *nasty*. I was surprised that it even ran given the condition of the rotor by itself. So I replaced them with new ones, and thought that would be it. The car should surely be very happy.

Well, it is not happy. I'd say it's somewhat less happy than it was with the icky wires and rotor. It will start right up and run fine for a short period of time. Then I start to notice slight missing, which gradually gets worse until the idle is extremely lumpy. The engine will then die, or it might even out and come back for a split second before it goes lumpy and then it will die. It always starts right back up again. The check engine light has stayed out.

Any thoughts? Did I really mess something up?

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh
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For the little it would cost, I would replace the cap and plugs too. You never know - there might be some moisture or an invisible carbon track in the cap that is shorting the ignition output to ground.

Reply to
Bill Putney

Hi!

I did replace the cap, although I forgot to mention that. Whoops. I will definitely replace the plugs. (I almost did replace the plugs, as new ones came with the car. They weren't the same as what was in it, so I left well enough alone at the time, basing that decision on the potentially erroneous assumption (whew!) that whatever plugs were in the car were probably the right ones.)

I can't recall the exact numbers on the plugs in the box or in the engine, but I'll check later to see what the right ones are.

While looking around in that area, I also noticed the hall effect sensor that is situated under the cap and rotor. I wondered if this might be bad, but some research seems to reveal that failure of the hall effect sensor results in an engine that shuts down abruptly. Is there a way I could test it, either on or off the vehicle?

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

I'm sure there is - maybe someone knows a definitive test (voltage or resistive) and can post that. But the fact that it is apparently intermittent would have me wondering if a test is going to show it as bad *unless* you happen to catch it in the failed state (assuming that that is in fact the problem) - the fact that it starts out apparently running fine and then starts missing adds credibility to that concern of a test showing you anything (as in: maybe it is temperature dependent - hmm - maybe test it with a hair blower blowing on it? - hmmm - maybe when the engine is cold, take the cap off, heat the sensor up, put the cap back on, and see if it reaches the point of failure a lot quicker? - just throwing out ideas).

Reply to
Bill Putney

"William R. Walsh" wrote in news:GMrOl.696102$yE1.691030@attbi_s21:

Coils can cause intermittent problems such as this.

Reply to
tango

Hi!

Thanks for all your help and information so far. I really do appreciate it.

I think I've gotten past the spark problems. I picked up four Champion RN12YCs and popped them in. Started the car up, it still ran rough and I wasn't too encouraged. Then it smoothed out and seemed to be running pretty well after a couple of seconds. There seemed to be some variation (surging) in the idle but it was very minor. Took it around the block a few times, let it warm up to operating temperature and it seemed OK...

Once I'd pulled back into the driveway, it started to have trouble again. It started stumbling, missing and generally running poorly until it finally stalled out. It would not restart, but a quick test with a screwdriver in each spark plug lead revealed that there was spark. And the engine did start and run normally when I gave it a squirt of ether and tried again. When the little bit of ether ran out, the idle got lumpy and the engine finally stalled. I could hear the fuel pump come on briefly when I turned the key. There is a half tank of fresh gas in it.

At this point, I need to take a break. I'm getting somewhat discouraged. If there is a fuel pressure or delivery problem, I don't have the equipment to test for it. And I don't want to blindly throw parts at it, hoping all the while that I will eventually fix it, becuase that just isn't the way to do things.

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

Hi!

Although I hope that I am past the spark problems at this point, I have an extra, known working coil from my 1984 Reliant that I could use, if it is electrically compatible. (The '84 has the Mitsubishi 2.6L engine in it.)

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

Oh, I think I'm going to be replacing the fuel pump. I let myself have a few days to sit and think about it, and come to think of it, after the engine died for the last time (prior to my saying "forget it" and going inside) the fuel pump was not making any noise. Cycling the key didn't help.

So I guess I'd better find all my tools and drop the tank out of there to see what I can find. I don't suppose there would happen to be any kind of access door to get at it from the top? (I have my doubts--the tank appears to be under the rear seat, and pulling the cushion out revealed plenty of insulation that seems to be firmly glued down.)

While I'm at it, I want to replace the fuel filter. Where is that located? Should anything else be checked or replaced at the same time?

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

Hi!

I don't mean to sound grumpy or ungrateful, but *surely* there are some people hiding in here who have worked on these cars and know something about them!

I know there are not a huge number left on the road in my part of the world, but that's something that comes with the territory here--cars rust out!

I found the fuel filter just outside of the tank. Not sure if the installation is "factory" or not. It's got rubber fuel line tubing leading to the filter itself. The tubing looks OK. Haven't dropped the tank just yet, but the fuel lines look rusty. I may lose them in the process of dropping the tank.

So--anybody out there with some good ideas? Interesting stories? Anecdotes? Gotchas? *Anything*?

William

Reply to
William R. Walsh

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