Hadoken

Alright, a barrage of questions for you guys.
I have a 1984 GSL-SE

I searched for this, and just made me a bit confused.
My car when I start it sometimes, cranks up fine and then the revs start dropping until it dies. Crank it again and it's fine, or touch the gas while the revs drop, and it's fine.
Now when I search, the guy said in his manual it said to press the gas in about half way, then crank the car and it would keep it from doing it..Like this is a normal procedure. So is something wrong with my car, or does the manual really say you have to do that?

Secondly, how do you get that black plastic piece between the taillights off?

Third, I know you guys say to run the car kinda hard to clear out carbon from the engine.
How hard are we talking here, and for how long..
I've owned my car for 2+ months and only once has it been near 6k RPM. Do I need to redline it to clear it out? Do I need to do it a few times in a row or just once?

Anyone ever use those Silverstar headlights? They help any for night driving?

Sorry for the list, and thanks in advance!

nevarmore

Damn, sorry mods. I'll be more patient. I keep double posting.

nevarmore

BLAST!

nevarmore

The adage for redline and carbon is, "A redline a day keeps the towtruck away".

I say stop babying the car and have some fun. I've had my '85 for a few months and didn't really start to love it until I got it between 4000 and redline where it really starts to breathe.

wae

For your idle problems, I'd look at this first.

I'd take a guess that there's something funky with your BAC, but I'm not much of an expert, yet. I've got my own idle issues on my -SE I'm procrastinating about.

bizarro

iTrader: (1)

Firstly - someone more experienced will be able to answer this better...but this is how i start my car...if its wrong i'd like to know.

Secondly - from inside the car behind the rear carpet drape you'll see 2 bolts holding the plastic center in place, remove them.

Thirdly - being a gsl-se i ALWAYS make sure the car gets upto 4k-5k rpm at least once during any trip between point A and B...doing this keeps the actuators working...to keep the carbon out, yes doing this will keep it from building up...there are other methods of handling carbon build up though...

Fourthly - Nope...never used those lights...sorry...

thricerx7

um for the 4th "silverstar headlights", i heard they are just like HID lights (at least i think its HID) and they are good. I would have got some for my 7 but they're like 28 a pop! i dont really have money for that stuff yet, I am looking more for performance, and suspension too!

thricerx7

also to add to that last post, I saw a picture of rx-7 stock lights compared to the Silverstars and it was an amazing difference. it is worth the money, (if you want to see better going down the road.) personally i dont care at the moment! im fine w/ my stocks for now

Hadoken

Hmm..that link says the car is supposed to idle at 800 RPM, but is that even at the first crank of the day? Mine idles about 1500 rpm when I first crank it for the day, but then the second time it's around 800 or a little lower maybe.

If anyone has a shop manual, do you know if it really does say to press the gas pedal in a bit and then crank it? Someone said that, but noone confirmed or denied it.

Also, a friend of mine decided to stop restoring his 1st gen when he bought a RX-8, so he's gonna part it out.
Is it possible to get the door weatherstrip off of his car and put onto mine? I'm not sure if they attach via glue, or clips or what.

bizarro

iTrader: (1)

it'll be tough getting the door seals off because the clips snap off and break really easy...i just replaced mine last week with the set from ebay and while removing the old ones the clips were breaking off...then again, i wasn't trying to save them...

wae

No, you're going to start with your "cold idle", for which 1500 isn't unreasonable. However, most of those parts described in that link are what the ECU on a fuel-injected car uses to make sure the car is idling at the correct speed -- cold or hot. The problem you're having right now sounds like the car is trying to keep the idle at a particular speed (1500 or so on cold idle), but it cannot. There can be several causes, however, the first place I'd look would be the BAC, since that is the device that is responsible for feeding more air into the engine when you aren't mashing the "gas" pedal. (Funny how it's called the gas pedal when, in reality, it's actually controlling the air more than the gas). The problem could also be centered around the TPS, but I'd look at the BAC more.
Conventional wisdom says that in a fuel-injected car, you should pretty much stay off the gas when you're starting the car. It's best to let the computer control the air-fuel mixture without getting in its way. The problem, here, though, is that either one of the devices that feeds information to the computer, or one of the devices that the computer uses to adjust the air flow, based on the information coming in from those sensors.

Hadoken

Alright, I researched for the thread that made me confused to begin with, so I'll show it to you guys now.

This was posted by Rex alot; "Do either of you have an owners manual? If you do, read it. It covers this. I have one and read it a while ago so I can't remember the page#, I'll have to check tonight. When starting your se cold you should step on the gas once, all the way to the floor BEFORE turning the key. After you step on the gas you go ahead and start it. I don't want to miss quote the manual so I won't write why yet. I need to bring it in tomarrow and I'll quote it, but it is explained why you should do this. Anyway, try it out. This is for se's only as far as I know." That was in response to someone talking about their GSL-SE, starting, then the revs dropping off and dying like mine.

Then FJ replied by saying " For a 13B: When starting the engine cold, you do NOT have to press the gas pedal to the floor. You DO have to press the gas pedal a small amount before turning the key to set the fast idle cam. (You should be able to hear it click into position.) If you don't, it may well stall.
The second time you start it, you said you give it some gas and it "hangs" at 1500 rpm: that's normal, now that you have engaged the fast idle cam. Depending on temperature, it will take a minute or three to drop to 800.
Normally, there is no need to touch the gas pedal during starting except for the initial tap to engage the fast idle."

Thats where the thread ends, so can anyone confirm about pressing the gas pedal a small amount to set the fast idle cam?
I've never heard anything like that, but I'm a total n00b...

riofrio

I've never heard that either.... i'm curious as well. My SE actually does the opposite, it starts cold and hangs around 700-800 rpms, and by the time it's warmed up, it will stay around 1000.

LongDuck

Okay, guys - you asked for it, so here is your tutorial on the 'how' and 'why' the startup process works the way it does; for SE engines, ONLY.

The EFI 13b in the SE has no 'manual' choke. It uses computer control to enrich the mixture during 'cold-start' conditions. It does this by adjusting Fuel Injector pulse width and duration in concert with vacuum diaphragm operated 'Double Throttles' or buttefly plates that cover your secondaries to prevent air passage. There is also a 'fast-idle cam' that I'll talk about below, which is a mechanical idle speed advance. This uses coolant from the back of the water pump to run a Thermowax Pellet to adjust vacuum to the 'Double Throttles', but also resets the Fast Idle Cam.

Now that we have the terms down, when you start your EFI SE, you should put the accelerator down all the way ONCE, let your foot off, COMPLETELY, then turn the key to 'Start'. This resets a small roller on the Fast Idle Cam so that the butterfly valves are open just slightly, thereby increasing idle. When warm, you should follow the same process, but since the Thermowax Pellet is now compressed, it will not reset the Fast Idle Cam and the engine will start and idle at 800-900 rpm. Cold start idle speed is generally 1500-2000 rpm, depending on intake air temperature, coolant temperature and your BACV cleanliness, your AFM resistance, your TPS adjustment, and the price of tea in China.

Once the engine is started, it will continue to idle fast until the coolant temp (routed to the Thermowax from the waterpump) gets up to normal operating temperature, at this point, the roller falls off the Fast Idle Cam, returning idle speed to 800-900 rpm, standard.

To get to YOUR problem - idle increases during cold start, then engine dies - check for intake system air leaks. Another poster here stated the same problem and found that his airpipe between the AFM and the TB had come loose and was allowing air to get past it. Engine would idle up to 1500 rpm, then sputter down and die no matter what he did with the pedal. Sounds like you may have a similar problem. HTH,