Hello, I have a 1984 GS with a 1.1 12-a engine. I bought the car about 3 weeks ago and Im already considering using the engine as a boat anchor. It ran great when I got it, and my friend I bought it from said that he drove it for 6 months and only had to replace the alternator and added 1qt of oil. About 5 days ago I was playing in the back hills, running it relatively hard in the 6-7k range (I think I touched 8 once or twice) when it started its downward spiral.
When I am trying to accelerate or even maintain speed it runs horribly and vibrates really badly, but when I back off it will smooth out but makes a squeeling sound but feels like it should when downshifting and using the engine back pressure to slow down, it just squeels and I dont know what it is. The best I can do to describe it is by saying it sounds like a very faintly squeeling belt.
It is a completely gutless car now, it has extremely slow acceleration, and it actually slows down a little when I stomp down on it, so this leads me to believe its a carbuerator or vacuum system issue....
I have already replaced all the vacuum hoses (that I can find, there may be more, except the one attached to the oil filler hole as it is hard to get to and I deemed it unimportant lol), cleaned and wire brushed every electrical connecter that I can get access to, replaced the spark plugs (NGK br8eg 14's), replaced the fuel filter, put a K&N air cleaner in it, a red top optima battery, replaced the cap and rotor, replaced the negative battery cable and ensured that both grounding points were clean and good, and I even took apart those 6 colored vacuum solonoids on top (I dont know what to call them) and cleaned the little air filters in them. After all that it was running better than it ever did before, until I went to pass a car, as soon as I put my foot to the floor it went right back down to being pure crap and its managed to stay there..... I am frusturated....
My plan of attack this weekend is to rip the carb and maybe intake manifold off my 81 parts car (the carb is in beautiful condition and it runs like a bat out of hell) and see if they fit on my 84.... Ive managed to forget about the o2 sensor and the timing until I posted this, but I am hoping that someone will have an extremely simple answer and calls me a dumbass for overlooking such a simple solution to my problem.... Any input is appriciated, I need to get this fixed before I put any more thought of putting my chevy 383 in the silly thing....

Thank you for reading my long winded, rambling post... I figure the more information you have the more answers I can get.

*edit* I also forgot to mention that the belt that drives the smog pump has been removed, all vacuum lines are still attached to my knowledge and nothing else has been done except the removal of the belt but it was like that when it ran good for months so I doubt that has anything to do with anything.....

 

check to see if both rotors are firing

 

Disconnecting the air pump will cause the cats to burn out if they are still in place. It sounds like you might have a clogged jet in the carb. I was going to suggest a loose or disconnected vacuum line, but you seem to have covered that. Try running a can of Seafoam through the gas tank with about 1/8 tank of gas (for a strong solution) and that might help the carb out a bit, otherwise you will need to replace or rebuild it. First thing I would do though, is verify that you have good spark on the lower (leading) spark plugs. You do not have an o2 sensor either, so rule that out. Timing is important, so if there is doubt (like if you have been messing with it) then check that out, but if you haven't touched it since before this issue started and the dizzy is not loose enough to move on its own then disregard that as well. Sorry for one big paragraph, but otherwise I can't post from work. Good luck.

 

Thanks Kentetsu, I will try the seafoam thing, also I will check the timing just to see what it says, and I dont have to worry about emissions at all so I am not concerned with burning out the cats... But would a burnt out cat make it run bad? Im going to replace them with a straight pipe as soon as I get the motor problems figured out.

As for checking to see if both rotors are firing, how do I do that? (sorry, I come from the world of small block chevys and dodges, rotary engines might as well be space ship motors to me) I would guess that I pull the spark plugs and check them to see if they have spark?
Again, thanks, Im going to read through the archives and some tutorials for a few hours and then grab my hammer and go work on the car.

 

To cut to the cheese, check compression on both rotors. Once you have eliminated the worse possibility, all the other look good and easy.

Search for "ghetto compression test" if you don't have a compression tester. It will at least tell you if you have a blown rotor or not.

 

Kentetsu, shut up about your can of Seafoam already! you recommend that to anybody, no matter what the problem is! j/k

 

Yes.

 

Burning up the cats will clog the exhaust system. This is a bad thing when it comes to horsepower and driveability. If it will be a while before you upgrade the exhaust, then put the belt back on the airpump until then.

 

I'm thinking of changing my screen name to LucasSeafoam. No, I'm just not afraid to endorse products that I find which actually perform as advertised, like Lucas, Seafoam, Excedrine Migraine, and Sterling carbs. That's what we're here for, right?

 

Well Kentetsu, You have sold me on seafoam as well.... my car is running very well right now as far as the motor goes.... I can hear the cats making noise, but my car is going to be straight pipe soon enough.
Maybe seafoam is awsome enough to fix clutches too, just before it started running awsome again.... the clutch started sounding like its about to take a **** on me, and even refused to go into gear once =( I love how my car manages to make me very happy and **** me off all at the same time.