I don't get it. so here's the story.

I've been working on my car slowly for a while now, and everything seemed to be working right, so I decided to put the cat and 02 sensor for the motor on, and take it to try and pass emissions. so, I put the cat on yesterday, and briefly started it up to hear the 500000 exhaust leaks. but whatever, it'll come off as soon as I pass anyway.

so, today, I go back out, and start it up. it immediately dies. then, second time works for about 15 seconds, then dies when I'm moving it forward. third time, it stays running, but responds really slowly and stutters during throttle position change. so, I let it warm up for a few minutes, and everything seems fine. so, when its fully warm, I head towards the emissions place. I get there, and realize I don't have $25 to pay for it, so I go back(its about 2 minutes away) and borrow some money from my brother. then, I start to go back, and notice my A/F gauge is almost all the way to lean, if even registering at all, when I'm just cruising. same thing(of course) when I decelerate. so, I stop and let it idle, A/F ratios come back up near stoich. so I start up again, and get on it just a 'little', and notice the A/F ratios dropping, so I let off. it does the same thing now. ratios go WAAAYYY down, even while just cruising. if I just punch the gas, they slightly rise, but then again fall. I'm kinda scared now because I don't want to blow my motor from leaning out, so I take it back to the garage, and see if I can find anything that's obviously wrong. about an hour later, I started it up again, and the A/F gauge was reading full rich at idle, and stayed the same when I revved it up(I didn't drive it though). WTF???

anyone know what this could be?

 

Fuel Pump! Check your pressure. Might be a loose wire going to it or a dirty contact. But my car did the same thing when it's fuel pump died.

Luckly I had one from an FD sitting around. Swaps right in, no mods.

 

hmm... I was kinda thinking about that. I hope its that easy. and it better be just a loose wire, because its a walbro pump with only about 500 miles on it.

thanks


but what's with the runnnig super rich at idle last time I ran it?

 

Good question.

If you check your line pressure before and after the inline filter, and it is fine, you MIGHT want to inspect/clean your injectors.

 

okay. sounds good. I just replaced the fuel filter too(like 5 miles ago) so unless it just can't handle the premix, I think it'll probably be fine. (can fuel filters get clogged from a little bit of oil?).

thanks. now I've got some ideas to work around.

 

If it is a TC-W3 oil, it should NOT have clogged the filter.

If you replaced the filter five miles ago, thats a really short time before stuff went wrong, you might want to look into if you fastned everything nice and tight, and if it is the right filter. (Images of someone who put a carb filter on his FC flash through my mind) :-p

 

I've often wondered the same thing...I know myself and some other guys mysteriously had the in-tank sock clog up soon after going with premix...I should think that the TCW3 rated premix oils are so soluble in gas that it wouldn't clog the main filter, but I have no proof of this...
Also make sure the filter inlet/outlet is positioned correctly- some don't flow much if you reverse the normal flow during install...

 

I think that fuel filters can eventually get clogged from premix, but you just replaced yours so i kinda doubt thats the problem.

 

Man, that in tank filter clogges up after like 100,000 miles of use In my experience, the only thing premix usually does to it is turn it blue!

(Age yellows them, and they start out white)

 

yeah, I've only used TC-W3 premix. and the fuel filter is installed right, and the fuel pump filter thing.


also, I was just thinking, the gas in the tank is about 7 months old is that long enough to go bad? I can't believe I never even THOUGHT about that before.

 

all I know is that mine made it 175,000 miles, and then decided to clog to sh#t VERY soon after I began premixing- strange, huh?

 

Most premix acts as a gas stabalizer too (check your premix bottle!)

If you're worried about the gas going bad, just drain the tank. I love how our cars just have a bolt for that

Wayne: I'm not saying its not possable, I'm just saying that I havent expereicned it. I'll keep that in mind though for the future as something to monitor while premixing.