Well, seems that maybe my engine doesn't need rebuilding, got it cranked up today after I fixed the starter w/ a hammer Puffed out a big cloud when it hit the first time, ran it for about 20 secs and shut it off. Checked everything over and cranked it back up, no more smoke.

It does have an idling problem though, as in it won't idle and I can't keep it running any lower than about 1500 rpm. Also if I hold the pedal steady, it wants to surge about 1000 rpm, up and down, regularly and constantly. The idle air speed motor plug is junk, but I pulled the wires out of it and clipped them straight to the prongs on the motor. Didn't change anything. It sounds almost like it's slightly flooding, then clearing up, then flooding, then clearing up, repeating that pattern.

Any idea of what this may be? Also, the O2 sensor wire on the harness doesn't have the clip on it anymore, the wire is just stuck into the blade on the O2 side. Would this cause a faulty enough reading to cause something like this? Or is the idle speed motor bad?

 

Bump.

 

Well I found a couple problems yesterday, the air supply hose for the BAC was unhooked, as well as the hose running from the other bypass valve (forget it's name) to the I/C. Car will run and idle by itself now, but still surges at idle and under steady throttle at any rpm. Also smells rich.

It sounds like there is an exhaust leak at the downpipe flange, not a bad one but there non the less. My thinking was that the rich condition at least is being caused by the exhaust leak, I think air is getting into the exhaust rigfht there and fooling the O2 into thinking the engine is running lean. I'm gonna do some more searching on here for the surging.

 

Okay, I've done a bunch of stuff to it. Pulled the UIM and TB off, cleaned the TB a bit, checked all the vacuum lines, cleaned the idle passageways, installed a new UIM gasket, fixed a split in the AFM-to_turbo hose, checked all the lines/hoses in the intake pipes, cleaned out all the nutshells around/under the UIM and TB (damn critters), fixed the exhaust leak at the dp, checked and set the TPS to 1 volt, replaced a wrong spark plug and wired the plug wires properly.

I still have the same problem: hard to start (have to hold the throttle open a bit), doesn't idle when first started, after a minute it will idle on it's own but surges from about 1200 to 2k-2200 constantly, and smells rich as a bitch, fuel smoke out the tailpipes. Worse when cold and first cranked, but still smells rich when warmed up too.

Would a bad MAF cause this? I'm kinda leaning towards that opinion, but I don't really know much on these cars yet, not sure if that would cause symptoms like this or not. What else is left? The LIM gasket, bad FPR maybe? Is there a Schrader valve on the fuel rail to check fuel pressure with?

 

http://www.teamfc3s.org/info/articles/idle.html

TPS should be set by ohms, not volts! Do a search on this. You need to check for a dead spot in your TPS resistance.

The thermowax and the BAC valve are supposed to help with cold starts. Has the throttle body been modified? Make sure the BAC valve is not sticking.

 

You can check with ohms or volts.

 

Well, I tried setting it by ohms, but the multi-meter I borrowed has some weird whacked out display, hard to read. That's why I set it to 1 volt. I have adjusted it while running(not using the meter), doesn't change anything really except how fast it surges

The TB is unmodified, the whole car actually is bone stock, cats and all. As far as I can see, nothing has been modded on this car yet.

The car never really warms up either, it seems. Gets to maybe 1/8 of the gauge, maybe a 1/4 gauge. Is that normal? The idle doesn't change at all w/ engine temp. Even when it's as warm as it can get, I still have to hold the throttle to get it started if I shut it off and crank it right back.

I'll check the BAC.