i have a '88 non-turbo. i get little to no acceleration when i go full throttle. i'm assuming it's a vac leak and/or ignition timing. BUT, maybe 1 out of 40 or so start-ups, my tachometer stops working and my car accelerates just fine when going full-throttle with no hesitation or any lack of power. any other time i start-up my car, the tach will work again and i'm back to horrible acceleration. what could cause this to happen at random?

 

it sounds electrical, so start by checking grounds, and testing your ECU. I've never heard of something like this, but at least its a starting point.

 

thanks. well the battery terminals ARE corroded as hell...

 

pick up a haynes manual and look for grounds, or search for grounding on the forum, its covered pretty extensively

 

thanks again. i just picked up a haynes manual a couple of days ago anyway. i just didn't know what to look for when i was reading through it... i'll check it out.

 

i'd check to see if its a problem with the trailing coil,or tps

the online FSM is alot better than a haynes.....i don't trust haynes lol

 

^^^ I agree with FC3Sdrift. The TPS could be bad, and it's fairly easy to check so you should do it anyway, but I suspect there's trouble with the trailing coil. OH, maybe your timing is off AND you're having trailing coil problems. See, your trailing coil is what drives the tach. If the coil stops firing your tach stops working. If your timing is so far off it may actually run better without the trailing coil firing... So there's a theory. Good luck.