Model: 91 FC3C NA with stock engine.

So... Happy Thanksgiving to me, haha. So, it's been raining for 3 days straight out here on OH. Cars been sitting for 2 days, tried to start it tonight. Was acting like my idle control was out, and kept bobbing below 500 rpms so I had to keep reving it to keep it from stalling. Started driving home, it as soon as I hit past 3k rpms my engine acted like it was seizing or knocking. Got it half a block and it just died.

Tried starting it, it acted like it was flooded since my engine hadn't heated up. Gave it 10 seconds of gas and it started. Reved up to red line instantly, then started bobbing between 2-3k rps for 5 minutes, then stabilized to 750 rpms and drove fine, but as soon as I hit past 2-3k rpms, it keeps knocking. I'm going to wait it out and see if it was water on my coils or distributer causing this once the weather is dry.

Any suggestions though? Trans possibly going out, distributor caps going out possibly? It was pitch black, opened hood... saw no arching on my wires, not sure what the deal is.

 

Distributor? It has coil packs.

Have you replaced your fuel pump recently? I would give her a good tune up, plugs, wires, fluids.

 

Yeah, thinking it's going to require a full tune up.

Fuel pump hasn't been replaced in a while, and I've put 10k miles on it. Think I'll do distributer, wires, spark plugs and then see where it goes from there. If it still acts up fuel pump will be my next approach.

 

Our cars (aside from some 86's I've seen) don't have Distributors. We have electronically controlled ignition systems. We don't have caps to replace.

pull the plugs, see what they look/smell like
give her the tune up, plugs, wires, dielectric grease on the connections for the plugs/wires
fluids..


check your timing
check for vacuum leaks


fuel pumps often needs a rewire instead of a full on replacement.
When my car was N/A I was seeing around 9v with load on the system (lights/stereo)
do the easy/needed stuff first

 

The ignition coilpacks rarely fail and the crank angle sensor rarely fails (assuming it's installed correctly). Plugs and wires are the only maintenance items. There is no distributor on a 2nd gen with the exception of a few s4 cars (not USDM or JDM) which were set up more like the less advanced series 3 GSL-SE engine.

 

To possibly save you alot of time and heartache do a compression test before throwing a bunch of a parts at it.

If all is well internally then a good tune up (new vacuum lines, plugs, wires, fuel filter, oil change, etc.) is in order. Cleaning all of the ground wire connections is highly recommended as well. Checking for a vacuum leak is also recommended.