car will not idle....
 

i have a 88 gxl that i just bought from a guy and it will not idle if i keep if reved to 2000 rpms it will stay alive but the moment i let go of the gas it dies. when i try to drive it it has zero power like im taking off in 3rd gear and it seems to be running super lean. the things ive done so far are as follows: gutted he cats, replaced spark plugs and fuel filter, put in some clean injectors that i had, replaced the air flow meter with one that was close to brand new. checked for vaccuum leaks zero found. i also checked the timing and i am not able to set it correctly like it is out of time. on a normal (nonrotary engine) the symptoms would point to a bad timing belt or chain and the vehicle being out of time but i dont think there is any possiblity for that. i hae a genesis scanner with import software and it isnt pulling any diagnostic codes so i figure all the sensors should be fine. i have an a/f ratio monitor on the vehicle and it is reading super lean but when i hooked the scanner to the car it only read rich it never swapped form rich to lean and back like it should have. i am stumped so i am asking you all if you have had the same symptoms and if so where do i go now?

when i said im not able to set the timing its like the timing marks are just out of reach like the crank angle sensor wont turn far enough like it may have skipped a tooth or something but i dont think that is possible with it tightend down like it was???

nothing, no one can help????

vac leak?

Compression check, sounds to me like you could have a blown engine, broken apex seal on a rotor.

Diagnostics with very little history or information about the car is very difficult.


John

the car runs if i want to drive it but it doesnt have much power i pulled the entire top of the engine apart today and cleaned and check and replaced all vaccum lines and replaced everything and put it back together and its still doing the same i have had no problems with the car in the past no smoke no detenation nothing the car has stong compression. i also noticed that my tps sensor is only registering around 3.5 volts wot should it be more or not??

Since you say that the timing is off and that you can't rotate the crank angle sensor far enough to get it on mark it is possible that the previous owner had pulled it and didn't line it up correctly when he reinstalled it. The symptoms sound to me like an out-of-time engine. Carefully remove the sensor and rotate it one tooth in the opposite direction needed to get the timing spot toward the reference pin. That should allow you to set the timing correctly. Note that the gear is spiral so as you remove or replace the unit the shaft will rotate.