i have an 84 se with a s4 n/a engine,se ecu and an s4 leading coil. i've changed the tstat,flushed the rad and engine it was overheating. after driving the car for about 15min,it acts like it's running on one rotor. it only does this for a min or two, then it's normal for a few min and it does it again. could it something in the ignition?

 

check spark plugs

 

i think the maf is bad. could under hood temps effect it or could the ecu temp sensor cause this running problem? i replaced the plugs when i installed the engine,but they look normal. need help asap. thanks

 

Sorry to be the bearer if bad news, but if its smoking white smoke and sputtering on startup its burning coolant thats made its way into the combustion chamber, and once its all burnt out it clears up and runs ok but will overheat. (this same thing happened to my old rx7)

Your coolant seals are blown, nothing can fix this other than an engine rebuild.

 

If u have none of the symptoms i mentioned the only thing it could be is your clutch fan is bad, but you said it sounds like one rotor thsn goes away, that pretty much fits the description of burning coolant on startup, unless you have leaky fuel.injector(s) that are
Putting extra fuel in before startup and youre burning excess fuel on startup, not coolant.

For your sake i hope its fuel not coolant, goodluck.