hey all,
I need some help. I degreased my engine over the weekend and now the car starts but won't run. I really have no idea what to check or how to fix it. I dried the distributor and everything else but it didn't help. The car will start and run if I hold the key in the start position, but as soon as I release the key it dies...kind of like the fuel pump shuts off...any help is greatly appreciated as I just bought this car a couple weeks ago and it was running fine until I cleaned the engine

 

Have you checked all your fuses? Start there, you can get a cheap multimeter at Walmart for like $10. You just need one that does resistance, but one with the audible tone is very nice to have. I don't know a lot about older RX's, but will help where I can. If it works fine when you start it, but dise instantly when you let off the key and all you did was clean the engine - if it were a fuel injected car I'd say to check the main engine fuse first, then look for airleaks, but if it's carbureted the airleaks wouldn't matter so much. I know there's two seperate sets of leads coming off the ignition switch that provide power to the fuel pump when it's in the On position vs the Start Position, but that doesn't seem likely.

At the root of it all, a car needs fuel, air, and spark to run. Fuel and air have to be in the right amounts. Too much or too little fuel and it won't run. At the root of it, it sounds like you're leaning out too much after ignition.

 

I finally had it taken to the dealership and they said it need a new trailing ingnitor and new coils and quoted me like $1100 bucks to fix it. No way I'm doing that since I just bought the car like 3 weeks ago for barely twice that. I'm pretty pissed right now.

 

Don't do that, buy used ones from the club, they don't go bad that often, and probably won't cost $150 altogether. It's nothing to replace them either, since you know what's bad now If you need it, there're a couple of us in town that wouldn't mind giving you a hand if you buy the parts.

 

thanks, I may take you up on it. I posted a thread in the parts forum and have had some replies so hopefully I can get it fixed and move on to enjoying my new toy.