DaveT

You got it. The choke looks closed. That would not run well at idle warm, and run very rich. Check the heater in the housing to the left, that is what causes the bimetal spring to open the choke as it and the engine warm up. Also, check that it moves freely. The butterfly should be near vertical when up to temperature.

The choke is the top butterfly valve in the carb. It should snap closed when cold when you tap the gas pedal before cranking. It should be wide open once warmed up.

ok.... Check the CTS & wiring. I made a post on the forum a while back with various readings. IT can fail in ways that cause all kinds of problems, but no CEL. IAC valve & wiring is something to look at also.

the timing belt pics look good. When the green connectors are connected, it tell the ECU not to mess with the advance, so timing must be set / checked with them connected. If you ran out of slot to get to 20degrees, the disty gear is off a tooth. The alignment setting info applies to the rotor position once the distributor is in place. If you watch closely, the rotor turns some while inserting because of the helical gears used to drive it. Since it does run, it's probably only off 1 tooth. Just pull the distributor until the gear disengages, advance or retard it a tooth, [depending on which way you ruin out of slot] slide it back down. re check the timing.

If this is an EA82 engine, ypu have to connect the green test connectors to measure and set the timing.

Part of the front ones are designed like it was intention to trap dirt and stuff. I modified them and some of the metal to block / deflect and allow for draining better.

ok, makes more sense now.

I don't think 160F plastic would do well. Normal thermostat opening is 190 / 195 degrees F. The coolant is likely going to be a bit higher under the highest load / power conditions.

There is an electronics box in the system. What it does is monitor the sensor above the compressor pulley, and the pressure limit switches. There is also a thermostat switch in the evaporator. All of these are involved with allowing the compressor clutch ro be energized. Make sure it's getting 12V first. Probably be good to find the schematics also.

The way I've seen a few done is with aluminum blocks machined to go between the manifold.and the head. Routs the coolant to hoses, the intake port passes through.

That's quite different. If the car is moving, air is blowing between the 2 parts. The heat carried to the manifold by the coolant is far more than that that would be carried by the air drifting between them, even sitting still. The coolant is at maybe 200 degrees. The transfer through the air to another part that is heated by the 200 degree coolant is tiny, if any at all. For the insulation to have a significant effect, you have to change the cooling system so the coolant doesn't flow through the manifold.

I'm pretty sure the light is just switched by a switch in the button. Does the compressor turn? Does it run? Is there Freon in the system?

The outside top of the EA82 would be slightly cooler than the coolant. The hot coolant goes from the heads into the passage in the manifold. The air flowing over the block & under the manifold would slightly help to cool it. The manifold is not heated by the heat from the engine block being under it, it's heated by the coolant.

The stock wiring off the battery post - big heavy wire goes to the starter. Other thick wire goes to the fusible link box, nowhere else. If it's different, someone made a mod. You want nothing connected to a battery without a fuse.

Getting it in at the right tooth in one hit is one of those have to do it a number of times things. I had one off a tooth, what I did was this - keep a note of the rotation of the housing, and where the rotor is pointing. During this, don't change the rotation of the housing or if you do to get it to move, turn it back when you check the new position. Slowly lift the disty, watch and feel when the gear disengages - then move it ahead a tooth, lower it back in. Notice how the rotor turns some as the gear disengages. Turn & feel the rotor by hand, it doesn't take much effort. When you slide it back down, it turns back. It should be pointing slightly ahead of where it was if you moved it ahead a tooth. If it's back where it was, then you didn't advance it. Re check the timing - if it is correct, the marks from the original position will be under the bolts at 20BTDC.

Sounds like you are off 1 or maybe 2 tooth. Going by your description, It's firing way late, so you have to turn the rotor ahead of where it is. Ahead - in the direction it turns when running. That will effectively get the body back to it's normal rotation at 20 degrees.

A few things that might or might not help... The OEM alternators wear out one of the slip ring brushes by around 150,000 miles. When it happens, the alternator just doesn't put out the amps - but it keeps the charge light off, so you don't notice until the battery is dead, or you get lucky, and see the alt light dimly flickering in the dark at idle. The OEM alternator when everything is working well, makes enough to run the engine at idle, but not much more. Haadlights on at idle, you are drawing some power off the battery. Jumper cables - Most of the typical lower cost ones I've seen are made with 10AWG wire with crazy thick insulation. They won't crank most engines without some charge in the dead battery. The jumper cables I make are #1AWG wire. I have jump started diesel construction equipment with them, with no battery. The engine will run for a few good drives over 2-3 days before the battery will be too weak to start the engine. Going by my experience, with middle grade or better batteries, biggest capacity that will fit in the space - not what the book says the car needs, and not near end of life - 5years. If the battery discharged to the point where it couldn't run, I would expect it would gradually run crummy, till it died, not quit suddenly. Quitting suddenly is a typical timing belt failure symptom. Just do a check, watch the distributor rotor while someone cranks it, it should turn.

Rotor not turning while cranking - first thing to check is the driver side timing belt. Replace both belts and all 3 idlers.

The injectors have to be fired individually. Spraying fuel into another cylinder while one is at the correct time for ignition would cause massive unburned hydrocarbon emmisions. Unburned fuel would be pumped out the exhaust.

Do you mean the rotor does not turn when cranking? That indicates broken timing belt/s. It won't turn far by hand,as it is connected to the entire engine's moving parts. You would break something if you try to turn the engine via the distributor shaft.

This is odd. I've been running EA82s since 1988, never seen this. I run NAPA fleet belts. Don't even remember the last time I had to buy them, they are still good, moved from car - car. Tighten the Alternator belt just tight enough so the alternator sheave doesn't slip when you try to turn it by hand. Not through the compression stroke, just in the slack time [angles] between. I found that it's good to re check the belt tensions after a short run if you have dual belts.

The part in the distributor is the timing sensor. It signals the ECU. The ECU fires a transistor on the coil bracket. The coil generates the spark when fired by the transistor.

Check that voltage is getting to the coil and the ECU. With a volt meter , key in run position.

That's the no code things are ok code. All trouble codes are 2 digit. The ECU doesn't know everything, so it is quite common to have failures it doesn't see.

It is entirely possible for a wire to be broken - inside it's insulation, inside the harness. I had one once. It was a pita to find. Got it narrowed down with an ohm meter, moving the harness it would open / close. Had to unwrap and remove the harness. Finally saw an little bump in the wire - sure enough, it was broken right there, inside the insulation. All of the strands, at that spot snapped. The 2 ends bumping against each other.sometimes a connection, sometimes not.