Where to start looking??

[JLDT]

So I will be driving a 89 from IL to WA in a couple of weeks and there is some small issues that I am concerned about and would like to address. First of all, this is the same car that I have posted about in the past (a few years ago is most recent) so I know the history.

 

The motor was my father-in-law's from new, I believe it is around 200k but I am not entirely sure of that number. It is a FI EA-82. Just before my dad brought it from WA to IL, we did head gaskets and oil seals on it.

 

Onto the problem. It seems to almost lug until you hit 2000 RPM, then it takes off. The idle seems good at about 750, although sometimes you can feel it vibrate a bit, other times you wonder if it stalled on you. Occasionally after first start up, it will die at your first stop. Always starts right back up again. Finally, it spits some smoke on shift, just for a second, and not enough that you notice when you are in the car - i was following it a couple of times. The smoke is black, but I don't know if it is on disengaging the clutch or engaging.

 

No oil is leaking at all and it doesn't seem to be using any either. Dad probably only put about 2000 miles on it in the 2 years he has had it out here. It is a 5spd D/R if that matters.

 

Just looking for some suggestions as to what to look at? I did a search but couldn't come up with a brief enough description of the problem to get good results. I am kind of thinking a vacuum problem, but some ideas as to what to look at would be appreciated.

 

Sorry for the length and thanks in advance.

[Turbone]

Perform a thorough tune up on it.

Plugs, fuel filter, etc.

[NWSubie]

My 87 ea82 was having stalling issues ended up finding a small crack/hole in my drivers side oil breather line. I replaced it and all my vac lines and shes never done it again.

[heartless]

complete tune up as mentioned, and go over every vacuum line - old, hard vacuum lines can leak and cause all sorts of silly issues.

 

when was timing service done last? those are 60K belts...would hate for it to pop a belt and leave stranded on such a long drive...wont hurt the motor any, but the annoyance....

[JLDT]

Thanks for the suggestions - i'll hopefully get to doing a tune up here in the next couple of days. I have lost timing belts before so I do keep track of the mileage on the belts. The ones that are on this car I am pretty sure are under 5000 from when I bought them. Thanks for the thought though. It would really suck to be stuck with a thrown/shredded belt.

 

I'll let you know if the tune up changes anything.

[MilesFox]

double check that the timing marks are correct. Likely they are. As long as the cam seals are not leaking, the belts should be ok.

 

I would suggest replacing the PCV valve. If the car seems boggy still, i would suggest replacing the coolant temp sensor. Its somewhat pricey, being a rear old stock part, but you can get one thru NAPA.

[JLDT]

Hey all

 

Did the plugs and pcv. It still seems to be doing the same things though. I will have to try the CTS next, but before I do that I thought I would mention the smoke thing again, it seems to have gotten a little worse and I am not sure what the cause might be.

 

Basically, today I could actually see it in the back window rather than having to be following the car. The smoke is quite thick if you get the rpm's rather high, then let off the gas without putting in the clutch. I got it to happen in both 1st and 2nd. Is this something that could be failing that I should worry about or just something that i can deal with when i get to it? It still doesn't smoke on start up at all and other than this hesitation thing it seems to be running quite well.

 

Thanks