Brutal Surging, Sputtering, GL10T

[Left_coast*9]

Car is a 1986 S/R 5 spd 4WD GL10T Wgn. The car starts fine, runs fine on start-up, but then after it gets warm (it seems, anyway), the car will become undriveable. It basically keeps running, but *especailly* under power, it will surge, cough and sputter. It WILL NOT acclerate, just surges. One time it died totally, CE light came on. Had it towed, went to go investigate and the car started right up and drove fine. The next time, though, the car did the same thing.

Could this be a sign the turbo is going out?

Could it be symptoms of fuel pump failure?

 

Any suggestions on where to start spending time and $$ would be helpful, THANKS!

 

B

[86subaru]

might try a tune up , fuel filter , clean air filter , also change pvc,

[MilesFox]

sounds like the ecu temp sensor is out of whack. a new one is 17 bucks if you cant fnd it look up a nissan 240 sx, the brown sensor will work

 

its located behind the intake under the turbo

 

cleaning the contacts may help as well

[Ross]

Could also be an ignition coil or ingnition module.

Would the coolant temperature sensor cause such severe problems?

[tizzle]

possibly throttle positon sensor??

[NorthWet]

My vote goes with 86subaru and Miles: Spark plugs and wires can cause some pretty bizarre behavior with the EA82T. (Bad wires left me with power holes in various places in rev range, but full power above about 4k rpm.)

 

The coolant thermosensor that Miles mentioned can also cause this, especially the ECU light coming on (by the way, did you check the ECU code???). It sets the engine temp condition for the fuel injection so bad/no output from it can really confuse the ECU. (Mine has had bad contact problems for some time, and occaionally driving steady state on the freeway the engine will go flat and the ECU light wil come on, but it seems that the jerking from the power loss jiggles the contacts back working and the ECU light goes off and the engine comes back on song.)

 

The turbo going bad will more likely feel like you are driving a Yugo... no real driveability problems, just no power.

[Left_coast*9]

Thanks for the replies, guys...

I did a complete tune-up, including cap, rotor, wires, plugs. What a huge difference the tune-up made -- altho that was 2 months ago, before this problem surfaced. Didn't replace the PCV or filters, or check the sensors or connections, will do. The beast also needs a battery, so that's next.

Good feedback on the turbo going bad, rules that out. When the car IS running ok, the turbo pulls hard.

I think the idea of ignition coil is worth checking.

Thanks everyone. :-]

My vote goes with 86subaru and Miles: Spark plugs and wires can cause some pretty bizarre behavior with the EA82T. (Bad wires left me with power holes in various places in rev range, but full power above about 4k rpm.)

 

The coolant thermosensor that Miles mentioned can also cause this, especially the ECU light coming on (by the way, did you check the ECU code???). It sets the engine temp condition for the fuel injection so bad/no output from it can really confuse the ECU. (Mine has had bad contact problems for some time, and occaionally driving steady state on the freeway the engine will go flat and the ECU light wil come on, but it seems that the jerking from the power loss jiggles the contacts back working and the ECU light goes off and the engine comes back on song.)

 

The turbo going bad will more likely feel like you are driving a Yugo... no real driveability problems, just no power.

[calebz]

The beast also needs a battery, so that's next.

 

That could also be a problem. If the alt or battery are not up to snuff, it can cause all sorts of driveability problems on these cars.. Last time my alt died, I though I had really killed something major. It was terrible.

[Left_coast*9]

Calebz, holy Scheitza....that is good to hear...I was wondering if that could be part of it. After it first happened the battery was in a low state of charge so I left it on the charger overnight....didn't see any more symptoms for awhile, then recently symptoms returned and sure enough, the battery was only about 50% charged. I'll report back what I find.

 

 

 

That could also be a problem. If the alt or battery are not up to snuff, it can cause all sorts of driveability problems on these cars.. Last time my alt died, I though I had really killed something major. It was terrible.

[NorthWet]

Ditto Calebz experiences with low battery/low voltage. When my alt was going bad the voltage would sag really low at idle and low revs, and the engine would be flat until the revs got up enough for the voltage to come up.

 

My Ea82Ts don't "feel" the same while misfiring as any other vehicle that I have owned. All of the others had an obvious "miss", while my subes just feel down on power but smooth.

[Left_coast*9]

Update: Ok, I replaced the battery and the car ran like a dream. For awhile. I have been keeping an eye on it's charge. Sure enough, it slowly drained until the symptoms came back. :-\ Battery was dead. Guess I'm forced to replace the damn alternator, and report back when it's done.

Thanks for your posts up to now.

 

 

Ditto Calebz experiences with low battery/low voltage. When my alt was going bad the voltage would sag really low at idle and low revs, and the engine would be flat until the revs got up enough for the voltage to come up.

 

My Ea82Ts don't "feel" the same while misfiring as any other vehicle that I have owned. All of the others had an obvious "miss", while my subes just feel down on power but smooth.