Lurching, shaking, sputtering

[Camelwagon]

Ok my 85 GL is still really sputtering and shaking when i accelarate, even after my friend and i rebuilt the carb this weekend, its still running bad. I dont know wats up. We did everything good, adjusted the idle and all that... and also now the idle goes up and down sometimes and sometimes even dies, so i gotta turn up the idle a bit but then its too high ughghgh.

Found out the egr wasnt opening so we hooked up to a different hose and it opens now all the time, but it still runs bad and i dont think its the right hose for the egr.

Ughgh we're outa ideas. Any ideas? THanks...

[TheSubaruJunkie]

When you rebuilt it, did you replace all the gaskets and use new ones?

 

-Brian

[subarunuts]

There is a little plastic check ball about 1/8" in diameter that is easy to lose when you open the carb. It's the check valve for the accelerator pump. Without this the pump will not operate at all, and acceleration will not get enough fuel. It's at the bottom of the pump under a spring. Check the float level too, and make sure it's not binding.

[Camelwagon]

Ya, replaced all the new gaskets, saw the little ball, made sure it was there... The carb is all working well from what we see.

[subarunuts]

If you are sure the carb is good, start looking for a vac leak. Classic symtoms. Spray around with some carb cleaner to see if you can find the leak - idle will increase and smooth out when you spray it near the leak.

[Camelwagon]

Cool, thanks.

I've read that maybe it could also be the ignition coil or bad fuel pump. When I turn the key just to "on" the fuel pump runs forever and doesnt stop, is that normal? At least I think i hear the fuel pump, i'll have to check for sure on that one.

[jeffroid]

I don’t think the EGR is supposed to be open at idle. I’m not that familiar with the EGR system on Subarus, but on another ...vehicle I am more familiar with, the way to troubleshoot the EGR valve to see if it’s opening and closing is to pull a vacuum on it (which is supposed to open it). At idle, opening the EGR should kill the engine or at least make it run really rough. An open EGR acts just like a huge vacuum leak. I have had symptoms similar to what you describe from an EGR valve that was intermittently sticking open.

 

 

 

If I were you what I would do is to alternately pull vacuum on the EGR (try to open and close it) while the engine is at idle, to verify that the EGR is actually opening and closing. Once you are sure that it is closed, pull the vacuum hose from it and plug the hose. This should eliminate any tuning problems caused by an open EGR and allow you to proceed with your troubleshooting.

[Camelwagon]

Ya thats what we did, it wasnt opening at all at throttle, so we put a vacuum to it and opened it up all the time and it actually idled ok, thats what was weird. So i'm not sure if it was connected to the right hose before we put the vacuum to it.

[Camelwagon]

Well I found out what was causing my surging and sputtering while driving, it was a hose in the back of the carb, i took it out and plugged the lines and wow what a difference. It actually has power now and smooth too. I'll take a pic of it today. I also unplugged my EGR too. It wasnt opening anyways unless i plugged it to a different vacuum line and then it would be open ALL the time. Anyways I just hope it runs ok now. Thanks.