throttle issue with the justy?

[zyewdall]

I've got the new Justy (1991 GL 4 door) now, and had a chance to try it out this last weekend. Overall, it's a fun car -- pretty zippy, kind of like driving an oversized go cart. I took it up a few 4wd roads without problems. Not serious ones, since it doesn't have lo range, but one good enough to almost foil my friend's ford explorer. It did great. Faster acceleration and more power on the highway than the EA82 SPFI GL wagon, though it seems to be geared to top out at about 70mph or less if you keep it below 4k rpm. Kind of like the top gearing on the old 4 speed EA81's, only with 5 speeds crammed in there. Tomorrow I'm filling the tank for the first time, to start getting an idea of what mileage it gets.

 

The only two big issues are... wiring harness for the starter is falling apart and it won't start half the time -- easy fix there.

 

The other one is that when you start it cold (anytime after sitting more than 4 or 5 hours, even in nice hot summer weather), it takes about 30 seconds before it will move -- it will idle fine, nice steady around 1,000rpm. But, if you touch the accelerator, it almost dies. After about 30 seconds, it starts behaving normally. It also stalled twice when I was engine braking, foot completely off the gas going down a hill, and I put the clutch in... sort of like my old pickup does on that same hill sometimes when the idle circuit can't take over fast enough when the engine actually has to run itself again. But, on a fuel injected vehical, I wouldn't expect this. This was also before the engine was fully warmed up -- maybe ran for 3 or 4 minutes, mostly downhill. I cleaned the MAF with MAF cleaner, put a can of injector cleaner in the tank, and mechanically it all seems to be okay, but I wonder what's causing this behavior? Perhaps a related issue is that the temperature guage is not working... wonder if the temp sensor for the computer is also not working? I have not changed the fuel filter yet.

 

I'm getting my digital camera fixed this week, so I'll post pics. It looks pretty sharp actually. I did a little two tone paint job on it (rocker panels down are hammerite dark gray) and put on a roof rack I had sitting around from a GL wagon at some point. If I get motivated this weekend, I might weld together a proper brush bar for the front.

[zukiru]

sounds like a cold start injector system not working.

[zyewdall]

I don't think it has a choke.. but I'm not completely sure about that. It certainly is acting like a closed choke... IF is is a cold start enrichment system on the fuel injection system not working... what might cause that?

[RenaissanceMan]

FI justys dont have enrichment injectors. ECT would definetly be a place to start. If that is disconnected or reading at maximum resistance, then the engine will run in open loop (enriched). Its been a while since I have peered under the hood of a justy (I parted with mine a couple years ago), but I believe they stick that ECT on the intake manifold near the bell housing side.

[zyewdall]

FI justys dont have enrichment injectors. ECT would definetly be a place to start. If that is disconnected or reading at maximum resistance, then the engine will run in open loop (enriched). Its been a while since I have peered under the hood of a justy (I parted with mine a couple years ago), but I believe they stick that ECT on the intake manifold near the bell housing side.

 

ECT = temperature sensor? It may indeed be running in open loop, as the mileage appears to be kind of low -- low 30's. But I haven't run a full tank yet either, so not sure.

 

Z

[RenaissanceMan]

ECT = Engine coolant Temp sensor

 

My FI justy only got about 30 mpg. (then again I drove the piss out of it) The carburetor models get a LOT better gas milage, more like 40 mpg. (you pay for it in horsepower though)