Warrior project car won't hold idle well

[f85gtron]

What about the ecm temp sender?  Barry describes symptoms similar to that of a bad sender, he suggested it and he might be onto something, running rich, won't hold idle, or map?  I guess i better dust off the ohm meter and get busy!
A bad ground would throw all these sensors off too....so I'll beef it up while I'm in there.

[Fierofool]

I bought a new one and installed it just before we brought it down.  It was the day we replaced the springs.  I got there early and did that while waiting on Raydar and Ron. 

[f85gtron]

Barry brought the car by work today. I didn't have all my test equipment with me, but didn't need it to see a couple items that definitely need replaced.
The sounds from the front need attention. Barry and I traced the sounds to the upper a arm bushings. The bearings seemed tight.

The distributor shaft is good, but the magnet and pickup coil are toast.


He also reported that he found the source of the crazy sounds that had Pgackerman and I freaked out about.....it was the coolant purging air through the reservoir up front.

[Fierofool]

Yesterday before the meeting I shipped a good distributor to Augusta.  That should take care of the broken magnets and bad pickup coil.  Hopefully it'll cure the idling problems, too. 

As we discussed at the meeting, to address the problems  Ron found with the front control arm bushings, a full set of poly bushings and extra silicone grease was ordered from The Fiero Store and shipped Second Day Air.  Total cost charged to the club's debit card was $87.65.

Ron, I think we owe you more than a couple six packs of Yuengling or Bud for your willingness to tackle these issues.

[f85gtron]

No problem. I'm having fun. It's a pleasure to work on such a beautiful car, and for a worthy cause. I'm trying to catch up to the rest of yous guys. 

[f85gtron]

Barry came by Thursday after work.
Everything was successful. We changed out the dizzy, drained and flushed the coolant. Made a discovery......NO THERMOSTAT INSTALLED!  That's why the temp guage wasn't working....because the stupid thing was never getting up to temp!  We installed the t-stat that was in the box after the coolant refill.  So, Barry is going to enjoy much better fuel consumption, better throttle response, more power. The cooling fan also cycled on and that was a welcome sound.
The coolant guage now works (because of the t-stat)
We also replaced the air filter (it was totally clogged...couldn't see any light through the element at all!), so that will help.
Still couldn't  set timing where it belonged. Had to advance it to 12° to get it to idle.
So either the timing ring has slipped, or it's got a hot cam installed. Still has a heavy lope to the idle.
Still have the suspension left to do.

Idle transitions from park to gear are still iffy.  Idle is much smoother now and the exhaust smells much better....more normal.

[Raydar]

...
Still couldn't  set timing where it belonged. Had to advance it to 12° to get it to idle.
So either the timing ring has slipped, or it's got a hot cam installed
...

I would be inclined to set it by ear. Do it with the cheapest gas you can find (so that the chance of finding something that will have less octane will be minimized.)
Just advance it two degrees at a time, until it pings, and then back off, slightly, until it doesn't. Do it with the A/C on, since that will tend to make it ping worse, if it's going to.
My 4.9 actually has about ten degrees more advance than the light says that it should. (Runs like kwrap when it's set by the timing marks.) I suspect that my ring has slipped, as well, but as long as it doesn't hurt anything, I'm not going to bother with it.

[f85gtron]

We're making strides in this car.  When I asked Barry for feedback on the work we did Thursday, I received this response:
"Big difference, throttle response is 10 times better, and has the power it should have."
I think we're heading in the right direction. When I get the car back to replace the bushings, I'll check #1 cyl against the timing mark to double check the balancer ring and Re-time if necessary.
Anything else I should look for before turning him loose once and for all?

[Fierofool]

He still hasn't registered on the forum.  Hope we don't loose him except when he has a problem. 

[f85gtron]

I'll work on getting him on the forum. I don't think we'll lose him. He's really getting into the car and so are his motorcycle club brothers. He's talking about putting together some kind of joint get together. Sounds cool to me.

[f85gtron]

UPDATE:
Pgackerman and I visited the warrior and warrior Fiero. Damn, that's a beautiful car!
Anyways, turns out the pickup coil was the problem. Berry, the warrior, changed out the ignition module, the ignition coil, cap, rotor button, gapped spark plugs, new im to coil harness......everything a true fiero expert would change out to fix the problem.
We tested the pickup coil and sure enough, infinite resistance, so we swapped it out with a good coil and VROOM! 
Had some trouble setting timing. My suspicion is that the harmonic balancer may have slipped, so after a couple attempts, we set it by ear conservatively and Barry can advance it more to where he feels comfortable with it.
The car feels great and fired right up. The stronger spark really makes a difference! 
Ron Doug (inside joke)

[Roger]

Pickup coil bad? Good catch.
On one of the RFTH's a member had an ignition issue. I carry an ohmmeter and checked his coil. It checked good at 800 ohms. After having to tow the car the issue was found to be the pickup coil.
Apparently, heat issues with these things are a tricky thing to catch.

[GTRS Fiero]

He also reported that he found the source of the crazy sounds that had Pgackerman and I freaked out about.....it was the coolant purging air through the reservoir up front.

Did it sound like a machine gun firing?

[f85gtron]

Pretty close. I remember turning and looking at pgackerman, only to find that he was already looking at me and his hand was on the door handle to bail out, so I obliged and bailed too.  Given the unfamiliarity of both the car and the noise noise, his suggestion to run seemed like good form. All I remember is that the noise didn't belong there.

[GTRS Fiero]

It's very startling, even the second and third time, partly because it's unexpected.  I had a Mustang make a similar sound, when the freon vented to the exhaust manifold.