Anyone have 4age/ae86 experience?, Got some problems... Options

[Delta_Phoenix]

I'm working on an '86 ae86 and I'm having some trouble getting it to run. It'll start but after about 10 sec. it just dies. Planning on buying it IF I can get it to run. Looking for some advice. I'll add details if I get some responses.

[MaskedMan]

Hows the idle for those 10 seconds that it's running? Do you need to keep your foot on the gas to keep it running for those 10 seconds? An AFM issue would be my first guess. Are you a member of club4ag?

[nik]

I'm working on an '86 ae86 and I'm having some trouble getting it to run. It'll start but after about 10 sec. it just dies. Planning on buying it IF I can get it to run. Looking for some advice. I'll add details if I get some responses.

check the basic stuff spark , fuel, and air

[Valo666]

is it a 4AGE?? or is it a 4A??...SR5 or GTS?? I would say check the basics, fuel, spark, air on both. And if its GTS and has a 4age, check the connections on the fuel pump, and AFM. If its SR5, pull the air filter off and check the carb for gas. See what condition the gas is in. Smelly, burns on your fingers, dirty, etc. I have a feeling its more of an electrical problem if its 4AGE, but if its SR5 i have a feeling its a carb problem.

Also, just check for the corolla hole. Under the brake master cylinder, theres a hole that always rots out. Just check the structure of the firewall under it.

[97lestyousay]

I'm working on an '86 ae86 and I'm having some trouble getting it to run. It'll start but after about 10 sec. it just dies. Planning on buying it IF I can get it to run. Looking for some advice. I'll add details if I get some responses.

check the basic stuff spark , fuel, and air

x2 club 4age would have the most info on this but if you do some basic
troubleshooting it always helps.

[MaskedMan]

is it a 4AGE?? or is it a 4A??...SR5 or GTS?? I would say check the basics, fuel, spark, air on both. And if its GTS and has a 4age, check the connections on the fuel pump, and AFM. If its SR5, pull the air filter off and check the carb for gas. See what condition the gas is in. Smelly, burns on your fingers, dirty, etc. I have a feeling its more of an electrical problem if its 4AGE, but if its SR5 i have a feeling its a carb problem.

Also, just check for the corolla hole. Under the brake master cylinder, theres a hole that always rots out. Just check the structure of the firewall under it.

It says 4age in the title, so it's GTS sir . (unless it's a swapped SR5) If it is a swapped SR5 then that opens up a new world of possible gremlins.

[Delta_Phoenix]

Yay replies! Here's some details on what I know and what I've done to it.

So far I've installed:

New fuel pump
New ignition rotor
New fuel filter
New spark plugs
New clutch slave cylinder (irrelevant to my situation but it needed one anyway)

Hows the idle for those 10 seconds that it's running? Do you need to keep your foot on the gas to keep it running for those 10 seconds? An AFM issue would be my first guess. Are you a member of club4ag?

Idle is smooth as a baby's bottom, no misses or sputters. I don't have to keep my foot on the gas for it to start and idle. The MAF sensor looks to be in good condition; the flap opens and closes properly and the internals look good. And... no I'm not a member but I do have the page bookmarked, just haven't joined yet.

is it a 4AGE?? or is it a 4A??...SR5 or GTS?? I would say check the basics, fuel, spark, air on both. And if its GTS and has a 4age, check the connections on the fuel pump, and AFM. If its SR5, pull the air filter off and check the carb for gas. See what condition the gas is in. Smelly, burns on your fingers, dirty, etc. I have a feeling its more of an electrical problem if its 4AGE, but if its SR5 i have a feeling its a carb problem.

Also, just check for the corolla hole. Under the brake master cylinder, theres a hole that always rots out. Just check the structure of the firewall under it.

Yes it is a fuel injected 4A-GE bluetop, bigport head and T-VIS intake manifold. As far as the trim, I have no clue. It's an AE86 coupe. The previous owner, a friend of mine, said the motor was swapped in by the person that had it before him. I'm not a guru by any means on the AE86, but it hasn't been cut up or anything to allow room for the driveshaft, it looks completely factory. So whatever motor was in it before was also set up for RWD. The only evidence I've seen that this is a swap is that there are a couple plugs (one on each fender well) that aren't plugged into anything at all. The check engine light is functional but it isn't on after I start it, so I assume there's no problems recognized by the ECU. The gas was in "usable" condition. It had about a quarter tank sitting in it for a year or so and I added about 6 gallons of fresh 93 octane to it, along with some B12 cleaner. It's free of the rotting hole you mentioned


Now just some general info not covered previously. The timing on this thing is tricky, I'm still not sure if it's 100% correct. However, it does start and experiences no knock or anything, so if it's not exactly right, it's extremely close. I'm not sure if this would have the affect of causing it to die or not. It's getting plenty of fuel, and it's a good idea not to stick your hand over the intake cause it'll suck you in. I haven't tested spark at all but as I stated, it has brand new plugs and a new ignition rotor in the distributor. The distributor looks to be in good shape. The cap looks brand new. The plug wires are fairly new from what my friend tells me, so I didn't replace them.

After I start it, it doesn't want to take rev very well at all. I have to gradually give it throttle and it will rev up to about 4500 rpm before it starts to miss and dies almost instantly (timing?). After installing the new fuel filter it responded much better to throttle but still didn't solve the problem completely. There are some vacuum leaks that I'm still tracing down, but I expect them to be small and doubt this would cause the stalling. When it stalls, it's instant. There's no sputtering, missing (unless it's being revved), or vibration. It's like after 10 seconds (nearly exact every time), it stops getting spark. I could be wrong, but it seems like if it was still trying to ignite even while stalling it would sputter a bit. Giving it throttle when it stalls does absolutely nothing. That's about all I have for it... Everything works. Headlights, sunroof. Body is almost perfect, but paint needs some TLC. I really want this car to RUN!

[_mikeE]

Yeah I was gonna buy an '86 ae86 but I can't remember which motor it had. But it was slow, and needed a lot of work but it worked well, started up fine and ran ok-ish. But yeah if you're gonna get that car, you're gonna have a lot of maintenance work to do, and might be a good idea to rebuild the tranny. And how's the body on your car man? Post some pics!

[Valo666]

The only evidence I've seen that this is a swap is that there are a couple plugs (one on each fender well) that aren't plugged into anything at all.

Check to see if one of thouse connections is missing from the intake manifold. I know alot of AE owners get rid of T-VIS as one of their first mods. IF you friend just happened to disconnect the plug instead of actually removing it properly, that could be why its dying on you.

Also you checked cap/rotor/coil??

Plugs are a good thing to change, quick and easy, but you might also be just not gettin enough of a spark because of your cap and rotor aswell. Pull em off and check the contacts on the cap, and the point on the rotor and see if its clean or rusty. Also, maybe go out and spend $30 on a cheap MSD coil

[Delta_Phoenix]

The only evidence I've seen that this is a swap is that there are a couple plugs (one on each fender well) that aren't plugged into anything at all.

Check to see if one of thouse connections is missing from the intake manifold. I know alot of AE owners get rid of T-VIS as one of their first mods. IF you friend just happened to disconnect the plug instead of actually removing it properly, that could be why its dying on you.

Also you checked cap/rotor/coil??

Plugs are a good thing to change, quick and easy, but you might also be just not gettin enough of a spark because of your cap and rotor aswell. Pull em off and check the contacts on the cap, and the point on the rotor and see if its clean or rusty. Also, maybe go out and spend $30 on a cheap MSD coil

I put new spark plugs and a new rotor in it already, and the contacts on the cap look good. The plugs that aren't used are short, they won't move very far out of the fender well so whatever it was that was plugged in was mounted around that area. I haven't found anything that isn't plugged in and I briefly checked the solenoid for the TVIS yesterday and didn't find anything obviously wrong. I've found a couple of vacuum lines that were broken and I replaced those. I'm still searching for more. That car has so many vacuum connections... blah. The coil doesn't look too bad but a new one wouldn't hurt I suppose. It's starting to frustrate me. It never hesitates to start but why it won't stay running is beyond me.

[97lestyousay]

Listen to see if the injectors ar clicking using a screwdriver as a stethiscope. Also check the fuel pressure regulator.

This post has been edited by 97lestyousay: Mar 7, 2008 - 7:06 PM

[DEATH]

It never hesitates to start but why it won't stay running is beyond me.

This statement says wiring/sensor/electrical gremlin to me. I unfortunately have worked on a few of them in my lifetime.
I'm truly sorry I can't be of further help to you. Good luck bro.

[Delta_Phoenix]

Soon I'm going to install a new coil and check the fuel pressure. Not sure if that's gonna get me anywhere but it's worth a shot.

Also going to hook the timing light up to it and see what happens to it when it dies. The timing light should keep firing even as it's stalling, so this way I'll know if it's an ignition or a fuel cutoff. It has to be one of the two.

It never hesitates to start but why it won't stay running is beyond me.

This statement says wiring/sensor/electrical gremlin to me. I unfortunately have worked on a few of them in my lifetime.
I'm truly sorry I can't be of further help to you. Good luck bro.

I'm hoping that's not what it is. The previous owner hasn't done anything to cause an electrical problem, to my knowledge. He bought it, boosted it for a little while until the turbo blew a seal, removed the turbo setup and parked it. Everyone that I know has had their hands on it before me and they say that it wasn't acting up at all when he parked it.

[Kwanza26]

I didn't read any of the other responses... but as a previous owner of several AE86's... my first though was coil/ignitor and/or distributor...

[Delta_Phoenix]

Something just occurred to me. I noticed that when I rev the engine it will only get to about 4500 rpm before it starts to cut out. This is also (from what I've researched) the rpm that T-VIS opens up. Hmm..... Any thoughts?

I will inspect the T-VIS system and VSV when I go replace the coil and whatnot.

This post has been edited by Delta_Phoenix: Mar 8, 2008 - 5:20 PM

[Delta_Phoenix]

Something just occurred to me. I noticed that when I rev the engine it will only get to about 4500 rpm before it starts to cut out. This is also (from what I've researched) the rpm that T-VIS opens up. Hmm..... Any thoughts?

I will inspect the T-VIS system and VSV when I go replace the coil and whatnot.

Long time since I've updated this thread. Bumpity bump!

I've checked all vacs and all leaks are sealed. T-VIS system is properly connected. I've tried a different fuel pressure regulator and replaced the factory coil with a MSD Blaster and also a new distributor cap. Hmm, what else... Ah, here's the juicy stuff. I sprayed some B12 into the intake while it was running and it kept it running as long as I sprayed short bursts into it (not for too long though, 1 min. or so). So I don't have a spark problem. Took the damper off the fuel rail, broke a seal in the process and after reinstalling the damper without the copper seal, it squirted fuel. So, it's also getting pressure. The weird thing is that the fuel pump won't prime when the key is turned on - it's completely silent. It IS pumping though. I bought the car, so it's officially mine now!

But geez, it's frustrating...