Greetings Tifosi. Had my '82GTSi out for a run last week and stopped in at the office. Car was running great as it has for the past few years. Came back out about an hour later and it was running rough. Tried to play with the idle adjustment by bumping it up but to no avail.....(should've known not to touch the idle but I was open to trying anything to get the car running in my parking lot.) Limped the car home and discovered no fire on 1-4. Found out the rotor's contact tab had let go and distributor cap were both done from the rotor tab letting go and gouging contact posts inside distributor. I replaced the rotor and distributor cap, new plugs, checked for spark, all good on the 1-4 bank and tried to fire it up. It took a little while to fire but when it eventually did, it was running very rough. Pulled the 1-4 plugs and they were black with soot. Checked all of the vacuum lines to make sure nothing came undone and all was good. I am going to take another look at the distributor, rotor and plug wires again but would like to know if anyone can give me a baseline for the adjustment of the idle screw (from fully seated-turned in) which I admittedly probably threw out of whack. Cheers and thanks in advance for the assistance.
Just for the record and a starting point. Did you adjust the big idle screw with the hex or the little idle screw with the screw driver or both?
I only fiddled with the large hex head idle screw and I turned it by hand. I didn't touch any other adjustment screws.
If only one bank is still sooty then it may suggest a bank and not an idle issue. But to answer your question. My 82 idle is set about +\- 1 turn out. This screw will mainly adjust the idle speed. Mine rests about 900-1000 rpm when warm. I had the same issue with cracked rotor... Twice even.... Switched suppliers and no more issues.
From fully turned in by hand, the large hex head screw on your car is one full turn outward-correct? I didn't get a chance to check the plugs on the 5-8 bank as that side was working fine. I will pull 5-8 tomorrow night and check them. Thanks
Yes from finger tight closed (cw), turn (ccw) approx one turn to obtain starting point. Again this screw only adjusts idle speed if nothing else was changed. Good luck on the hunt for the ruff idle.
Expansion tank connections are all good. I turned off the shop lights and had my son watch for any sparking on plug wires. He didn't see any arcing. I also tried one turn out on the hex head screw one full turn, no difference, it is still struggling to start and very rough when it finally gets going. Pretty sure it is only running on one bank. Is there any chance that a crank sensor could be damaged by the rotor and distributor cap problem? I am going to call it a night and re-check the rotor, distributor, plug wires and plugs again tomorrow. If anyone has other potential issues I could check, please feel welcome to share your thoughts. Cheers
Could also be a digiplex problem. Switching the wires around on the units will rule that in or out. Yes a crank sensor could be an issue. The rear bank (1-4) is close to the distributor and the wires may have been disturbed. Yes recheck the distributor and rotor including the carbon button on coil wire in cap.
No not yet on the cold injector. We are going to focus on the 1-4 ignition right now and make sure that the distributor wires on 1-4 were correctly re-installed, the carbon button is in the right position and that the replacement rotor is fine. These were the only parts that were changed. Never hurts to re-trace steps and start again. We checked all of the plug wires on 1-4 to make sure they were firing and they were all fine when we pulled them and put a new plug in and grounded the plug on the engine. There was a strong smell of unburned fuel last night and with the black plugs (they were brand new yesterday) I am thinking that the timing sequence might be off. Quick question though....if the 1-4 digiplex unit was dead I wouldn't be getting spark-correct...? Cheers and thanks !
That's just a bypass, and opening it up has exactly the same effect as very slightly depressing the gas pedal. If at a reasonable idle speed the car isn't running well, the problem is somewhere else. Sooty plugs on 1-4 and clean plugs on 5-8 very stringly suggests an ignition problem with the 1-4 bank - the fuel delivery system works the same for both banks.
All good. Got the new cap and rotor set up, changed the plugs checked all connections, got the idle in its zone and the old gal is running stronger than ever. Thanks to everyone for their input. Cheers
