TR problems when starting

Soooo... this has to be the last issue I'll ever have to tackle. It has to be, because I've done everything else imaginable to this car!

Anyway, here are the symptoms:

When starting cold, big puff of white smoke.
engine sounds like ****, low revs, bouncing between 500-1k RPM like its trying to work but having trouble
if I step on the gas it will rev up sometimes but then if I let go when its around 3k or higher, it will sometimes stall out.
Sometimes if I wait a little while (5min) then drive it, when stepping on the gas it takes a while to catch, then the revs go up steeply.

After the car is warmed up, everything is fine.
Major was done recently. O2 sensors were replaced then. Alternator recently rebuilt. and other stuffs I can't seem to remember.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

Sounds like you only have 6 (or less) cylinders.

 

How big is big and for how long does it smoke?

Are you sure it's white?
If it has a blue tint to it it's oil smoke.

Stand behind the car and have someone start it when it is stone cold. Don't touch the throttle.

When the smoke comes out stick your face in it and take a whiff.
If the smoke is pure white and smells sweet there's a chance it could be from coolant. (Anti-freeze/Ethylene glycol)

If it has blue tint I would lean towards oil smoke which is not uncommon on start-up in Boxers and TR's, especially after sitting for a long time or on a side slope.

No big deal.

 

No way of knowing what the stumbling idle and erratic RPM's are about. Impossible to analyze over the internet.

That's what a good scope is for. Don't guess, take it back to the shop, have them hook it up and find out once in for all, right away what is going on.

 

Ok, going to stick my face in some exhaust. I'll let you know on that.

I don't think it's running on 6, because once it warms up it's perfect. Unless it would start out on 6 and then catch all 12?

I'll call the shop today

 

Drew -- Is this a US version TR = F113A040 engine? If so, it's kind of interesting in that a lot of electrical things have to go "right" for cold-running to work OK; whereas, these systems are "off" during warm-running -- so if something was broken in these systems, it could give the symptom that you describe (cold-running = bad, but warm-running = perfect). I see that you're heading to the "shop", but if you'd (or they'd) like some suggestions (and it is something other than an early euro TR with a F113A engine) give a shout.

 

Thank you very much for the offer steve! The TR will go back once I get my 328 back from him. Some serious work going on there.

Funny enough, she started up and idled perfect today, no smoke either. So temperamental!

 

Yeah, I solved it. Unseated all electrical connections blew air in them, reconnected, and the thing drove great all day and started up perfect everytime.

However, little stalling issue is there. Drove it for 30min then revs were around 4k put in neutral to come to a stop and as revs dropped it just stalled out. Did it twice today.

Que paso?

 

is this a CIS injected car? if the idle air valve sticks that can cause a stall, if it starts to stall often you can disprove a lack of air by creating a vacume leak

 

TR's were CIS up to 1991. The '92 512 TR went to electronic port injection.

 

Solved no, changed yes.

We had almost the same situation on a 89 TR a short time ago and chased that Gremlin for the better part of two weeks.

As I am still highly skeptical of the results we obtained I have the same repairs being tested outside our shop on a car that runs well. If we can make a good running car run better....then we have a solid proven solution for TR's with problems. Frankly I never expected the results we obtained because our example ran quite well when it ran.

 

Mr. Helms - I know from reading your posts and the many comments here about you that you are somewhat of a magician with these cars. Your cryptic hinting in the above posts makes me rather curious as I long to be a magician's apprentice when it comes to the TR. Care to shed a little more light on this particular trick? Electrical? Injection? Eye of Italian newt?

 

Eye of Newt indeed.
That or "Secret Squirrel Stuff".

 

Some of that and a little Toe of Frog albeit I far prefer the "Secret Squirrel Stuff" label. If this works out I will be paying royalties to Spasso for that one.

We are testing a theory that in house has shown results I was not expecting. If I can get others to attain the same results outside our facility I will post more about it. I spent a fair amount of time over the weekend trying to understand what we realized and why. I am just starting to get my arms around it but remain skeptical until it is duplicated a few times. The two test subjects are a good running car and one with issues....we will know soon if there is anything to this.