1986 TR ignition cut out

you mean a 86 testarossa? not a TR?
with or without cats?
US or euro model?

 

No, CELs present on any testarossa (so no matter what's wrong, nor how badly it's running, you'll never see a CEL). On easy thing you could try is unplugging the single O2 sensor wires forcing it to run open-loop when warm (make sure you clearly label the O2 wires so they don't get swapped) -- if it then doesn't have the symptom = bad sign for either the cam timing or something in the air injection system. Most likely your trouble is (hopefully) elsewhere, but this is a very easy test to do.

 

steve, the car has no cats, so nevertheless it has then O2 sensors?
the european cars without cats have no O2 sensor

 

I think the complete system is running too lean
may be getting wrong air from somewhere?

 

US version TR (KE-Jet with Lambda) have O2 sensors (see post #3) -- if the cats have been removed, the O2 sensors should still be present.

 

Depends what you mean by "idle setting". The mixture screw should be adjusted at warm idle (no air injection) with the O2 sensors unplugged after balancing the vacuum in the two banks (but your symptom seems more serious to me than just a slightly misadjusted at idle mixture screw).

 

right, so in the US all had cats?
in germany they started with cats about 1987 and of course they had then O 2 sensors. but those without cats never had O 2 sensors.
so as jason write I think the cats had not been removed, the car came without cats?
so the car has a KE or only a K jetronic? would be good if jason could tell us

 

Yes, all US version TR were built with precats and cats.

 

Steve is very good at this so I typically butt out when he is helping but in my opinion one important piece of information has not been stated. When did this start?
Did it run fine prior to the service? It started as soon as it was received from the service?

I have had a few cases of same period cars with fuel starvation with nearly exact symptoms. TR has 2 fuel systems so it would be unusual. If this started when returned from service was any fuel system work done? Were fuel pump connector hoses replaced? Could those be kinked or sucking shut? I found it in a 328 by driving with a fuel pressure gauge attached. I was shocked how little fuel pressure needed to drop on a CIS system to have it act like there was zero pressure. They are very sensitive to consistent input pressure.

 

pull the throttle position sensor. jump the 1 and 2 with a wire. this eliminates the E part of the KE Jetronic. Then drive like that and if the problem goes away, then your fuel and ignition and tach relay should be working right.

 

What does "hot" mean? What does the coolant temp gauge read when the problem starts? Something like 155-160 deg F (i.e., a little below the first hash mark above 140 deg F) or closer to 195 deg F? Also, does the problem always start at the exact same coolant temp gauge reading?

 

thank you steve, have not known this

 

1. Maybe, but, if you can determine which bank, and then swap just the power modules to see if the problem moves to the other bank, and then swap the coils to see if the problem moves to the other bank, that would help you identify which component is the bad player.
2. Very unlikely. Can't recall a single report of the tachometric relay failing and then rehealing in an intermittent way. Also, if the tachometric relay fails = both fuel pump relays unenergized = both fuel pumps off = engine dies.
3. No. When the idle microswitch fails (and does not close at idle) = idle ignition is advanced = idle RPM higher. Otherwise, the idle microswitch is always open. The WOT microswitch only closes at very large throttle openings and just adds extra enrichment.
4. Maybe, but again I can't recall a failure there being intermittent nor something that heats up and fails, but then is OK again after cooling (it's not a high current gizmo). Not sure how you could monitor this when running, but maybe you could make this resistance measurement at the injection ECU connectors while wiggling the connection to the thermister to see if anything changes:
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When you replaced the fuel pump did you inspect their connections in the y white horizontal connector for burning/frazzling? These connections can have a behavior of working when cold, but then failing after they heat up a bit:
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One more question that has not been asked. When it cuts out over 3000 is that only at full throttle?

Or will it do same at light throttle?

I have many times driven a car with a timing light connected and the unit in the car so I can determine if I have an ignition failure or a fuel system failure. It takes a unit with very long cords. You can switch left and right bank as well.