chaseincats

Quick question - the "mode door"'s foam I'm sure is on its way out because with the car on vent or AC, a small amt of heat comes through the heater vent on the bottom. I tried pulling on the vacuum pod that opens/shuts it and it's all the way down. Any idea how big (or small) a pain it is to re-foam the mode door (sometimes called the blend door)? Is this doable without taking the dash out?

Haha sounds good. I just went to check and this is my ECU's version label like we were talking about:

Oh gotcha, that makes sense. I'll give that a shot next time but this literally happens every few months so it may be a while before I'm able to test that theory.

Interesting theories, I'll try and answer them in order! - I haven't opened the ecu before but there is a number on the side which should denote which it is - I can grab that tonight - I haven't tried this but am a bit confused. If the starter doesn't crank and the engine isn't running, how would the a/f ratio be readable? Sidenote: I forgot to mention earlier that before I shut it off last time when I returned to the garage, I popped the hood and unplugged the TPS to see if it leaned itself out further as it should. It indeed did go leaner at idle but noticeably less of a change than if it was not in a lean-boot mode. We're talking going from mid 14s to upper 14s instead of low 14s to 16. Not sure if that data point is useful or not but I figured it couldn't hurt bringing it up! -chase

Yep. The only thing not stock about it is the tuning we all worked through on this thread.

Lean boot is a fantastic way of describing this. Yeah it literally will run lean for the duration of that boot. I ran it like that for my entire trip then when I got in the garage I shut it off and immediately turned it back on and it dropped back down into the 14s.

Will do. Why do you think a restart solves it though?

Yesterday was pretty hot actually - mid 90s.

Here's an interesting observation. Every so often (a handful of times since finishing this project) I've noticed the car running more lean than usual (in the 16s instead of 14s). Any idea why that would be? All the contacts are clean and literally the only thing I do to fix this is shut the car off and just restart it - then the computer behaves properly. This has literally happened maybe 2-3 times since I was able to read the engine's a/f ratio with the gauge and is a non-issue since a restart fixes it but I am curious. Reminds me of "The IT Crowd"'s famous line, "have you tried turning it off and on again?"

Interesting, I very well might give that a shot. Thanks for all the info.

Interesting. My question then is, since the hole is pretty tiny, am I losing vacuum advance movement on my distributor since the EGR is now taking some of that vacuum or is there enough vacuum for everybody?

Definitely - a fire extinguisher was one of the first things I bought when I got the car years ago haha

It's EFI. I'll try to start it in the garage and look under it for wet spots on the lines.

The fuel filter and lines are brand new and pretty tight on there (no pressure gauge but I may get one in the future).

Hi guys, I noticed yesterday a periodic gasoline (not exhaust) smell in the cabin while driving with the windows down. With the windows up, the smell disappears. I opened the hood while the car was running and didn't smell any gasoline then got under the car near the fuel pump and didn't smell it there either. I thought it could be the vapor tank hoses but if that was the case, I'd smell it in the cabin all the time I'd think. I can only smell it while driving with the windows down. Any ideas? EDIT: I started it and sniffed all over the engine bay and it seems to be coming from the passenger side firewall area (near the battery). I'm guessing it's being blown back there by the fan. I tightened all the fuel line hose clamps (which I was able to tighten maybe a quarter turn) but the hoses looked fine. I checked my carbon canister's filter which looks brand new. Any other spots I should check? I really only smell it while the car is running.

Interesting I had no idea there was a size differential. I did take it out last night with everything connected and did notice the car was a little bit more sluggish, I'm assuming that's mostly due to EGR and not the carb canister? I had the canister hooked up for a while before I discovered it had a small vacuum leak.

Thanks for the pictures, so the OEM throttlebody does seem to have two inlets

Gotcha - where did you hook up your distributor's vacuum advance pod?

Does the OEM throttle body have 2 ported vacuum ports? I have the weber big-throat one and it only has one port so I was considering using 2 T-connectors to hook the carbon canister, distributor and EGR to the same port, would that work?

Does anyone know where the EGR's vacuum line plugs in? I read in the FSM that it plugs into the throttle body's ported vacuum port but then it notes that the only thing that is plugged in there is the T connector that comes from the dizzy & charcoal canister... Any ideas?

Gotcha thanks! The car was originally automatic but the PO converted it to manual so them overlooking that wiring might also be it. Since the part number is the same, I'm guessing there wouldn't be any reason to swap the plugs so its wired 'correctly' right?

So this is an odd one - I opened my engine relay bracket (the one under the black metal cover on the passenger's side) to clean the teeth on the relays and noticed one relay wasn't plugged in and there doesn't seem to be a connector for it on the harness (top middle). Any ideas what's going on here? The car runs as-is but I'm just curious

So I went down just now with a fuel pressure gauge and unplugged the oil pressure switch connector and the pump indeed did come on. Does that mean my fuel pressure control relay was stuck open all these years?

The pump (when I last used a gauge between the filter and rail a few years back) read 36 when the pump was primed and during operation. Today, it reads 10 during priming and 36 during operation which seems to be the issue.

I'll try that today and report back. I actually tested it with the FPR vacuum hose unplugged (and capped) and got the same result. I also checked the FPR for vacuum leaks but it's solid.