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Car Starts, then Stalls

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87Ltd

Senior Member
Joined
May 25, 2001
Messages
72
Hi All,

This is gonna be a long post, but I'm really stumped by this problem with my '87 Turbo T. Up until November the car ran fine. Then over the holidays I decided to redo my VDO oil pressure guage to work with the factory idiot light so I tee'd them to work together. While I was at it I decided to add the RJC power plate and clean up the EGR passages. All went well till I started the car up. It'd start for a split second then would stall really fast. A friend said to try unhooking the MAF connector in case it was bad. Car started up but rpm's pegged at 2000! I thought a unhooked MAF would make the car barely idle... Anyways, I had a spare (good) OEM MAF that I had in the garage. Put it in, starts then stalls really quick also. I unhook the connector, fast idle at 2000 rpm again. I figure it's time for the Translator and new MAF. Ordered a Trans+ and 3" MAF from Mike. Just got it last week. Hooked it up under the hood but left the timing connector unhooked. Same problem again! Unhook connector, fast idle at 2000! I'm lost, is this a sign of another bad MAF?



Garjohn
 
Speaking with an embarrased look on my face ;)

I had to make some changes that made it necessary to pull and then re-install my RJC plate.

Long story short, I had forgotten to tighten down the screws holding the vacuum block on top of the throttle body. Result: One massive vacuum leak past the throttle blade. Car would fire and die immediately (almost the same symptoms of an anti theft chip).

Check all your fittings, especially that one. ;)
 
Good point Turbodave. I did suspect a vacuum leak initially, so I pulled the doghouse to see if anything was wrong. When I put started to tighten the 5 bolts down , I noticed the last one at the back was spinning. I believe the torque for the bolts is 10-11 ft-lbs (please correct me if I'm wrong). So I put a helicoil to fix the stripped hole in the intake. Figured problem was solved. Same start/stall problem. I have tightened the vacuum block down. But I will cut a new thicker gasket to use. That gasket and the throttle body gasket are kinda thin. Do you think these gaskets need to be replaced once they've been compressed/tightened down once (i.e. reuseable) ?

PS, so when a bad MAF is suspected and the connector is unhooked, is the idle supposed to be really low or really high?
 
Originally posted by 87Ltd
Good point Turbodave. I did suspect a vacuum leak initially, so I pulled the doghouse to see if anything was wrong. When I put started to tighten the 5 bolts down , I noticed the last one at the back was spinning. I believe the torque for the bolts is 10-11 ft-lbs (please correct me if I'm wrong). So I put a helicoil to fix the stripped hole in the intake. Figured problem was solved. Same start/stall problem. I have tightened the vacuum block down. But I will cut a new thicker gasket to use. That gasket and the throttle body gasket are kinda thin. Do you think these gaskets need to be replaced once they've been compressed/tightened down once (i.e. reuseable) ?

PS, so when a bad MAF is suspected and the connector is unhooked, is the idle supposed to be really low or really high?

I've never really troubleshot my MAF that way so I can't say what's supposed to happen. I've always kept a spare around for troubleshooting. IT's such an important part to the car's overall well being, I've always spent the money for an extra.


As for the gasket on top the throttle body, I've always reused mine (although with a very thing coat of RTV Ultra Copper on each side out near the edges) for years. I was hoping it was something simple like a vacuum leak. Although it would take a massive vacuum leak to kill the engine right after start up like that. Something minor like a gasket leak or one loose bolt on the doghouse wouldn't do that.
 
What do you mean when you say you T'd the VDO to the idiot light? Details.
 
Scottyb,

I originally had a VDO sender where the factory sender was. Decided to have both the factory idiot/warning light work. So I put a brass Tee (with a 90 degree elbow on the Tee) to the factory fittting so I could use both the VDO and factory sending units together.
 
Well, I jumped the gun on my reply and I hadn't read all of your first post. Sorry. I was heading in the direction that the ECM wasn't seeing oil pressure signal and shutting things back down. I don't know the details on the oil pressure requirements (as if it will fire, but shut down after a short period of no pressure signal), but just a thought.
 
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