Well I finally got my hands on a timing light to check the timing with the Spout off. It's a dead solid 10 degrees with it off and all the way up to 30 when revving with it on. Now for the goofy part:
I know the left coil should fire all the time. The right coil should turn on and off as needed dictated by the DIS I think. (The left fires the drivers side. The left is also the front coil, according to theservice manual, the right fires the passenger side and is the back coil) When I rev up the car with the timing light on the left side of the engine will randomly stop firing, not just 1 or 2 plugs but the whole coil thus every plug on the coil stops. It will pick back up in firing but will 'stumble fire' all the way to red line. Now from what I'm gathering it is either the coil or the DIS telling it to turn off, which I'm not sure how to track down.
Now I know the DIS controls a lot of factors in this car but does it also control the automatic tranny? As my trans acts hella goofy as well. Only having OD if I knock it into OD above 30 mph and will 'slip out' under 30. Oddly it will also 'slip out at WOT' in OD only. The bands arn't slipping and the gears are still fine. It feels like whatever it is is electriclly controlled by some messed up unit in the car, which again I'm not sure. So in my never ending quest of just throwing a $100 at it every chance I get I'm trying to track down what might be the real cause. I know a DIS unit is like $80 but the coils are another $100 or so. So $300 to maybe make it better isn't a 'Feel good' plan in my eyes. Does anyone know how to tell if a DIS or ECM is really messed up? It throws no codes and runs 'ok' (it'd still get it's ass handed to it by my Scion which is a dog). I've replaced the fuel filter and fuel pump, plugs and filter and gotten some improvement but nothing great. I noticed that sometimes the rpms are really slow to drop back down to idle sometimes.
Randomly it feels like a vacuum valve or something sticks because after driving it for a while when i put it in park it idles up to about 1500 rpm. I can fix it by revving it to 3200 rpm and letting it idle back down. If I just put it in OD while stopped it will idle up to about 1100 or 1200 rpm while it freewheels. However there is no reason for the trans to turn the idle up via vacuum so it must be electrical. I'm thinking the two are related to the same module but can't find specific tests for it. When i drop the car into drive I skip OD, but it Cluck Clunks into OD then D when I move the gear selector. I'm guessing whatever controls the OD silonoid also controls the idle speed. Am I right? Anyone have any insight?
I've also noticed that after a while my tempature will just climb, to near overheating levels. When this happens the car will idle down and run really rough for about 5 seconds, then will run better than it ever has, including the tranny. The gauge never reads over 2 lines from overheating but will wonder anywhere from 2 lines from cold to 2 lines form overheating. I don't have a real temp gauge to check it with so again it's a shot in the dark.
BTW I've put 3000 miles on this car in this state and aside from it being somewhat sluggy and kicking out of OD the car runs pretty dang good. more than worth the $500 I paid for it, but I've thrown $300 at it in guessed repairs.
I know the left coil should fire all the time. The right coil should turn on and off as needed dictated by the DIS I think. (The left fires the drivers side. The left is also the front coil, according to theservice manual, the right fires the passenger side and is the back coil) When I rev up the car with the timing light on the left side of the engine will randomly stop firing, not just 1 or 2 plugs but the whole coil thus every plug on the coil stops. It will pick back up in firing but will 'stumble fire' all the way to red line. Now from what I'm gathering it is either the coil or the DIS telling it to turn off, which I'm not sure how to track down.
Now I know the DIS controls a lot of factors in this car but does it also control the automatic tranny? As my trans acts hella goofy as well. Only having OD if I knock it into OD above 30 mph and will 'slip out' under 30. Oddly it will also 'slip out at WOT' in OD only. The bands arn't slipping and the gears are still fine. It feels like whatever it is is electriclly controlled by some messed up unit in the car, which again I'm not sure. So in my never ending quest of just throwing a $100 at it every chance I get I'm trying to track down what might be the real cause. I know a DIS unit is like $80 but the coils are another $100 or so. So $300 to maybe make it better isn't a 'Feel good' plan in my eyes. Does anyone know how to tell if a DIS or ECM is really messed up? It throws no codes and runs 'ok' (it'd still get it's ass handed to it by my Scion which is a dog). I've replaced the fuel filter and fuel pump, plugs and filter and gotten some improvement but nothing great. I noticed that sometimes the rpms are really slow to drop back down to idle sometimes.
Randomly it feels like a vacuum valve or something sticks because after driving it for a while when i put it in park it idles up to about 1500 rpm. I can fix it by revving it to 3200 rpm and letting it idle back down. If I just put it in OD while stopped it will idle up to about 1100 or 1200 rpm while it freewheels. However there is no reason for the trans to turn the idle up via vacuum so it must be electrical. I'm thinking the two are related to the same module but can't find specific tests for it. When i drop the car into drive I skip OD, but it Cluck Clunks into OD then D when I move the gear selector. I'm guessing whatever controls the OD silonoid also controls the idle speed. Am I right? Anyone have any insight?
I've also noticed that after a while my tempature will just climb, to near overheating levels. When this happens the car will idle down and run really rough for about 5 seconds, then will run better than it ever has, including the tranny. The gauge never reads over 2 lines from overheating but will wonder anywhere from 2 lines from cold to 2 lines form overheating. I don't have a real temp gauge to check it with so again it's a shot in the dark.
BTW I've put 3000 miles on this car in this state and aside from it being somewhat sluggy and kicking out of OD the car runs pretty dang good. more than worth the $500 I paid for it, but I've thrown $300 at it in guessed repairs.