I can easily start mine in second without smoking the clutch.

Low Compression??

Well, after driving around this morning with the new head temp sensor the car is deffinately driving better. I didn't get as hot as it did the other day, but I was not sitting in any traffic. I am going to inspect the oil cooler next then check for dirt on the cylinder heads to see if that could be causing the problem. I will have to have the AFM checked next. Unfortunately this will all have to wait until next week since I'm out of town. Thanks a lot for all of the input. I will post with what I find as soon as i figure it out.

Hi Masraum, over here, all 3.2's from (and including) '86 onwards have low compression. Only the '84-'85 models have 231HP. VERY noticable diff.

Plugged Catalytic Converter maybe?

Im becoming somewhat of an expert with one, as I believe I just fried mine. From what I understand, a plugged Cat will significantly reduce HP in a Carerra.

Its not easy to fry one, if your engine is misfiring like mine is... fuel gets into the Cat and burns there. Now I smell some funky plastic like smell coming from the Cat, and its probably friend. Im gonna bang out the comb inside and just run it wide open like a test pipe.

Until you need to get it smogged...

Talk to me in 2 years my friend. I just had it smogged and will deal with it in 2 years when its up for smogging again. :)

Hurting the environment? Maybe...but there are studies that show that 'having' a Cat, will hurt the ozone layer...so it works both ways.

Interesting that you mention the cat. About six months ago, the car somehow tosted its dizzy rotor and was badly misfiring.
Here is what the rotor looked like when I replaced it.
No Idea what caused this, but it's been fine ever since.
[IMG] [/IMG]
I had to drive the car about 9 miles to get it home badly misfiring all the way, but still ran ok. The cat was VERY hot from burning all of the unburnt fuel off. It wasn't red hot, but it was hot enough that I could feel it from about 4 feet away. I took off the tire to keep it from cooking it. I hadn't thought of that causing any long term damage. I would think that overheating the cat would clean it out if anything. Anyone else have ideas on this. Since we do not have smog testing here in Indy, gutting the cat is an option

You drove it 9 miles w/ that rotor?? :eek:

Instead of "gutting your cat", just get the Dansk euro pre-muffler, you'll have the right amount of back-pressure and they don't cost that much. :cool:

Eurospec (RoW)was always 231
US (cat equipped models) was 207 and then rose to 217 in 87

Australia, Sweden and Switzerland had a different tune for noise and emissions. Lots have said these cars felt very different

Air Flow Meter flaps get "tired" and need to be adjusted. Also, my car was running way lean and had the on/off over 4000 rpms that you describe. Dealt with both of these and set the CO/idle, and now there is a noticable low-end torque increase.

On the temp issue, I vote for the aux cooler thermostat as noted by Mike F. I had this problem in my 87 Carrera. The T-Stat is set to open around 195 degrees or so (the marking on the T-stat in my car said 90 degrees celsius). This means that once the temp gauge moves a bit past the first mark the aux cooler should come into play and you should see an initial drop in temperature. My T-stat was not opening at the right temp so I took it apart and the pin was stuck (there is what looks like a small metal golf tee inside that pushes out and opens a valve as temp goes up). I pulled the pin out and cleaned the whole mechanism with parts cleaner. I then did some tests using boiling water to be sure the pin pushed out at above 200 degrees. It worked fine after the cleaning. The other option is buying a new T-stat, but that is pretty pricey.

Mine seems to be sticky. If I get on the road and stay at a constant speed I can drive all day and see about 215. If I get on the road until the car gets up to temp and then get stuck at a light or in traffic so the temp goes to 230 then once I get moving the temp will go back down to about 205 and stay there. Almost as if it needed the extra heat to overcome sticking.