engine "surgeing at idle"

[kepperly]

help,
last night after installing a new distributor cap and rotor,
i started my 87-3.2 and instead of the normal smooth
idle. it varied between 900- 1400 rpm. i haven,t a clue where to start as i'm sure replacing a distributor cap wouldn't cause it.
keith

[john walker's workshop]

try lowering the idle speed a small amount. it's the brass screw on the front of the throttle housing. the yellow plastic cap may be still on it, and that needs to be popped off. a 7mm socket is used to turn the hex to the right to slow it down. also, 3.2s tend to surge and die w/cold if the airflow meter is adjusted too lean. a 3mm allen wrench and a CO machine is needed to fix that. usually 1.2% CO with the oxy sensor unplugged works well. plug the sensor back in when you're done, and set the idle speed to 800RPM when it's hot. get it cold again and see how you did.

[kepperly]

john,
thanks a bunch, i wish you were in wichita so i could have a competent service person to do the work, but so far I've had to figure out everthing by myself, thank you very kindly for the advise.
keith epperly

[kepperly]

john,
i went back to fiddeling with it to check to make sure that
i had the distributor cap on correctly, yep installed right. checked on the one plug wire that i had pulled at the spark plug end yep
on right rechecked that all the plug wires went to the right cylnders, yep right. started car and it still surged, shut off car
made sure all electrical connection were still in place (just in case i had knocked one off) yep good. restarted car now it pours black smoke out and smells very rich. could the o2 sensor just fail?
my mechanic is about 10 miles away should i have it towed or just limp it in. i will be having the valves set and plugs replaced which requires an oil change anyway. is it posible to hydo lock
the motor from excess gasoline?
thanks keith

[Jdub]

Now what happened exactly between your second check of the wire ends and the restart? Did you play with any settings?

John

[john walker's workshop]

make sure all three sensor plugs above #3 cylinder are fully plugged in. the white one on top and 2 black ones below it.

[kepperly]

i did pull the yellow cap and adjust w 7mm 1/4 turn to right,
turn 1/4 to left still surges and then dies.
all plugs are in place.

[kepperly]

john,
o2 sensor?

[Targa77]

Sounds like you're not getting good spark. While changing out the cap, you could've damaged one of the wires in the process. They will become brittle over the years. Check each wire with an ohmmeter. I believe resistance should be 4000 ohms. If I'm wrong, someone correct me.

[kepperly]

well off it goes to the mechanic this morning, i,m going to try to drive it. If and when we get it sorted out i will post the fix, so
stay tuned the information i get ,with the associated cost will
be shared with this board.
good day and wish me luck getting it the ten miles to the wrench.
keith

[87 slant nose]

WELL IT MADE IT TWO BLOCKS, LUCKY I HAD THE CELL PHONE.
WATCHED WHILE THE (TOW TRUCK DRIVER) EXHAUST WAS SCRAPED ALONG THE GROUND ON ITS WAY UP ON THE TRUCK AND BACK DOWN. DRIVER JUST BLEW IT OF. STAY TUNED
KEITH

[87 slant nose]

JUST REALIZED I HAVE TWO USER NAMES, ONE FROM WORK AND ONE FROM HOME. ANYWAY AT LEAST YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE CAR NOW.
KEITH

[Targa77]

Aaaaargh. The last time my car was towed, the driver had a special lift that prevents that on low-riding cars. I watched him like a hawk anyway. Good luck.

[87 slant nose]

CARRERA OWNERS WITH "DME"!!! THE SPARK PLUG WIRES ARE
CRITICAL TO THE OPERATION OF THE "DME". I HAD ONE BAD
WIRE AND THE WHOLE SYSTEM WENT TO ****. REPLACED THE ONE BAD WIRE , DISCONNECTED AND RECONNECTED THE BATTERY
AND ALL IS GOOD AGAIN. I WILL BE HAVING THE PLUGS CHANGED
AND THE VALVES SET WHILE IN FOR SERVICE, BUT IT WAS A LARGE
BURDEN LIFTED HEARING IT RUN RIGHT AGAIN. CAN,T WAIT TO DRIVE IT WITH EVERYTHING CORRECT. I WILL POST THE TOTAL BILL FOR NATION WIDE COMPARISON. THANKS TO EVERYONE THAT HAS ANSWERED THIS POST.
THANKS KEITH

[nhromyak]

Spark plug wires... critical for DME???

Really?

Interesting....

Keep us posted!

[kepperly]

yes! my "wrench is adament" that with one no fireing cylnder
the dme reads a rich condition in the exhaust and leans for 1
cylcle then normal for the next five. that caused the surgeing
and after awhile cause the spark sensor to heat up loosing fire the the whole system.
it was best to tow in and not loose the complete dme due to power inequity amoungest cyclinders.?
keith

[john70t]

On the subject of dumping fuel, if it's extreme enough your catalitic converter maybe be damaged by the heat of overreaction, or just merely catch the undercoating on fire.
I just saw a car fire go through two extinguishers without a flinch untill the firetruck showed up. Luckly it was a reliant k.

[Targa77]

That's one nice car you have there slantnose.

[kepperly]

heh man I'm in Kansas whats a catilitick conversion.
i get the car back on thrusday i could of got it today but my wrench consented to keep it inside one more night while i had
the valve covers powder coated. i did top and bottoms in gloss black picked them up 7 hrs after dropping them off for 40.00 bucks
plus tax. took them home and gound the p/c off of the upper vc
PORSCHE and on the lower turbo cover the webbing fins ,looks
nice. i will give them back to jeff tommorow and get it back in time for my friday drive to work. i will post the total for the job and detailed cost for each task performed for nation wide comparison.
thanks for tuning in.
keith

[87 slant nose]

total for the car was $358.00 including tow in!
valve adjustment- $150.00
install new plugs- $50.00
oil change-$25.00
change fuel filter- $30.00
scope and diagnois drivability problem and replace one bad spark plug wire- $50.00
tow in flat bed 10 miles-$35.00

I was allowed to provide all parts, plugs, valve cover gaskets,
and the oil of my choice(15w50 mobil-1) and fuel filter and oil
filter which i had acummulated from ebay sales and cataloge
specials. I have new spark plug wires on order from Allan Johnson Porsche for $205.00 for the set which should complete
my service for the next 15,000 miles.
please comment on pricing in your area for simular services.
again thanks to everyone that helped.
keith epperly