'83 SC, Hesitation Problem Gone

[Gordo2]

Should have an Icon with the Subject showing a dude with the clueless sign.

Mentioned in other threads I had a hesitation problem, 1,000 to 2,000 RPM.

Last night I decided to check oil level for first time. A little miffed when the idle changed upon opening of the oil fill cap (as in, did it really do that???). Owners manual confirmed this is normal (though for all my rational thought, I can't come up with a good reason why it would).

Oil level was about a quart high (apparently PPI 4 days prior didn't catch this one!). I know, not a good thing....

Next morning I dumped about a quart.

Fired it up and drove it into work. No hesitation whatsoever. Same for the drive home (for lunch and end of day, it was too nice out to leave my car sitting in the lot for lunch... needed a good excuse).

No clue why but it's the only thing I changed.

Out of curiosity, thoughts on how this would affect engine performance?

Gordo

[Superman]

I go for a lunch drive every day, too.

it's possible that's where your hesitation problem came from, but I doubt it.

[Wil Ferch]

Hi:
Some ideas...
Most folks overfill the car. The drill is flat surface, oil up to temp, and idle speed...then check while running.
Goal is to simply get out of the red zone under these conditions. If you fill to over the half-way mark ( or heaven forbid, even to "full" mark), then you may have an "overfull" condition at some later operating point of the car, say when the car is really hot, and the front oil lines ( to the front cooler) are active.
Then, the excess oil finds it way back into the air-inlet tract of our cars....you're basically sucking in oil into the air intake.
Hint...open your air filter. I'll bet it's now a grimy mess inside ( especially if you take it apart and look "downstream" of the filter housing...where the oil oveflow line enters the air tract).
This muck can make your car stutter, besides the momentary liquid ingestion that also makes the car hesitate...clean out the muck if you can.
Let us all know if you find such evidence !!
--Wil Ferch

[Jdub]

Wil is right on. Pull the rubber plenum (the rubber ribbed piece between the throttle body, on the left, and the sensor plate, on the right). Take a look down there and you'll see a bit of oil I am sure.

Typically this stuff also gets on the sensor plate, so that can imbalance the load on the plate (it moves via pressure) and so change how the car operates. If you decide to pull the air filter cover and air filter, you can get at the top and bottom of the sensor plate and remove the oil that you find there. BE CAREFUL of the sensor plate as its setting is fragile: it should be carefully supported as you use paper towels and Simple Green to remove the excess oil.

Now, next time you change the oil (or heck right now) make sure to pull the rubber hose that is attached to the oil fill tube at the top, just under the cap you spoke of. Take that tube and move it down so that all of the ugly brownish-white fluid you will now find in there can drain out.

John

PS What the heck is all this Doctor stuff about?
PPS: My pinky finger moves to my mouth in a silent salute! Thanks Dr. Island!