WTF help please

dg58004 · 07-05-2009, 05:46 PM

My 86 944 N/A that I drive everyday has done something I cannot figure out. I was driving down the road about 75mph going to work and all of a sudden my gas peddle goes away. Everything cont. to work fine I just have no peddle what so ever, the car just goes to idle and I am coasting. I pull over and look under the hood thinking that the cable broke but it was fine. So as I am sitting there I try to start the car again. The car starts up but I still have no gas peddle but this time the car is cutting out at idle and finally dies. After sitting their about 10 minutes more I tried to start the car again and everything was fine and I took off and everything worked liked it should, as I was pulling into the parking lot the car did the exact same thing all over again. Any Ideas would be great.

cjpacitto · 07-05-2009, 06:47 PM

just a wild guess, but could the throttle position sensor have gone bad???

AaronM · 07-06-2009, 09:16 AM

A failed TPS would not cause a drop to idle condition; it would cause stumbling and poor running certainly, but it wouldn't stop the throttle plate from opening up which means the engine would not just drop to idle. You can disconnect the TPS and the engine will still rev.

There are several possibilities; just off the top of my head:

1) Failed Air Flow Meter; this would lead to improper mixture and could possibly cause the DME to only supply enough fuel for idle operation.

2) Failed DME.

3) Intermittent obstruction in the intake tract; this would mimic the effect of a closed throttle plate.

Overall though, this seems like it's going to be one of those issues that's a pain to track down. Electronics are fun like that, especially before the days of easily consulted error codes.

Oh, and please don't take this wrong, but it's "pedal", not "peddle". "Peddle" is a verb that means, "to sell"; "pedal" is a noun meaning, "a foot-operated lever".

AKCJ · 07-06-2009, 09:47 AM

This is why I keep a spare AFM and DME in my garage.

Seriosly, those are the two most likely problems I can think of. An intermittent problem like this could be hard to nail down. You could work over the AFM (Air Flow Meter) so that it works like new again. You can also get your DME resoldered (or do it yourself if you can). Search for both of these proceedures. Note, there's a utube video of the AFM procedure. If the DME failed a resolder may not be the fix.

You could also buy a used AFM and DME or borrow from someone.

Good Luck - let us know what you find.