Why does my '74 1.8 sometimes run so RICH?, After a bit of driving, it won't idle Options

[drdstny]

Hello many kindred,

So I drive my 914 every day, about 60 miles per day to be exact. Almost immediately, I noticed that (this is so hard to believe I'm having trouble posting) if the left engine heater hose comes off the heater blower, the car won't idle and will stall unless I keep the R's up above 2K.

So...I fixed that with some Tape.

Before I Taped it to the blower, it was predictable: if the car suddenly started running rough, rich, with smoke pouring out of it, then I knew I needed to put the hose back on.

Since I "repaired" the hose, now it's less certain. About halfway to work, once I hit traffic and have to stop-n-go, it idles rough. VERY rough, and I need to side-step the gas to keep the engine from stalling. Smoke will come pouring out of the tailpipe, my eyes water, can't breathe, lose faith in humanity, diet goes awry, idle won't calm down...you get the idea.

Seems like it only does this after about half an hour of driving, and USUALLY letting it sit for a couple hours will make the problem go away. Not always, but usually.

The first thing I tried was changing both seals (O-ring and gasket) on the oil cap (recall it's a 1.8), but that made zero difference.

So...anybody have any idea what's wrong? Just as good: anybody have a list of things I can test or replace until the problem is fixed?

This is a serious issue, and the last two tanks of gas have been sub-20MPG so I'd really appreciate the help. I'll send something nice to the person who gets me out of this jamb.

Thanks!

[Rockaria]

If I were to guess at one thing... The part that made me nuts on mine was a bad wire into the Head Temperature Sensor. At one point it was just lose enough that it worked unless you moved the wire and it would basically disconnect the wire temporarily and making it go full rich. Then I would touch it again and it would go back to normal. A new CHT and all was well. Heat at the head could be a factor, maybe. I also had a bad fuel pressure regulator. The vacuum part would work intermitantly giving it higher and lower fuel pressure at wild times. A new one and all was well.

Once I got all of my L-JET parts fixed and renewed it runs without trouble and has for years now, Knock on wood!

Just my extra thoughts.... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beer.gif)