Correction Over Heating issue with Daily Driver, 1971 with 73 1.7 and Side Shift Options

[falconfp2001]

About a month ago my Driver started running badly just out of the blue. So, I parked it on the Drive way and attempted to trouble shoot the issue. I came up with nothing and seemed to make it worse. I broke down and had it towed to my trusted mechanic and a few days later he had it running good and called for me to pick it up.

While paying for the work, he informed me that my car was running a (CORRECTION) little Lean so he adjusted it for me.

Since it is a daily driver I've never had problems driving my stop and go commute until now. The car seems to start heating up the longer I stay in stop and go traffic and my gas mileage is not what it used to be. By the time I get to work in about an hour my engine seems to be running at barely 500 rpms instead of bouncing between 900 and 1K.

I think he adjusted the fuel pressure to high and I'm slowly flooding as the longer I drive not the longer distance I drive. I also think that stop and go traffic increases the flooding as I'm constantly stepping on the peddle.

Any thoughts?

Frank

[TheCabinetmaker]

Uh, you might wanna tell us what kinda engine and fuel delivery system you have.

[mepstein]

ask your mechanic to adjust it back to original.

[rick 918-S]

F.I. or carbs?

[falconfp2001]

Sorry about that,

Stock 1.7 with Stock FI system and a Crane 700. New AAR. No Deceleration valve.

[TheCabinetmaker]

How did the mech adjust it for lean?

[falconfp2001]

He didn't say but I assumed since it is a 1971 he increased the fuel pressure.
Interesting thing is, I'm running with a 73 block and ECU that has the adjustment knob on one end but I didn't tell him I had been running a 73 FI unit minus the Decel valve. Everything looks like a 71 intake and fuel system but the ECU and that has lost the mount some time ago. So, it is propped next to the battery but not under it.

I think it's time to switch over to MegaSquirt which hurts all the more since I spent some $$$ getting it back on the road stock.

[Prospectfarms]

First thing I thought when I read your last post is that you'd be better off getting comfortable with D-jet before you branch out into MS. Full disclosure: I've never even seen a MS system "in the flesh," however.

On a practical note, maybe you can call your mechanic. Sound's like he didn't really fix it.

[PancakePorsche]

I would find the root cause before considering a experimental F.I. The D- jet is very easy to troubleshoot and very reliable. Things do fail at will and the 1.7 parts are plentiful. Start with a spark plug check and do compression at the same time to get a window into your engines health. The fact that was fairly sudden is your best clue. Your symptom does indeed indicate over rich and could be caused by low vacuum. Fuel pressure should be 28-29, Valve clearance .006, clean trigger points, and set timing. Should be fairly easy from there. Good luck.

[falconfp2001]

Just an update, found some trouble shooting sections that I forgot existed and compared symptoms. After an hour of running the engine would idle below 500 rpm. This corresponded to running rich so the suggested fix was to lean up the mixture by first getting the engine hot and then turning the ECU enrichment knob counter clockwise one tick at a time until idle speed comes back up. This is the quick fix until I can get it to where I can use a probe for AFR or install my O2 sensor and gauge.

I clicked it counter clockwise 6 times until the idle speed came up to 1200 rpm, then adjusted the IA valve on the TB to bring it down to about 900. I'm gonna see about mounting my Sensor and Gauge this weekend to get a more accurate reading.

[gothspeed]

if it was running good as a daily driver, check to make sure there is nothing stuck or blocking the cooling fan blades!!