Background:

1.8L FI w/ Stock distributor

I Recently removed engine to sort various problems and reinstalled. I can get the car to start and idle per spec and Dwell is w/in spec (45).
BUT.....

When I jump in the car and blip the accelerator pedal (not significant RPMs about 3500-4000) the car dies. However, when I hit the throttle cable from the engine bay it's fine... no stalls.

What would cause this?

- Badly positioned or tangled accelerator cable?
- Funky distributor cam messing with dwell?
- Vacuum issue?
- Air Flow Meter?


When I go to restart, it won't fire and I have to reset timing and start the process all over.

Any troubleshooting steps or tips appreciated!

Greg

What do you mean by this, exactly?



If the engine runs normally when operated manually, then I would focus on the throttle cable, but the only reason I could see that causing the car to die would be if it were creating/interrupting some kind of ground-path that's screwing with the ECU.

Did you reinstall the ground strap on transmission?

Check all your grounds and try connecting a jumper cable between the engine block and the negative terminal on the battery, then check it again.

I appreciate the response!

When the car stalls out and dies. It won't start again, unless I bring everything back to TDC and static time again. This may by a fallacy on my part, but that's what I've done to get her running again.


Transmission ground strap is in place and grounds are good, but will double-check.

Maybe it's an issue with TPS??


Greg

with key on push the flapper open ..fuel pump should run...unhook fuel line make it continually flows ..plugged filter perhaps. type 4 out

Weird problem. So by manipulating the throttle cable in the engine bay, you can not make the engine stall, but if you do the exact same thing by pushing the accelerator pedal the engine stalls?

Someone had a similar issue earlier this year in which he ended up finding that the throttle cable was somehow shorting out the negative terminal of the ignition coil, but only when he had it about 3-4k rpm.

With a timing gun, tape the trigger so it's always on and point the gun toward the driver seat. With the car idling, you should have a endless supply of flashes. Manipulate the accelerator pedal as you are watching the timing gun. This is a quick way to isolate a issue with spark or fuel.

That's correct.

That's a great tip. I'll try it. Thanks!

Does anyone have a decent picture of the throttle cable routing? Maybe it's too close to the coil??