89 2.0L Telstar Problems

[JeremyK]

Hey guys,

So Im having a problem with my Telstar that I have mentioned before yet we are still no closer to the problem, so let me start again!

When you start the car, some days it starts fine, other days it takes a while to start, it'll run fine for a few seconds, then it will run like absolute crap (feels like its on two cylinders) and is pouring smoke out of it, smells really rich, and then a few seconds revving the crap out of it, it settles down and will run fine!

Problem two: When the engine is cold, it is also running perfectly fine (after you get it started that is) but the problem is after about half an hours worth of driving, not even, just when the engine gets hot, you press the accelerator, it accelerates for like half a second, then coughs, then continues like nothing happened.

These coughs get worse and worse and more frequent until it will stall completely. The stalling and coughing gets so bad that simply going over a speed hump will cut it out.

It also is pretty shoddy in performance, I know these Telstars were never race cars but sometimes it just takes so long to get it moving, especially when its cold, we've fiddled with timing settings, but if we run it more retarded it has no performance what so ever, you have to let it sit outside idling for 15 minutes before you can drive it, once its warmed up performance is good. If we run it more advanced (it already is running advanced) it idles so freaking high, and if you lower the idle, when the air-con kicks in, the air-con puts such a drag on the motor that it stalls, so I have to have the idle set at 2000rpm in order to avoid it, and if we run it over advanced the damn thing has this horrible clicking sound in the motor and it runs hot, but at least I get decent perfomance and economy out of it (and the coughs are alot better too!) but my mechanic keeps telling me its WAYYYY to advanced and shouldnt be run up there for some reason.

Its also getting horrible fuel economy, probably because its running rich.

The engine also warms up to slightly above 3/4 heat without any interaction from the radiator fan, it only kicks in at the last second.

Transmission is a litte rough but its probably low on fluid.

Anyway so we've easily spent like $600 trying to get this fixed, we've had the carburettor rebuilt twice, and they replaced the "squirter" whatever that is the second time. Its been back there a thousand times for different adjustments and stuff but no difference.

Its had all its spark plugs, leads and ignition module replaced, still nothing.

THE ONLY WAY I HAVE MANAGED TO GET THIS CAR WORKING, WHICH IS WHY ITS RUNNING RICH IS:

I made a metal plate with a few different holes and openings in it, that sits on top of my carburettor and in effect is another choke. The problem with running rich however is it chews through petrol. Also, the coughs are still there, I can feel them, but it doesnt stall, it doesnt even make much difference, but I know they are there.

SO A FEW IDEAS IVE SEEN/HAD:

Ill warn you, some of these Ive seen are for LASERS not TELSTARS but I figure the principal is the same, some of the other ideas came out of the repair manual for the model Telstar before this one (the 83-88 one), same motor though...

Should I check the inlet manifold gasket? I heard if theres air leaks in there that can cause similar problems to what I have, and I suspect the reason it runs better rich is because there is less air to escape through these leaks?

Should I check any temperature sensors? Are there even any? The car gets pretty hot before the fan kicks in, the only way to make it not get that hot is to have the air-con on (because of course the air con fan turns on then!)

I heard there is some pipe that runs from the transmission to the carburettor and that sometimes transmission fluid can flow up there, into the carby and cause this problem?

Could it be the distributor? When these coughs occur, there is a significant click, the same kind of click you get when you turn the key from ACC to ON and you get that click and all the lights turn on? Its THAT click! Initially we thought this was caused by the ignition module, because the coughs would just be like turning the key off, so we replaced that, still had the problem but to a lesser extent!

ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS? Im open for anything and will try anything!!

[JeremyK]

Okay, can someone tell me what all those wires coming from the carburettor do and where do they go? because if you disconnect the main one (it has like 6 wires coming out of it and it goes to the carby and then somewhere else), if I disconnect that it replicates the problem exactly, so something tells me one of those sensors on the carby is buggered or wherever it goes is buggered.