Just my luck last week i told a member that the tp starts really really easy. So a few days later i start to get a misfire and it's really lumpy on start up. Once it's warm (more than a 1/4) the lumpyness goes but it's still missing one cly every 2-3 secs.
Now under load (foot to the floor) there's no miss it's only at idle like when i pull up to the lights. Now if you didn't know anything about cars you wouldn't even notcie the miss cos it's not like the cars shuddering or losing power seeing as it's only when your stopped.
before anything i changed the engine oil/filter and the tranny oil and filter kit now that made the start up smother but didn't help all that much.

Ok now to eliminate some things i replaced the plugs/leads/rotor button and dizzy cap with no change. I also cleaned all the connections under the hood and gave the throttle body a good clean. also reset the tps but no change:rant:
now the fuel filter is a month old and i haven't been running the tank dry so i'm pretty confident that it's not fuel related like a blockage .
now the only things left i could think of is the dizzy is about to let go or the isc/tps needs to be renewed or maybe the coil.
now i have a feeling it's the tps/isc and not the dizzy. cos if it were the dizzy wouldn't it happen at all times like under load/hot or cold. but seeing as it only happens at idle and start up makes me think it's the sensor going out.

So any other suggestion would be appreciated.
mainly from anyone who works or there own first gen or know there way around one you know who you are:cool:

Hmmm, mine used to run rough at idle with my old yellow injectors, I swapped in blue ones and that helped a lot, I've since gone back to cleaned yellow ones.

The only thing that's caused mine to misfire, and even stall was once when I had a faulty ignition lead, so I replaced all 4, plus coil to distributor lead and she was fine.

I would say the problem lies with the ignition system.

Also, how good are you engine mounts? Having worn engine mounts causes the engine to run really bad in drive, but fine in neutral.

have you thought about the air flow meter ?

hmmm didn't think about the afm.
engine mounts are all solid and no signs of cracks or wear.
so it could be dizzy/afm/ecu/tps/isc motor. so instead of just replacing them one buy one is there a way to tell or at least rule some of those out like doing a test of some kind. Cos im not the most electrical minded person and it seems to be more of and elec problem more so than fuel or mechcanical anyway. i do have a muitimeter and the electrical diagrams.
Any other suggestions are most welcome seeing as im a bit stumped . It's not like my tp has been flogged out or anything i service it a bit early most of the time and it's only got 133xxx on the clock.
but the misfire at idle does seem to be happening alittle faster now. as long as it's warm it starts fast just misfires but cold it's lumpy plus the misfire. wish i hadn't sold my parts car now would have been able to swap parts till i found the culprit then bought a new one.

Yeah mine has been doing this in the last 3 months. I just thought it was all to do with the motor being tired and worn. It was getting worse on start up I would have to hold the foot flat to the floor and it would start real rough. Until it got warm 1/4 mark it would idle good but misfire like what your getting. I changed the plugs because I knew the leads were ok and it fixed both problems. Just before I took it to Madmagna to get the new motor put in it started to misfire again but still would start ok. The misfire wasn't as often though.

Sorry but I dont know how you can tell what it is, sounds like afm if you have already changed plugs/leads

Check the connector on top of the dissy... it's prone to becoming corroded. If there is an intermittent connection there, the hall effect sensors may be giving inaccurate readings and stuffing up the ECU's injection timing (directly controlled by this sensor). When I had the issue, during any load it would suddenly stall momentarily (with a massive thump!). After a bit of fine sandpaper and WD40, the car was running smooth as anything.

If it's not that, I'd be looking into things like a split o-ring on an injector or the fuel rail somewhere, which could be leaking air into the engine intermittently.

After a bit of fine sandpaper and WD40, the car was running smooth as anything.

If it's not that, I'd be looking into things like a split o-ring on an injector or the fuel rail somewhere, which could be leaking air into the engine intermittently.

wd40 is a big no no with electrical connections cos it's oil based (so im lead to belive i'm not big on electrical knoledge). I had already cleaned the connections with crc contact cleaner and fine wet and dry paper:D with special attention to the dizzy plug:)
mmm hadn't thought of a split o-ring. i will pull the injetors out and have a look.

Oh and buffy thanks for the diagrams but im not sure where the self diaognosis (sp?) plug is , and then if i know where it is then im not sure how to get the codes. can you enlighten me on how to find if i have any error codes:D not being sarastic or anything just never done it and would like to know how for the future and now . Or maybe i should hit the search button.

cheers for all the replies guys. it helps to have a different look on things seeing as im a tight **** and hate paying anyone to work on my car if i can fix it myself.

OK now the reason i asked about how to do the codes is cos my manual had gone walkabout.
but i found it, then i couldn't find my multimeter:rant: so of to supercheap and i bought one of those 12v test lights (looks like a pen). I thought that would do the trick ,all i had to do was count the flashes.

Now I've followed the manual and can't get any flashes from terminal 3/4. but if i put it on terminal 4/1 then i get a continuous light:nuts:
Is there something i missed??
Turn on magna let it heat up to running temp then pull off the cap from the service connector(self diagnosis plug ) and put one lead on the no.3 terminal and no.4 terminal then count the flashes long and short after the 3 second pulse??
Is that it or is my service connector cactus? I'm pretty useless when it comes to electrical work but it surely can't be that hard.

It's a bit later now and after not being able to get a code of any sort i thought maybe the service plug just needs a clean. And while im at it i might as well do all the plugs again incase i missed one the other day. Which i did it's right next to the coil and service plug not sure what it's though. pulled that one apart and it was full off blue green gunk. cleaned it and sanded the pins clean then did all in crc electrical connection cleaner/lubricant.

So waited 15mins like it suggested on the can and pluged it all back in and now it won't start haha. So unplugged it all and got out the q tips but it still won't start, keeps turning over but not firing . so then i just unplugged it again and left it for now it'll go back in and hour and try again if no luvk the maybe the hair dryer will evaporated any left over crc.
not going very smoothly today.

undo the battery terminals to clear the diagnostic and reset

after every diagnostic attempt
manual says use terminal 3 and 4 only
pm sent
as for it not starting you might be looking at
another ecu for the engine management
the wiring connections to the dissy
or a suspect dissy module

undo the battery terminals to clear the diagnostic and reset

after every diagnostic attempt
manual says use terminal 3 and 4 only
pm sent
as for it not starting you might be looking at
another ecu for the engine management
the wiring connections to the dissy
or a suspect dissy module

yep reset over 10 mtimes today.
cleaned the connections and dryed them .
also with only terminal 3/4 a few times
well it's not the coil or dizzy cos i put in new ones today:D
it seemed to almost start for a sec no back to draining the battery. also noticed after say 4-5 engine turnovers that id get a weird noise from the starter.
but maybe thats cos it fires up after one turn since I've had it so I've never noticed the noise till now.

Also pulled out the injectors to check for a split o-ring but there all intact.
hmmm slowly running out of things.
So the ecu sounds quite possibly as well as the isc motor.
Only thing is they don't stock first gen's here anymore so the chances of getting an ecu is not to good.

This is quite contagious. My service manual's gone walkies too, and the I need the blasted thing to solve a problem

Sounds very much like a failed ECU if the diagnostic light is steady...

Also... WD40 is OK as long as you don't flood it... it actually protects the terminals a little bit thanks to that thin layer of oil. Mine never had a problem when I used WD40 on it, and the problem totally disappeared.

Anyways.. see what a new ECU does, and if that's still not working, maybe check the coil and power regulator, as these are fairly prone to failure in the first gens. Also check the compression and make sure it's all OK there, as mine when I got it started when cold was missing one cylinder... turned out it had 10 PSI compression :S

In my case though, the engine was worn beyond serviceable use thanks to a faulty thermostat causing excessive wear lol

Hopefully that isn't what's happened for u, but the ECU and coil/power regulator is a good place to start.

Sounds very much like a failed ECU if the diagnostic light is steady...

Also... WD40 is OK as long as you don't flood it... it actually protects the terminals a little bit thanks to that thin layer of oil. Mine never had a problem when I used WD40 on it, and the problem totally disappeared.

Anyways.. see what a new ECU does, and if that's still not working, maybe check the coil and power regulator, as these are fairly prone to failure in the first gens. Also check the compression and make sure it's all OK there, as mine when I got it started when cold was missing one cylinder... turned out it had 10 PSI compression :S

In my case though, the engine was worn beyond serviceable use thanks to a faulty thermostat causing excessive wear lol

Hopefully that isn't what's happened for u, but the ECU and coil/power regulator is a good place to start.

regulator on alt was changed about a month ago and my coil is new. put the new coil and new dizzy in yesterday. now as for codes i couldn't get any flashes from terminal 3 and 4 . but got a continuous light from terminal 1 and 4. just did my cooling systen 3 weeks back so there a new water pump and thermostat in there. did a compression test the other day and theres all fine and within 10% of each other. engine and box has done 133xxx klms. gonna bite the bullet and take it to an auto elec on monday. and from what im told grease and oil is not good for connections but dosen't matter cos i use crc switch/connection cleaner and lube. dissolves the oil/solvent and resadue in there while leaving a thin layer of protectnt . And yea my spelling sucks haha

Problem solved and the tp is running better than ever:D .
It was the dizzy on the way out.
Put the new one in and problem solved. The reason it wouldn't start is cos i had the timing wayyyy off haha.

Ok now to eliminate some things i replaced the plugs/leads/rotor button and dizzy cap with no change.

mm
we knew that the cap was faulty all along :badgrin: lol

next time give us something harder to solve

mm
we knew that the cap was faulty all along :badgrin: lol

next time give us something harder to solve

Ok buffy don't know about harder .now the fuel and temp gauge works on and off after putting in the new dizzy .Any thoughts. The only real weak spot on these first gens seem to be there factory wiring.
Maybe the fuel/temp sender is on the way out too.

pm dave 262 he is the "spert" on thoses sender thingys