I have started a new thread
This was the old one (Having trouble getting my freshly installled 3.4 to run)!
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/060933.html

Well I think I got it (finally) after about 3 weeks of everyday determination!

Well here we go........

Had starter issues (made a heck of a sound when engaging)...
Well when the 3.4 came out of the fiero donor car ( it was a 4 spd) It had 2 large shims in it which I re-used on my automatic (I went through 2 starter and could figure out why). Well I finally figured this out......The flywheel on the 4 spd must of been larger then the flexplate on my auto (thanks for the suggestion Matt and Dguy). I removed the one shim and voila.....starter sounds great and car cranks over fine!

Well I have got it to the point where it runs and sounds pretty darn good. The idle is still alittle confusing to me (I'll go into this alittle later). The throttle response is really crisp! It will fire with no throttle needed and before I needed to bury the throttle to the floor. It takes about 2 cranks for it to fire!

The idle has me alittle at a loss.....
When I first start it the idle hangs right around 2000rpms (cold of course) and after about 5 secs the idle drops down to about 1000rpms and flucuates between 700 and 1500 then wants to almost die (If I let it go it will shut off)! It sounds as though it is starving when it starts idling low). If I whack the throttle it revs up normal and sounds good again until it repeates itself!
Now I have a sneaky feeling that the EGR valve might be causing this (but I thought the EGR creates a high idle condition not the other way around). The car has a universal EGR valve on it and it seems as though the little washer that you use on it has fell off and got lost so i'm basically running it without the proper washer (no washer in fact). If I apply throttle to keep it idling it surges!
What could this cause this idle to act so irratic (EGR, Vacuum leak, injectors, IAC ect..)????
Can any of the sensors be ruled (So I don't start dumping money on items that are in fine working order)?

Also I tried timing the motor with a timing light but the timing mark moves all over the scale. I'm timing it by the coil wire and trying to get it to 10 degrees. I think I have it there but it is moving around so much that it's really hard to tell!
B.T.W This was with the ALDL jumpered. The idle acts irractic reguardless if the ALDL is jumpered or not!

Well anyway....
The good news is it's running and it could be driven as is (I believe)....but I want to try to square the idle away before doing so!
The real test will be after I drop it to the gound put it in drive and see if it moves, shifts and drives ok (i'll know soon enough)!

The only things left to do (besides the idle issue) is mount the brake calipers, ebrake, wheels, trunkside heat shield, Distrib. heat shield, trunk mounted cool air tubes and decklid (about 2 hours of work). I'm pretty excited and thought that this thing was a lost cause but it seems that all of this time I spent on it may pay-off after all (hopefullly no more hangups)!

Thanks to everyone that has assisted me with this thing (Jazzman, Francis T, crazyd, Fastback 86, skidmark, Dguy, sardonyx247,
Formula Owner.....and anyone I may have forgot). No Matt I didn't forget you...a big thanks to Mattm for the space tool usage and verbal assistance (thanks a bunch)....hopefully i'll have my car out of the shop by Sunday so you can get yours in there and get it squared away (least I can do is assist in yours), yours will be a piece of cake compared to what I have gone through (he,he,he) !

Well thanks to all...and if anyone has any thoughts feel free to post them!

when u do the timing, u need to go off the #1 plug wire.
actually, any plug wire itself will work, but the best way is to do do #1 and #4 and then set the average timing between the two

sublime922.....
That is the way it states in the manuals but there is another way to do it!

You can attach the pickup to the coil wire and this gives you the same results as the #1 and #4 average (shoot for the middle ground is what I always did). I have done it this way on my 2.8 and learned this method from this forum a few years back.

I am gonna try it the way you describe just to see if it changes anything...not holding my breath on it through, but who knows it might work. With everything I have been through with this swap I guess it couldn't hurt!

Thanks for the suggestion (+ for you)!

[This message has been edited by keith711 (edited 03-27-2005).]

Another thing to check would be the engine grounds. Bad grounds can cause a fluctuating idle. I had an issue with that on my 85GT.

Matt

Thanks matt!

I will double check the grounds (I also want to fully mount that coil).

I'm going up in a few hours to put another EGR valve on it double check everything and finish it up. Then the real test will be (see if it can be driven). Hopefully trans and everything else will work properly. I got my fingers crossed! The bad thing is that I won't trust driving it to work for awhile (25mile drive), until I have had lots on test running locally to assure myself that it will be reliable and is streetable!

Should have it done later today (barring any other issues of course). I was gonna re pull the topend and adjust the rockers (for the 3rd time) but after I corrected the starter issue and fired it up what I thought was valve train noise was not present. I may still adjust them but that can be done anywhere!

Thanks again matt and we'll see how it goes!

quote Originally posted by keith711: sublime922..... That is the way it states in the manuals but there is another way to do it! You can attach the pickup to the coil wire and this gives you the same results as the #1 and #4 average (shoot for the middle ground is what I always did). I have done it this way on my 2.8 and learned this method from this forum a few years back.

This method only works if all three grooves on the balancer are in the proper location. In your case your using the 3.4 balancer with the 2.8 Fiero timing cover and timing tab, so you'd have to create a new mark for each of the three crank planes in order to use the coil.

JazzMan

Wouldn't hurt to pull the IAC out and clean it up real good and make sure it doesn't need replacing. If its sticking a little bit, that could cause your idle problem.

Thanks guys!

I was up alittle bit today, replaced the EGR valve (I'l be going up alittle later aswell). The EGR didn't solve the idle issue!
I timed it with the #1 wire and #4 and got it to 10 degrees...the idle is still an issue though!
I also got the calipers back on!

Jazzman....
I never even thought of that (stock 2.8 has mutiple hashes where as the 3.4 doesn't so timing it with the coil would be almost impossible)!

Fastback 86.....
I will be removing the IAC and swap it with another one that I have and see if that clears it up!

If it isn't IAC related I will pull the top off and re-adjust lash (This time I will do it one cylinder at a time adjust #1, turn motor til #2 posts line up and adjust it, rotate motor til #3 posts line up and adjust it..... and so on) because I hear slight rocker noise (I believe thats what i'm hearing...it's hard to tell but it sounds like faint chatter) so I believe I may have afew loose rockers! I will go the full 1-1/2 turns (hope this ain't to much.....I set them to 1 full turn last time...so I will give it a shot)!
Can loose rockers cause an idle issue...if so this might be the probelm????

Thanks all.......and I feel so much better then I did afew days ago (amazing how a running car can pick your spirit right up)!!!!!!!!!!

It doesn't push in, it screws in and out. Fuel filter is a good place to check. Fuel pressure should be something around 45-47psi IIRC (check that). Is the ECM throwing any codes? Disconnect the battery for a few minutes to reset it anyway, just in case.

Thanks for the reply fastback.

I'm not getting any codes. As for unhooking battery. This gets done after every fire (I do it so I don't forget to unhook it when I start messing with things).

Well I will chech pressure and replace filter.

Thanks for the input!