Rescuing my dads old Fiero GT 1987 (Page 14/23)
Repulsiv JUN 24, 10:45 AM
I looked it up in the haynes-book, and realised that its constructed in a way so you can easy replace only the solenoid if thats the problem, uou usally cannot on a european or japanese starter, or you CAN, but its not easy and noone sell the parts as spares..

I will try to find out exactly what the problem is, I clearly heard the solenoid was working, so either id did not make contact, or it was the brushes, I also tried several times, both times.

..And talking about that, today I was out and fixed other things and decided to see if the starter still was broken.. but it worked perfectly, trird to start twice, and the engine started directly.

I will try more times, but I start to suspect that it was brecause of the rain last time ? ..Anyway I probably remove it, disassemle it, clean it and lubricate everything.
Rexgirl JUN 24, 03:40 PM
Good, bright metal connections are very important at the solenoid switch and brush/armature contacts. Massive current within the starter assembly and only 12 volts to push it.
Repulsiv JUN 28, 09:41 AM
This is strange.

I have tried to start the car several times now, randomly *one* of those things happens:

- The starter click but does not turn the engine.
- The starter works, but the engine does not start, not even one ignition. (and I can smell gasonline)
- The car start directly.

..If I wait some hours and try again, any of those can happen.

I cannot really understand why this happens..
Phirewire JUN 28, 02:25 PM

quote
Originally posted by Repulsiv:

This is strange.

I have tried to start the car several times now, randomly *one* of those things happens:

- The starter click but does not turn the engine.
- The starter works, but the engine does not start, not even one ignition. (and I can smell gasonline)
- The car start directly.

..If I wait some hours and try again, any of those can happen.

I cannot really understand why this happens..




Electronics are wonderful my first thing with weird situations is always power and ground check all through the car.
Rexgirl JUN 28, 05:42 PM
^^ +1 Especially the engine ground connections (on both ends of the head on the firewall side- 3 grounds iirc) .
Repulsiv JUN 29, 03:39 AM
Well, I already had a lot of oxide problems (sidemarkers, brakelight, several indicator lights in the panel) so it could be the same, I'll try to find the groundpoints and clean them and put some protection there.

Just havent had any time for some serious fiero-time lately, hope I can give it some time soon.

Its ironic that I cannot use it now when its finally roadlegal. My plan was to use it to work the days when I dont have to drive the kids to kindergarden..
(I have a very nice and curvy road to work, so its nice to have a fun car to go there.. thats the main reason I bought the 9-5 Aero, its a safe family-transporter but still fun to drive, even if its not a sportscar..)

[This message has been edited by Repulsiv (edited 06-29-2018).]

Repulsiv JUN 29, 04:01 PM
Today I had a few hours I could put on the Fiero.. so..

First of all i tried to start it, the starter worked, but no ignition.

Then I filled the fueltank with 5 liter fresh gasoline, just to be sure thats not the problem, the fuelmeter is on like 20%.

Then I tried to find the groundcables, I found ONE, the one front right on the top, it didnt look very fresh, but it probably works.. anyway i connected a startercable between the engine and the negative pole on the battery "to be sure".

Then I removed one sparkplug, it was wet, I blew it dry and asked my gf to crank the engine, and I had spark, even if it was weak I think..

Now I removed the distributor cap, a lot of oxide there so i cleaned it all and put it back, I also cleaned all connectors to the ignition wires.

Now I tried to start again, the starter worked, but it did not start, but after a while I got a few ignitions, however I saw that the batterymeter was down on red while cranking, so im not sure if there was enough power for the engine to start.

I charged the battery for about 30min

Then tried again, I got some ignitions now and then, but I also saw a strange thing, the oilpressure meter sometimes went down to zero, and then sudenly up again, I THINK that might be because of grounding problems.. hopefully its not the oil pressure that drops for real, but I dont think so.

I charged the battery some more, tried to start, now I got even more ignition, but not enough to start..

Charged the battery again.. and now the engine nearly satarted, and when i released the key it ran for like 2 seconds before stopping.

charged the battery some more and after a long cranking it actually started!

I had it running for like 10 minutes, first it was misfiring some on idle, and btw, idle is like 1200rpm now.. then it started to go pretty ok.

However, if I reved it it misfires heavily, so much that I get real exhaust bangs.. it seem to run best around 3500-4000rpm, if I hold it there it doesnt misfire much.


Hmm, i wonder what is causing the misfires, I could order sparkplugs/cables/distributor cap and distributor arm and replace, but I really dont think it would help.

I also will try to find the other places for ground, and measure them (lenght) and buy new, bad grounding is never good and those braids is pretty cheap.

Any ideas ?

One thing that I been thinking of is that all problems with the engine started after i had drived the car in rain for the first time..


..After that I removed the front wheels.. because I got the wrong ones last time, so now I going to buy new tyres for the 9-5 aero and he going to replace thre fiero tyres at the same time..

Looked at the front brake rotors, very impressive they look so good on a car that have been standing for 15 years.. before they had rust but now after driving the car they look nice and shiny.

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Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

[This message has been edited by Repulsiv (edited 06-29-2018).]

Patrick JUN 29, 04:26 PM

quote
Originally posted by Repulsiv:

Then I removed one sparkplug, it was wet, I blew it dry and asked my gf to crank the engine, and I had spark, even if it was weak I think...



No need to guess.

It's pointless checking for spark across the minuscule gap of a regular spark plug. That's not wide enough at atmospheric pressure outside of the combustion chamber. A healthy spark will have no problem jumping a 1/4" gap to ground... and it'll do it with a loud "snap".

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 06-29-2018).]

Repulsiv JUN 30, 12:22 PM
Now I have brand new bridgestone turanza tyres on the front wheels, yay!



And I also got some stupid idea to see if the konis in front would look better if I cleaned them and used rubbing on them.. yes they did



..Just have to clean everything else too :/

DIdn't have time to try to find the ignition or starter problems.. maybe tomorrow.

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Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

Rexgirl JUN 30, 04:21 PM
Misfiring could be a simple fix; measuring and replacing any suspect high voltage components would be a good idea. Spark plug gap is 0.045". High resistance in the HV system can damage the ICM and coil, BTW.
Over time, the distributor pick-up coil mounted on the flat aluminum base plate can cause problems. They are inexpensive (under USD $14 in the USA) and replacing means removing the distributor's drive gear and pin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5QRK9VZwcM
http://www.fierofocus.com/a...s/tt-pickupcoil.html
It's a good idea to renew the electronic-grade heat transfer silicon grease between the black ICM module and the aluminum plate too. I will be adding a computer heat sink under the ICM as suggested by Patrick on here, as we can often get over 32 * in summer. Heat is the killer of electronics