1985 Fiero GT completely stock. Beginning of this year head gasket went so I swapped in a V6 out of what I believe was an 87 SE (It has the updated oil pan and plenum). The engine has been in the car since April. Ive had it running but never for more than a minute because the car will only idle around 3,000 rpm and both headers and the y pipe begin to glow orange in less than a minute. The engine was pulled apart several times before it went in so I tried starting the timing from scratch. I pointed the distributor towards cylinder one while the engine was at TDC (I verified the engine was in fact at TDC and the harmonic balancer doesn’t appear to have slipped. Ive tried the distributor in several different orientations but cant get the car running long enough to actually time it. Any help is appreciated I am only 18 and learn most of what I do off youtube or this forum so I’m sure there’s something that I must be missing. Thank you
Your timing may be off, but you also might have vacuum issues.
On the plenum, as it faces the FRONT of the car, there's a large vacuum hose. When I unplugged mine the idle went HIGH and the headers were cherry red!
Also check if the idle pipe thing that is connected to the throttle body is plugged in, I had that unplugged and mine idled that high. Once it idles below probably atleast 1500 rpm warm then check timing. You could always just guess the correct timing for and then fine tune it later, a good place to start atleast according to my car would be having the flat side of the distributer pointing directly left, with no angle if that makes sense. Glowing exhaust indicates retarded timing to me
[This message has been edited by Xenoblast (edited 10-08-2021).]
1985 Fiero GT completely stock. Beginning of this year head gasket went so I swapped in a V6 out of what I believe was an 87 SE (It has the updated oil pan and plenum). The engine has been in the car since April. Ive had it running but never for more than a minute because the car will only idle around 3,000 rpm and both headers and the y pipe begin to glow orange in less than a minute. The engine was pulled apart several times before it went in so I tried starting the timing from scratch. I pointed the distributor towards cylinder one while the engine was at TDC (I verified the engine was in fact at TDC and the harmonic balancer doesn’t appear to have slipped. Ive tried the distributor in several different orientations but cant get the car running long enough to actually time it. Any help is appreciated I am only 18 and learn most of what I do off youtube or this forum so I’m sure there’s something that I must be missing. Thank you
Glowing exhaust piping means the engine is running lean, which is often as a result of a vacuum leak. Check the EGR tube for cracks. There may be a few issues.
Thank you everyone for the responses. The egr was in fact loose but I can’t tel if it solved my problem because now the car won’t start. I checked and there is plenty of spark coming out of the plugs. The fuel is flowing I can hear the pump prime and smell the fuel. The car just cranks. I set engine to TDC and verified the distributor rotor was pointing at cylinder 1. After trying to start a few more times I took off the distributor cap when at TDC again and the rotor was pointing 180 degrees away from cylinder one? This engine came out of a parts car so Im starting to worry theres something bigger going on. Any insight is greatly appreciated Im just really confuses at this point.
Great, you have the uncontrolled vacuum leak fixed. Now we have to make normal idle air circuit work. Will it start if you hold the gas pedal down just a bit?
[This message has been edited by buddycraigg (edited 10-09-2021).]
Great, you have the uncontrolled vacuum leak fixed. Now we have to make normal idle air circuit work. Will it start if you hold the gas pedal down just a bit?
The car just cranks. I set engine to TDC and verified the distributor rotor was pointing at cylinder 1. After trying to start a few more times I took off the distributor cap when at TDC again and the rotor was pointing 180 degrees away from cylinder one?
First thing you should check if the car used to start but suddenly not is if the tachometer is moving or not when cranking. If not replace the ignition control module under the distributer cap. As for the rotor pointing 180 degrees, this is normal. as the engine reachs TDC twice, one time cylinder 4 is firing, the other cylinder 1. Aslong as you havent touched the timing chain, there is no problem with this.
Another thing you should try is starting the car while pressing the throttle all the way down, apparently this forces the car to run at 20:1 afr, its worth a quick try I guess
Also I just realized, you said you can smell the fuel? That indicates a leak in the gas system
[This message has been edited by Xenoblast (edited 10-09-2021).]
