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Thread: Car starts but dies when I take my foot off the gas

  1. #1
    Stupid Newbie DaraSue's Avatar
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    Car starts but dies when I take my foot off the gas

    Starting a new thread because the old one had drifted off the original topic.

    The story so far: Car wouldn't start the day after getting home from a 400 mile road trip segment (out of 700 total). Found a melted plug at the resistor end of the Y/W wire between the ignition resistor and the coil. Re-terminated the wire, car still wouldn't start. It would catch if I kept my foot on the gas but die as soon as I let off. I'd had a starting problem while on vacation but it started and ran a couple hours later, with no significant issues on the trip home (San Diego to SLC).

    This morning, I was able to keep it running with my foot on the gas, enough to back it out and then pull back into the garage (it died once and I coasted back in part of the way). Just now I tried it again, with the air filter off to check the mixture flap, as advised by Mike at MW. This time, it actually stayed running at idle, although low and rough. I didn't leave it running long. It took a little bit of pressure to open the flap on the mixture control afterward.

    Has anybody seen this issue before? The filter was a little dusty but not horrifically bad. The fat plastic hose from the side air intake wasn't clamped on, though. I didn't see anything obviously clogging the filter.

    Pix of the wiring by the mixture flap and the filter:

    Picture 328.jpgPicture 329.jpgPicture 330.jpgPicture 331.jpg
    Last edited by DaraSue; 03-15-2017 at 08:02 PM.

  2. #2
    Stupid Newbie DaraSue's Avatar
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    Also for those of you just joining this saga, I had tried the plug swap before and it still wouldn't start.

  3. #3
    Sometimes Owner louielouie2000's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

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    Did you switch back to a Bosch coil yet? I know my first DeLorean stopped running when I swapped in an aftermarket high performance coil. As soon as I replaced the 20 year old coil, the car cranked right up.
    Louie Golden

  4. #4
    Stupid Newbie DaraSue's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by louielouie2000 View Post
    Did you switch back to a Bosch coil yet? I know my first DeLorean stopped running when I swapped in an aftermarket high performance coil. As soon as I replaced the 20 year old coil, the car cranked right up.
    I never did change the coil. I wasn't sure the new one would work since the specs looked slightly different than what was in the shop manual so I took it back and ordered a Bosch one from DMCCA.

    My car has a blue scotch-lock tap holding the ballast resistor wires together, it was on my list of things to have fixed but then I had the overheat issues and it fell by the wayside. It still appears to be intact but should I try opening it up and see if something came apart in there? I was hesitant to try soldering it myself but maybe I can do it. I bought some supposed automotive solder at Wal-Mart just in case.

  5. #5
    Not a DeLorean Guru
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    Scotch locks are HORRIBLE. Definitely change those; they're a great way to get flaky connections.
    -Mike

    My engine twists my frame.

    1981 DeLorean, Carb LS4 swap completed
    1999 Corvette, cam/headers/intake manifold, 400 rwhp
    2005 Elise, stock
    2016 Chevy Cruze

  6. #6
    Stupid Newbie DaraSue's Avatar
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    I bought 3M rosin core solder, is that the right thing? And will an electronics soldering iron do the job?

    Also does anybody remember what component the poster was talking about here? http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?87...l=1#post128623 The picture 404s but I'm wondering if it could be the same thing in my car since his is a couple numbers from mine. Maybe the wiring guy was hungover that day? (I PMed the poster but he hasn't been on here for a few months.)

  7. #7
    Senior Member
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    It reads like he's talking about the electrical connector that plugs into the vacuum advance solenoid, which is behind the fuel distributor. It's tucked away behind and slightly below the distributor but you can get at it by leaning over the engine. It should have one electrical connector and two vacuum hoses plugged in.

    Its role in life is to allow the intake vacuum to get at the ignition distributor to give you more ignition advance when the throttle is off idle and the idle microswitch is open.

  8. #8
    Stupid Newbie DaraSue's Avatar
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    I actually got it started up and drove around a little today. It ran rough and idled low at first but by the time I drove for about 10 minutes it seemed to be idling normally. I took it to my mechanic to get his opinion if the oil had gas in it, and he thought it may have a little and recommended changing it in a few hundred miles. Mike said he thought I should do it in the next one or two hundred miles too, since it didn't look like it was overly full.

    I drove about 10 miles from the shop to work and it ran ok. Still getting a whiff of gas in the cabin though. Time to have somebody start looking at the fuel pump?

    We'll see what happens when I go home tonight.

    A couple of people in the previous thread said that it's not possible to flood a fuel-injected car, but what do you call it when it's got too much unburned gas in the engine? That was Mike's theory about what the problem might have been when I was trying to start it before & after replacing the melted plug. Weird.

    I'll probably still try replacing the old coil with another Bosch one just in case.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaraSue View Post
    I bought 3M rosin core solder, is that the right thing? And will an electronics soldering iron do the job?

    Also does anybody remember what component the poster was talking about here? http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?87...l=1#post128623 The picture 404s but I'm wondering if it could be the same thing in my car since his is a couple numbers from mine. Maybe the wiring guy was hungover that day? (I PMed the poster but he hasn't been on here for a few months.)
    Rosin core solder is correct for electrical work. Lead tin solder will solder at a lower temperature than no lead solder. Soldering wires usually takes a lot of heat (large tip and or large wattage iron). The small 19 AWG wires will solder easy but our bare copper wire needs to be cleaned with sandpaper to get good solder joints. For larger wires I use a 200 watt soldering gun. Battery wires I use a very large soldering iron that has a two pound tip and 175 watts of power.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

  10. #10
    Senior Member
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    Check to see if the frequency valve is buzzing. If it isn't the motor will run too lean and keep stalling. Often you can get it going again by removing and replacing the plug on it a couple of times, the connections get dirty. If that doesn't get it going you will have to trouble-shoot the problem till you can get it to buzz.
    David Teitelbaum

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