Engine MR

Hello all,

Hoped to never post here but I have a problem now that makes me scratch my head. I have a 88 L98 automatic that has 157000miles now. It lived it's life in Nevada and California and since 1,5-2 years I have been driving it in the Netherlands.

It has started in the last months the habit to take longer to catch when starting when the engine bay was properly hot. So typically when driving slow where the fans came on and then shut-off for refueling, that's how I first noticed. But also with a cold start where the sun has been on the hood for hours. After a couple of tries you can start feeling when it is combusting a bit and when let go it fires on a couple of cilinders before it catches on all and starts idling properly. Often some gasoline can be smelled from the exhaust. I was kind of on the idea that the injectors might be bad as they are still original. Also the fuel in the Netherlands contains always some 5% ethanol which they don't seem to like. I was planning to then also put new sparkplugs in as I don't know how old they are (can't be that old as it has been very well maintained).

Events are catching up on me however as I'm getting a bigger problem or additional problems:

It now also seems to very shortly stall. Just a torque interruption that is accompanied with a instrument cluster that starts it's "bulb-check" again, so when all the elements turn on as it does when you switch on ignition. When this occurs when idling the engine really stalls but starts up without problems again, very smoothly even. If it was not for the cluster I would assume my problem only has gotten worse, but now I'm considering a electrical issue. I have cleaned most ground points of the car not too long ago when my exterior lights looked a bit dim. Oh, and I replaced the fuel pump relay last year already as a precaution (had some fun with another car with that relay).

I would be gratefull for any pointers on where to look. Thanks!

Sid.123

hi the only thing I can advise you to check is the TPS .. mine had an issue with the voltage at idle being to high preventing it from starting when hot

coupeguy2001

Check the connectors on the computer, and at the back of the block, on the left hand side is the ground wiring that grounds the harness, the engine to the frame, and other functions.
If you are getting the bulb check on the instrument panel, you are either losing power, or losing a ground momentarily.
If it isn't starting, you might check the coil wire at the distributor. The pink one is power, and the brown one is tach.
Open the top of the cap and look at the small fine coil wires. I had one of them break due to vibration some years back.

Also, the IAC (idle air control might be clogged with carbon. Due to the EGR, the manifold gets dirty, and so does the IAC.
Check the fuel filter.
Sometimes the fuel pressure regulator diaphragm gets cracked, and you end up with unregulated fuel, and too much going back to the tank

Alll I can think of.

Engine MR

Thanks for the help. I think I solved it.

What I did:
Checked the IAC and just to be save sprayed some brake cleaner on it. Looked clean though.
Checked the TPS sensor and that it is set to properly follow the throttle valve
Smelled for fuel in the vacuum hose of the fuel pressure regulator
Checked the iginition coil little wires and checked the inside contacts of the distributor (cleaned a bit for the sake of it)
Cleaned all electrical connectors I could find related to fuel injection, ignition and air
Cleaned out ground points I could find
Cleaned the ground terminal and terminal switch on the battery - as I did that I noticed it was slightly corroded: that was likely the issue