4age running rough and lost acceleration

[DTrain]

Ok so turned it over to TDC (big whiteout mark represents the notch on the pulley and the white on the cover is the 0 marker)


and the circle on the cam is facing up through the oil filler hole


this puts the rotor at this angle (seems right?)


and this is the dizzy cap



and i checked the resistance on the plug leads and theres a bit of difference
coil lead - 7.6k ohms
#1 plug lead - 5.4k ohms
#2 plug lead - 6.4k ohms
#3 plug lead - 6.6k ohms
#4 plug lead - 6.7k ohms

so im thinking it might be worth getting a new set of plug leads? whats the best option do you reckon?

[oldcorollas]

no idea on cam timing or dizzy position, but carefully scrape that white crap (aluminium oxide) from the metal bits on the inside of the cap..
it builds up due to the arcing between rotor and those posts with each spark (ie, burning the alloy) and it is an insulator, so it just makes the spark travel further.

lead resistance doesn7t seem bad at all.

what abotu spark plugs?

[DTrain]

pull the spark plugs out and this is what i found on number4 spark plug - bit of wetness. the rest were dry but black as anything. and for some reason these are champion spark plugs?? i payed over $20 bucks each for ngk iridiums when i did a service on it years ago, and now have cheapy shite in there. you can see now why i dont like taking my car to a mechanic. anywho got some bosch platinums for $6each


since i havent changed the distributor cap, rotor, and spark plugs since i bought the car, i went out and bought new ones. installed and she's running again. better than it was but still not 100%. still a bit of a rumble down low in rpm, but it does rev well to about 4 or 5k then it seems to take ages to get to 6 or 7k. it used hit the tvis at 4.5k and take off all the way through to redline. ill have a go at playing with the timing again tomorrow.

also looked into the air intake leak.


there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with the hoses but there is an extra connection thats sucking in air

is there meant to be a hose on this or blocked off. blocking it doesnt affect the rpm or idle

[oldcorollas]

hmm, the plot thickens!

[jondee86]

well i fired her up and went about setting the timing. bridged the two pins and set it to 0deg - adjusted idle screw to sit it at 750rpm then took the connecting wire off and it went up to 10deg - idle at 950rpm. switched everything off, tightened up the bolts. cap and rotor button look like its about time for replacement.
put the cap and plugs back on and now it wont start?? im thinking it could be the timing this whole time

Your timing is.... retarded Should be set to 10 BTDC with the diagnostic plug shorted,
and will jump to 16 BTDC (or thereabouts) when you pull the wire out.

Cheers... jondee86

[DTrain]

yeah i think your onto it jondee86. timing is there now but its fairly difficult to get good access to the timing marks with the pully and belts in the way. whats the best way people have found to do the timing accurately??

[oldcorollas]

mirror?...... (on a stick?)

[jondee86]

yeah i think your onto it jondee86. timing is there now but its fairly difficult to get good access to the timing marks with the pully and belts in the way. whats the best way people have found to do the timing accurately??

Never tried it on a FWD. But don't sweat it too much... just advance the dissy 3 or 4 mm
at the bolts and try it. 4AGE's are pretty tolerant to excessive advance If you hear it
pinking or rattling when you plant your foot from low rpm's in one of the higher gears, back
it off until the pinking goes away. Then you should be timed close enough

Cheers... jondee86

[oldcorollas]

at the bolts and try it. 4AGE's are pretty tolerant to excessive advance If you hear it
pinking or rattling when you plant your foot from low rpm's in one of the higher gears, back
it off until the pinking goes away. Then you should be timed close enough

unless you break rings or ringlands

maybe better in this case to actually check the timing marks,,,

[Hiro]

there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with the hoses but there is an extra connection thats sucking in air

is there meant to be a hose on this or blocked off. blocking it doesnt affect the rpm or idle

*runs out to check AE82*
*runs back in*

If you have air-con, that fitting has a hose attached to it that runs to an idle-up valve which bolts to the firewall near the diagnosis connectors and the wiper motor. Then, from that goes another hose to one of the elbow fittings on the top of the throttle body (can see it in the first photo, does that hose run anywhere?)

[DTrain]

*runs out to check AE82*
*runs back in*

If you have air-con, that fitting has a hose attached to it that runs to an idle-up valve which bolts to the firewall near the diagnosis connectors and the wiper motor. Then, from that goes another hose to one of the elbow fittings on the top of the throttle body (can see it in the first photo, does that hose run anywhere?)

i have aircon but it blew the breaker years ago and i havent had it regassed since i fixed that. it did used to up the idle when i did have it years ago. but saying that i dont have anything on the firewall that you mention.( i remember seeing one on my mates but i dont have it). - just a whole heap of plugs. the other pipe runs to a big canister under the fuel filter, whateva that thing is?

[jondee86]

Idle-up valves typically take filtered air from the airbox, so I imagine that fitting is
on the engine side of the air filter. In which case you should block it off, as it will
be letting unfiltered air into the engine.

Cheers... jondee86

[DTrain]

yeah it looks to be on the filtered side, so i have blocked it off.
also looked into the o2 sensor, tried to get some resistance or a signal of some sort - but nothing. not even when the engine was on


and also checked the intake sensor. its getting about 50ohm resistance between the connections on the plug and theres 13.5V thereabouts going in. both sensors do nothing to the idle or sound when disconnected

[oldcorollas]

the O2 sensor generates a voltage inside it, when it is hot and in exhaust gas (due to O2 going thru the zirconia sensor)

try checking voltage on that single wire (with other lead of multi to ground) and after a couple minutes idling you should get some voltage (between 0 and 1V)

check again for air leaks, and loose pipes or ports that are sucking in air.. see if you can hear air being sucked in anywhere?