RA65 22R - sluggish cold running

[Aus_James]

Hi guys,

I've got an RA65 with the 22R 2.4 EFI engine in it. 250,000kms, 175-185psi on all cylinders, performed a service (oil, plugs, filters etc.)

When the engine first cranks, it doesn't fire up very well. Need some throttle to get it running. Then idles ok. But when cold, it struggles to pull threw the gears, really sluggish and hesitant. After it warms up (1/3-1/2 on temp gauge), it seems to perform great pulling very nicely with loads of torque.

Any ideas what this might be?
Hopefully something simple

It's not a huge problem, just annoying in the mornings when pulling out in traffic.

cheers

[eightsixboy]

Check your plugs, prob need to replace them and do a de-carb of the motor. Take of the intake pipe to the throttle body and see if the butterfly dirty, mine was really really gunked up, had to take off the throttle body and clean the crap out of it, even in the inlet manifold it was full of a thick build up.

[lexsmaz]

It could be running to rich or to lean ? when its cold, might pay to change the coolant temp sensor for the EFI, should be located around the bottom of the thermostat housing area ..

[Aus_James]

Thanks, Lex. This sounds like a possible culprit. Will check it out

[lexsmaz]

Worth a try, no guarantee though ..

Check the ignition timing too, some of the early style cars basically run full vacuum advance when cold through a temp vacuum switch, again not sure on the 22RE Motors though ..

Also check the engine valve clearances as they could be quite a bit tight & when the motor warms up the clearances increase due to the expansion of the alloy head & so the symptons seem to go away .. ( If you do adjust them, slightly Bigger valve clearances above factory specs tends to make the car feel more torquey too ) ..

As has been mentioned by eightsixboy, it could also be a gunge build up, but i wouldnt be personaly to worried about the throttle butterfly area i would think its more of an issue further downstream from the injectors, i have seen sludge build up in old Porsches & until warm some of the fuel would be absorbed by the gunge in the intake tract & intake port & the motor would run poorly till warmed up, big job to fix though ..

Rob ..

[eightsixboy]

Going by the amount of gunk that was coating mine when I had a look I would just check it anyways.

As mentioned before it could be running rich due to a faulty sensor, but I would check all the easy stuff first like plugs, vac hoses, clean the afm aswell, could be dirty.

[lexsmaz]

You are right the throttle bodies certainly do gunk up & should be cleaned, but it will only affect idle quality, James reckons his car struggles through the gears when cold too, hence why i said not to worry about that at the moment, but you are right it will no doubt be all shity too & should be cleaned ..

[Aus_James]

Thanks for the input. As I don't plan to keep this engine for too long, I don't want to spend too much time/money/effort on it. But I'll do the simple things and see if that helps.
I plan to put in something much better like a 1G, or a 1JZ in the future. Or even an SR20, just depends on what I can find and who can do it.

[liteace]

22R motors are very underrated and need little to become awesome torque monsters