22re idling issue

[Bitsa]

Hoping someone can lead me in the right direction. When starting my 22re it won't idle. I can drive it till it reaches reaches normal operating temperature but chances are it still won't idle at lights etc.

Thing is, if I take off the vacuum hose that goes from the plenum to the fuel pressure regulator, it may struggle to idle when i first start it but it will idle happily within 200 yards. I'm assuming this suggests something is wrong with the fuel pressure regulator. That said, I have 3 fuel pressure regulators and no matter which one i use the result is the same. All 3 could be bad I suppose.

Anything else related to the vacuum and the regulator that might be causing a problem ?

[CELICASUPRA7M]

taking the vacuum hose off the FPR is probably just causing a vacuum leak which will raise the idle speed.

You could take the idle control valve out and clean it. could be stuck shut etc.

[lexsmaz]

As has been said it could be a vacuum leak but it also could be a leaness & removing the fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose increases the base fuel pressure ..

When you take off the vacuum hose block the hose with your finger, if the car starts to stall etc & run like it did with the line on its running to rich, but if when you block it nothing much happens, as i said i think there could be a vacuum leak & you are increasing the base fuel pressure which will deliver more fuel at the same millisecond opening at the injector .. Problem could be low fuel pressure or a vacuum leak or air flow meter mixture adjustement to lean etc etc ..

[Bitsa]

Thanks for the replies men. Appreciate it greatly as this idling thing is starting to drive me bonkers. Re the idle control valve I've changed it 3 times. I've 3 of those too. Actually engine related I've pretty much got 3 of everything and have changed them all looking for a solution e.g. air flow meters, cold start injectors, coolant temp sensors etc etc. Re taking off the vacuum hose, when I do that and put my finger over the hose it definately does start to stall again so possibly onto something there. If that's an indication it's running rich, what are the possible solutions ?

[allencr]

What's the compression?
Code/s.....

[Bitsa]

The compression I haven't checked but will do and the codes, well, not sure how to go about checking those. As far as I can tell it hasn't thrown a code i.e. the yellow engine light has never come on. I didn't have a problem until I changed engines, but, I used my original plenum and all the bits attached (throttle body etc) and injectors and they worked fine on the old motor. One thing I noticed this morning is a brownish gunk atop a small part of the intake manifold. I did use a brownish gunk i.e. permatex aviation cement (no3?) on the inlet manifold gasket. Maybe it hasn't sealed or something. Should I have used that stuff on that gasket ? It worked a treat on all the oil related gaskets. Not a leak in sight. Think I'm going to have to take the inlet etc off and start again.

[lexsmaz]

Strange that the problem only seems to have come up since you swapped motors, is everything connected correctly ??? & earth leads on etc etc .... Does it smell rich / fuelly at the exhaust ..

I should have mentioned that pulling off the vacuum hose to the fuel pressure regulator is probably not a good hose to pull off to see if its running to rich / lean etc as it also increases fuel pressure in the rail & so can / will mask other things .. Best way is to probably leave the vacuum line on the pressure regulator & remove another smallish hose some where else away from that source & that appears to be not important & try the finger over the hose thing on that hose & let us know the results, the other thing you could do is leave everything connected & with the car running pump the brake pedal fairly quickly, that will induce air into the intake manifold via the brake booster & if its running rich it will start to increase the idle RPM, quite a bit on some cases if its running quite rich ( note this trick will not work on a car with load sensing idle control valve via the ECU as the valve will open up to increase the revs too & so give you a false reading ) i dont think the corona system / ECU is that smart so it should work ...

I would not worry about removing the intake manifold at the moment as if its running to rich its not leaking vacuum from the around the gasket, so removing it will be just a waste of time ..

Have you tried adjusting the air mixture screw at the air flow meter, you will need to warm up the car & get it idling to some degree & adjust the screw, turning it out leans the air mixture & turning it in obviously richens it, take a note of how many turns you turn it either way so at worst you can put it back to where it was ..

[BLSTIC]

Whenever I have an idle problem, before looking at the idle speed controls I check the ignition timing. Especially if you have swapped parts over from the old engine. Also worthy of checking is the cam timing. Wikipedia (coz everyone on there is right...) suggests that the single row timing chain was prone to stretching.

[Bitsa]

BLSTIC thanks for that reply mate. I did put an engnbldr 270 cam in it with a new chain so that all checked out ok as far as I could tell. I may be (fingers crossed) on a winner here with lexsmaz and the running too rich theory.

lexsmaz, re the air flow meter. I did put the AFM from the donor motor on it initially. That AFM has the air adjustment screw sealed in. I put that AFM on because I'd played around with the internals and the air mixture screw of the original one so much I wasn't sure it'd work properly on the motor I've just put in. About a week ago I put the original one on it but it didn't make any difference, but, and it could be a very big BUT, I thought I was getting too much air and not enough fuel i.e lean so I remember I screwed the screw in instead of out. Car ran just as bad so I put the donor AFM back on. Anyway, I just put my old AFM on again and screwed it out this time and it started and idled like the Corona of old. Bloody beautiful. Took it for a drive along the link road near here and it went better that it has since I changed the motor. I'll let in sit for an hour or so though to let it cool down then I'll go start it again and see what happens cause when it was cold it basically wouldn't idle at all. Thanks for taking the time to reply to my woes. I appreciate it greatly and so does the Corona.

[Bitsa]

Just went and started it after leaving it a couple of hours. Same old same old. Booooooo. Wouldn't idle, but, took it for a decent run and it clearly goes a lot better than before and it idles happily after it warms up, which it didn't always do before.

[BLSTIC]

Flap type air flow meter with a removable cover? Just take the cover off and push the wiper arm manually while she's running. You'll soon discover what it needs

[Bitsa]

Flap type air flow meter with a removable cover? Just take the cover off and push the wiper arm manually while she's running.

Good tip that one. Cheers.

[bmxer54]

Did this problem ever get resolved?
I am having the same issue of idling poorly to the point of stalling with the 22re in my rt142 and have the feeling its the AFM but they seem to be a little harder to find
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers,

Peter.

[Bitsa]

Peter. Yes it did eventually though I'm not really sure what the exact problem was. I fiddled with lots of things to get it to run right, vacuum lines cold start injectors etc etc, but, I think (and I could be wrong) it was the AFM. Was a while ago but from memory I just fiddled with the AFM and it eventually started without stalling etc. People kept telling me it's not recommended to fiddle with the AFM but that motor had bigger valves and bigger cam so maybe more air or fuel is what it needed.

I've got 2 AFM's here. The one I fiddled with and one that still has the idle mixture screw sealed. They've been gathering dust under the house for a while but I think they're both ok. Only one way to find out. Yours free if you want them.

[HMI265]

the wiring into the plug for the afm's are pretty useless too, might be worth pulling it apart and re-doing it.