techboy

You're right ... and that just further supports my point. Parts are getting harder to find, so prices are going up .... solution = sell another car for cash.

the "cars F/S" of this very board is populated w/ just as many non-SQ cars as it is SQ's. Just an observation.

Phil - The 88 and 89's all got a 2-prong, but on a manual car the 2nd prong didn't do anything. If it's an auto, it uses both of the prongs. The 87 and down manuals had the 1-prong you're talking about and that can be used as a replacement in 88 and 89's as long as it's a manual. So, your answer is it depends on what your friend's car is. I used a 1-prong replacement from Rock Auto in my 88 manual and have had no problems ... I think I might even have an extra brand new one if you need it (PM me). The 2-prongs are like 80 for some dumb reason.

This might sound dumb, but are you sure your tilt wheel (metal pull under the wheel) is engaged? Mine tends to wiggle loose as I drive.

Try to fumble your way through the ISC/TPS reset. I think I found 3 different methods in the FAQ, but if you really read through them, they are pretty much the same, just some nuances. Based on your symptoms it sounds like a lot of your problems are right there. Double check that the injector clips aren't backwards, and I'm assuming you used new inj clips since you got a new motor.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6771/cfflyer11.jpg I posted up about this show last year, but I was just getting involved in the Starquest community at the time and I posted it a little late ... hoping some of you can come out this year. For the past 10 years our group has been organizing this ever growing car show with all proceeds benefiting those effected by the hardships brought on by CF. Two of our close friends have/had Cystic Fibrosis so we have seen first hand the kind of hardships it can impose on a family. When one of our friends passed away in her mid twenties from this disease my close friends and I wanted to do something to help others affected by the disease. What started as 63 cars in Peddler's Village 10 years ago, has now grown into a regular event with increasing participation every year. We will be back at the Dublin Firehouse this year. We work w/ a liason through Children's Hospital in Philly (CHOP) to donate 100% of the proceeds we take in that day (entry fees, raffles, and donations) to families that are in financial need because of CF. Last year we were able to donate another $5000 from this car show thanks to all of YOU. When: Sept 11th 2011 Where: Dublin Firehouse in Dublin, Pa. 18917 What: All makes and models are welcome. Old, new, classic, exotic, import and domestic. Time: 10am till 5pm. Trophies are awarded at 4pm. Cost: $15 to register a vehicle This year's show is Sponsored/Backed by: -Good Vibrations Auto Salon -Liquid Powdercoats -JM Fabrications -R/T Tuning -Village Center Automotive -World Class Autobody If anyone has any questions or comments about this show from the past, feel free to post up here or PM me, I'm one of the main coordinators. Here's a link to pics from last year's show in case your thinking about it: http://www.tristatetuners.com/forum/...enenfit&page=7

Where in PA are you at?

Yeah!! It's about time for one of these. I'm in. I'll see if I can get helrarz70 to come w/ me since he has moved into the area.

If I remember the numbers correctly I think they were like .003 and we loosened them up to .010 and noticed right away that the car ran alot better and there was a little bit of a valve tap, which it didn't have before.

Ok, so then according to Indiana and vbrad 90 is not outside the scope of reason.

Ok, let's back up a minute before I address the other questions asked since my last post. This is going to sound real basic, but what is the compression supposed to be on these motors? I have an 88 car and an 89 FSM. My 89 FSM says on page 9-5 that Compression pressure should be 97psi. I clicked on the compression test link in the FAQ and it says standard value is 142 (http://www.starquestclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28020). I clicked on the on-line 88 FSM and looked at the coresponding page to the 89 and it's not listed. So ... what is the official compression supposed to be? I compression tested mine when I changed my plugs about 2 months ago just for kicks and got 90 across all 4 cylinders. Car runs great above 3k. It just stumbles and chokes when you try to accelerate and won't stay running at idle. It's been like that since I bought it and drove it home. I've replaced just about every sensor and rebuilt my TB, installed working OEM injectors. You can see this thread to see all I've replaced. (http://www.starquestclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=121297&st=20) Top of page 2, post #22.

There are jet valves ... so it must be a caravan head. They are disconnected, but they are still in there. Not sure about the lashes. And yes, I've done a compression test. Shows about 90 across all 4 cylinders. The FSM calls for 97, so it's a touch low. I wanted to rebuild the motor this spring, but I wanted to get it running right first, it's taking me so long to figure this thing out I'm way behind schedule ...

I'm not worried about the head per say ... I see from my research a lot of guys swap over to them. I was just wondering if maybe the head wasn't properly set up for a SQ by a P/O if that was my problem. I'm gathering from what you guys are saying though, that's not the case ... I still have some other issue.

Well that's a shame, b/c I assuming this guy bought it as a parts car. It's a Sunday and notary's aren't open on Sunday to transfer titles in PA

So I just discovered recently that my car has a mechanical head. I'm still trying to get this thing to run right, I got tired of testing sensors, wires, and swapping TPS's, so I popped off the VC ... turns out it's mechanical and the valves were way too tight. So, I loosed things back up into spec via the FSM w/ feeler gauges and the car definitely runs and idles much better, but alas ... still stumbles and stalls below 3K. Here comes my question ... I was doing some searching on here and it looks like the mechanical heads came from Caravans and I read something about the valves needing to be replaced w/ TURBO valves. Am I understanding correctly and, assuming some uninformed P/O just dropped this thing on here w/out swapping valves would that cause the symptoms I'm having?

Geechee - If you look at post #33, it's sold. helrazr - Yeah ... I saw the other thread in here of the other one you bought. I assume your looking for parts off it for the your silver. Maybe I'll to come check out that shell when you're done w/ it. I noticed he said it was rusty too, kinda hard to tell from his pics though.

Wow Chris ... I haven't been on the board here for a while, I can't believe all the crap you've been going through. I was just going to offer to store it here at my place if you thought it could make the drive, but I scrolled down and see you just sold it ... so, I'm still on the hunt for a shell. Call me when you get the chance, wondering if you ever went to see the Fiji ... I never heard back from you last week.

If he bales, post up here or PM me. Very interested. I'm looking for a less rusty roller to drop my motor into. Does it still have the driveshaft? Miles on body? Engine bay is more complete than I would have thought ... that's a +. My brother-in law lives in York, be a good excuse to go see him.

No difference. Doesn't run any better. So, at least I know I don't have an ECU problem now.

Ok, cool. Thank you sir. I'm really hoping to plug this thing in tomorrow and solve some problems. If not, we're down to the harness/wires and that's not going to be nearly as easy to pinpoint.

I just got done reading the FAQ section on differences between the 87 and 88/89 ECU and it seems the only difference is that the 88/89's can tolerate more boost (and the screws holes are different). Is that correct, nothing else? Reason I'm asking is I'm trying to determine if there's a problem w/ my 88 ECU. I pulled an 87 ECU from a parts car today and I want to try and swap it in and see if it runs any better ... just want to make sure I'm not introducing more havoc by installing an older ECU before I do it. Thanks.

I'm following up on this thread from February .... I'm still only seeing .36 - .38V at my TPS and I'm 100% convinced at this point this is the problem w/ the stumbling, rough idle, and stalling at low RPM's. I went out and bought an analog voltmeter yesterday and bench tested both the TPS's I own as per Professor Quests directions on starquest forums. They both sweep very nicely, w/ no hesitation. As far as I can tell they both seem to be operational. I get the same readings w/ either TPS installed. Oh, and the TPS signal wire reads 4.95V w/ the key forward. Shelby mentioned before in another thread that the car sounds like it's stuck in open loop ... which I agree with. How long does the car stay in open loop before it's "warmed up" enough to go to closed loop? Are we talking 1-2 minutes or more like 10-15? Do you think my ECU is bad or a bad connection somewhere? Indiana mentioned that in his first response. I'm getting tired of trying to figure this car out. :mad:

That's what I thought ... which is exactly why I raised an eyebrow when that was said. That also explains why I couldn't anything about it after doing a search. Ok, well thanks. That confirms what I thought ... he doesn't know what he's talking about

I actually searched for this answer before posting, but after looking through 8 pages of results I didn't find much other than seats F/S ... Someone told me just last week 88/89 seat are not interchangeable with 87 seats b/c the brackets are different. Just curious as to whether that is true or not for my own knowledge.

Thanks for the pg #. I'll either look it up through the online 88 manual here or find it in my 89 manual.