1986 Tercel; Running Extremely Rich & Engine Dying in Idle

[cobain67]

Hello,

I have a friend of whom I am currently helping fix her 86' Tercel. The exhaust is VERY rich in gasoline fumes, MPG is terrible, and the car stalls in idle unless warmed up for 10-15 minutes each drive.

I would like some help or basic pointers when it comes to diagnosing this issue. Upon my own searches I've found it could be the O2 sensor, Carberator fuel level off, cutoff solenoids, and/or a leak somewhere in the manifold gasket.

What else could it possibly be? I am new to these engines, so please bear with me.

Thank you-

[dlb]

welcome, cobain67.

a lot of this sort of stuff is covered in the FAQ. check question #s 6 and 8.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7442

off the top of my head, i suggest checking the choke by making sure it's closed when cold and wide open when warm, testing the AAP (found on the front passenger side of the carb) following the instructions in the factory service manual which is available for download here (see FAQ #10), and checking the fuel level by looking at the sight glass found at the front of the carb when the car is on level ground. the fuel level should be between the upper and lower tips on the glass.

let us know what you find.

[Petros]

Welcome to the forum,

sounds like it could be the auxiliary acceleration pump (AAP), if it is leaky just cap off the vac line that drives it. Usually a vac leak causes it to stall out at idle/low rpm, that would make it run lean however, not rich. the float level is a good thing to check too, just clean off the glass window on the forward facing side of the carb.

There is a good trouble shooting guide for the fuel system in the service manual, just follow the steps to check the various things that can cause it to run rich.

Good luck.

[irowiki]

This is almost exactly what my 84 Auto was doing, except it only took a minute or two of warming up before she'd idle right.


I ended up swapping the carb and the problem went away.