Yesterday I tuned up my 92 GXE. I replaced the plugs, wires, dist. cap and rotor. I should mention last week I replaced the air and fuel filters.

Prior to yesterday the car was running really rough, and would often stall about 15-20 seconds after starting. Once I did the above it ran smoother, although I noticed that after driving it about 15 minutes, when at a stop light with the car in drive it idled very rouglyh - bouncing between 700 and 1500 rpm. This stopped if I put it in neutral -- then it was bouncing around 1000 -- 1200 rpm.

About 6 hours later I drove the car about 1/2 mile to run an errand that took about 5 minutes in a store. When I left the store and went to start the car it would try, but wouldn't turn over. I tried 4-6 times and no luck. I checked under the hood and found that one of the wire ends wasn't snug over a spark plug and then same for the wire end leading into the distributor. I pushed them all the way in and tried to start the car -- still no luck so I called AAA. After about 5 minutes I tried again and the car started.

This morning I started it up and it still had an initially rough idle. I let it idle for about 5 minutes and then drove it around the block a couple times to let it warm up. I then shut it off and let it sit for about 5 minutes. It started right up. This time when I started it it started to idle around 900 rpm, then gently bobbed down to between 800 and 900 rpm and then finally settled to idling between 700 and 800 rpm, bobbing up and down very slightly.

I'm getting ready to take a trip with this car this weekend and would like any advice. I haven't been able to recreate the car not starting but any tips and trouble shooting advice would be great.

thanks in advance.

 

Check your intake gasket and ALL vacuum lines...sounds like you have a bad vacuum leak..

 

How would I check the intake gasket?

thanks for your replay

 

Old skool method== spray some carb cleaner/starting fluid around the intake gasket area and vacuum lines while the car is idling(keep your head/body away from the areas being sprayed) listen for the idle to smooth out while spraying..pay attention to the area that smoothed out the idle..closely inspect that area for the intake/vacuum leak..

safer method= get a bottle of propane and attach a length of rubber hose to the gas
valve. Open the valve so you have a steady flow of gas. Then hold the hose near suspected leak points while the engine is idling. If there is a leak, propane will be siphoned in through the leak. The resulting "correction" in the engine's air/fuel ratio should cause a noticeable change in idle speed and/or smoothness

 

well I watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p79ck...layer_embedded

and at about 4:30 he points to these small vacuum lines. Sure enough, one of them was very loose. I took an x-acto knife and trimmed about 1/8" off an its much much snugger. Now idling smoother, although not completely smooth, at about 1100.

I'll continue to check the other lines.

thanks for the advice.

 

btw -- can you purchase these things in bulk and cut them down yourself?

 

yes, indeed. most parts stores ask how much you want, as they sell by the foot.
I don't see needing much more than 6ft of the stuff, but you may (doesn't seem like I did).