OK a little background to begin...

I bought an '88 pickup with the 22RE in April and it has started up and ran great up until a few days ago. All of a sudden it starts hard (like on the 3rd or 4th crank when it used to start up every time on 1st crank), it developed an erratic idle (you could call it a "loping" idle), and it occassionally stumbles while accelerating.

The problem with it not starting right away seems like it could be not getting fuel, but I can hear the high pitched noise of the fuel pump if I open my door and stick my head out when the key is turned to ACC.

When it is idling funny and I step on the gas, it chokes it out and almost dies. It almost seems like when you forget to turn the choke off on a carburated snowmobile or atv and give it gas and it just bogs.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Rob

 

Think this is something that SeaFoam can fix?

I don't know how many miles are on the engine because it's rebuilt and has a donor cluster.

Rob

 

check your fuel filter? or you might have gotten some bad gas

 

I tried changing my fuel filter a while back but the lines were like they were going to break if I undid it so I left it for now.

It shouldn't be bad gas since I got it at the Mobil where I always get it.

Rob

 

It could be bad gas if the tanker just stopped by and stirred up the debris and water that was settled on the bottom of the tank. This happened to my girlfriends car over the summer. It wouldn't start and she let it sit and asked me to look @ it. I let it crank for a while and it finally started but ran rough and lacked power. I put some seafoam in the tank and filled up at a dif station and it cleared it up. Seafoam is great stuff

 

I'd still replace it and if the lines break, replace the lines. I had to replace my fuel lines when I did my filter, but the filter was so dirty and nasty it was well worth it.

 

I'd check out the cold start injector, to see if it has gone bad.

 

Yes it has started happening since it got colder here in Illinois... I didn't know there was such a thing as a cold start injector... is it similiar to a choke?

Rob

 

OK it does seem to be a problem with cold starts. Last night I went to start it to drive to my girlfriend's house and had the same problem with it starting hard. I stayed at her place for a few hours and went out to start it and it started hard again. I drove home and turned it off. Then I started it again and it started right up.

Where is the cold start injector? I don't see any mention of it in my Haynes manual.

Rob

 

It is located on your intake plenum on the top right side (facing motor). about half way back in line with the "I" in "EFI" it has a black connector pluged into it and a fuel line attached.

Next time you go to start it and it doesn't want to put your foot to the floor on the gas pedal. It should start right up.

 

If the motors cranks forever when cold and starts right up when hot it's either the cold start injector or the cold start injector time switch. The switch is what goes bad 90% of the time.

For testing of the cold start injector time switch on 84-88 22re's, remove the connector and measure the resistance between the two terminals. The cold start injector time switch is located right beneath the bvsv valve. The sensor to the right of it is the water thermo sensor (also known as the coolant temperature sensor). The switch should read between 20-40 ohms with the coolant temp. below 86 degrees F and 40-60 ohms above 104 degrees F.

For testing of the cold start injector, remove the connctor and measure the resistance between the two terminals. It should register 2-4 ohms. However, the injector could ohm out correctly yet be plugged.

 

Ahhh!!! It's all making sense to me now... I installed a coolant temp gauge over the weekend and noticed that the wires going into this sensor (I didn't know what it was at the time) were looking pretty shoddy. I'm going to try and run some new wires and see what results I have.

Rob

 

OK thanks guys it turns out I must have messed up one of the wires going into the cold start sensor so the computer wasn't reading that the engine was cold when I went to start it. I fixed that wire and now it starts up on the first crank again, even though it was 3 degrees here in IL this morning haha.

I still get the erratic idle until the engine warms up, though. Could this be because the stock coolant temp sensor is no longer hooked up? I replaced it with an aftermarket one.

Any ideas?

Rob

 

"I still get the erratic idle until the engine warms up, though."

Is the motor at fast idle when first started up in the morning or is it kind of lugging until it warms up? I would suspect the auxiliary air valve if there is no fast idle when the motor is cold. I can give you the resistance specs on the air valve when I get home.


"Could this be because the stock coolant temp sensor is no longer hooked up? I replaced it with an aftermarket one?"


As long as it's the correct aftermarket part it should be fine.

 

was it a green colored plug? if so then thats why, the computer needs that input

 

Yep!! A green colored plug is now unhooked. I guess I need to get some sort of splitter so I can have the stock one and my aftermarket one plugged in.

Thanks guys!

Rob