Hello everyone. I just registered this morning after lurking around and reading threads for a while. My thread title says it all, which is why I'm at my wit's end. I have searched this forum up and down, as well as others for an issue I'm having with my 22re.

I bought my '85 2 months ago from 1 PO. He apparently had the engine rebuilt around 250K and it now has 263K, of which I've put on about 2K. It has been well taken care of, no rust. Since I've bought it, I've regeared to 4:56, did a cat back exhaust, tune up, new dist., cap, wires, new alternator, battery, oil change, basically everything under the sun a new owner can do to a 23 year old car to make it seem like his own. I did locate the fuel filter and fuel pump under the seat and they apprear to be new.

My issue is this: I can start the car, but it drags and drags until if finally pops and decides to start, ususally 10-15 sec. During shifting, the RPM's will sputter and the engine will act like it wants to crap out on me, especially in lower gears and in the 2000-2500 range. Does not always do this, I think it dissipates after warm up, or several start ups around town. On downshifting, if the RPMs get too low, around the same range, the truck will actually kind of jolt forwards, like something's being cut off and it's being starved for fuel or something.
I've checked codes (mechanic has), nothing comes up from the fuel filter, fuel pump, O2 sensor, nothing.

Yesterday I bought some seafoam, applied to gas tank, brake booster line and a little to my crankcase. She ran great, no hesitation in the lower RPMs, I even took it out in 4WD L and creeped around my farm in 1st and 2nd and it wasn't an issue. Made me think it was the injectors but I'm not a mechanic. And that's another problem, my mechanic (former now) is apparently not up to snuff on the 22re.
I am driving to MT from GA this upcoming week and it drives great, especially at upper range and full throttle, but I am concerned about this "sputter" and only have basically another business day or two to get this nailed down and also find another mechanic that knows something.

If anyone has any suggestion, comments, similar problems, anything that could lead me to a possible solution, I would really appreciate it. I have truly looked for hrs and hrs on the 'net for possible troubleshooting, but all my leads appear to be deadends.
Sorry for the long post, was just trying to be thorough with my details.
Thanks for any words you can offer.
-S

 

what about spark plugs?

 

Sounds like the TPS or AFM.

 

spark plugs were changed when it was tuned up. TPS and MAF I would have thought would have shown up.

What about an injector cleaning?

This is weird. I just went out and drove around and giving it some slight throttle when releasing the clutch makes it jolt like hell. It should be a smooth transition when giving gas and releasing the clutch. I'm not dumping it, but I gotta give it enough throttle to power out of that range and into over 3K RPM just to have a smooth shift.

The seafoam seemed to have a direct effect yesterday as it seemingly went away after I added it. But it's defintiely back today and it seems to "hide" itself when the engine is warm or been running a while.

Thanks for reading.

 

apparently, I can't figure out how to delete posts so instead of double posting the same damn thing, I've changed it to this apology for being a moron.

sorry, I'm in a hurry

 

could that jolt when letting the clutch out be a u joint? I thought that was a symptom when mine went out

 

its not the idler screw is it? from what your describing kinds sounds like what mine was doing. my problem was a loose idler screw.. dunno about yours though

 

Mine does the same, can't get over like 20-25 for the first about 5-10 seconds when shifting to second, then does the same in 3rd, then it normally settles out if I just continue going up in speed and it doesn't happen again until the next day after I left the truck sit for 4+ hours. Engine is just running rich I think. I think it's a carb issue on mine, and nothing I want to get too far into with the carb. Started happening after I got a new timing chain, gaskets and new fuel pump and vacuum advance. So it was a odd situation

 

Mine does the same, can't get over like 20-25 for the first about 5-10 seconds when shifting to second, then does the same in 3rd, then it normally settles out if I just continue going up in speed and it doesn't happen again until the next day after I left the truck sit for 4+ hours. Engine is just running rich I think. I think it's a carb issue on mine, and nothing I want to get too far into with the carb. Started happening after I redid the timing chain, replaced gaskets and new fuel pump and vacuum advance. So it was a odd situation

 

sounds like it might be a leaking vacuum line if there is a change between cold and warm. Try spraying something flammable like carb cleaner or starting fluid over the vacuum lines while it is running, if it revs up when the mist gets near them that means it is sucking some of it into the engine somewhere. That is an easy way to check for vacuum leaks that I am aware of.

 

Hi from you saying it happens when cold, the cold start injector may be disconnected. It sprays a little gas into plenum when the starter is on, and cold. The TPS may need to be adjusted. On Throttle body.