I have a 82 PU with stock 22R. It's had a problem once in a while not holding idle after starting it up. It generally starts fine, but at times it will idle fine too, then I'll drive it to the grocery store and when I come back out to drive home it does the idle thing where I have to hold down the gas.

It had a cheap Oreiley's alternator on it and it was getting to the point where the charge light would usually flicker when it was doing this, so I had a local shop replace it with a Beck Arnley. I tried to bring them a Denso but they said it wouldn't fit the bracket when I brought it in. The alternator is fine and I don't get the charge light flicker anymore, but the problem persists and is getting worse.

Lately it's started to develop a faint whine which sounds to be coming from under the air filter housing, and yesterday when driving home from a store on a fairly warm day it just up and started dying on a 45 MPH road halfway home. It was surging radically then started dying, and it even felt like the brakes were on instead of coasting, and the oil and charge lights came on. I put on the hazard lights and made my way to the far right lane, and as traffic came to a near halt it just stopped doing it and ran fine the rest of the way home.

I found a similar thread here where Tkeehr11 had such problems with an 87. He said it ended up being a cracked intake, which he said he fixed. I've been trying to get more info from him via PM and a response on that thread as far as whether he meant replacing the intake manifold or just an intake hose. Seems to me if you hear a whine it would more likely be the manifold.

It appears as long as the thing is at full operating temp it will not exhibit the problem, but it's starting to do it closer to full temp and the whine is worrisome. I'm hoping it's nothing worse than a bad intake manifold gasket. I've found only one source for a new manifold (andysautosport.com), and they want $375.

 

Found a shop really close by that offered to do a smoke test as part of their free inspection. I'll report back the diagnosis. Of the few mechs I've taked to so far that do these tests, they say any kind of vaccuum leak can cause such problems and make the kind of whining sound I'm getting. Hopefully it's not a cracked manifold.

 

Not that anyone seems concerned, but I just stopped in to update in case someone else is having this problem.

The PCV appeared dirty enough to need replacing when I did the breath test on it, it would only open half the time I tried to get it to. It was also stuck in tight due to the grommet being hardened from the heat.

I put in a new valve and grommet and now it cold starts and holds idle much better, with no stalling on startup or driving. It idles slightly rough, but I plan to Seafoam it after having yanked the EGR and seen how much carbon buildup there was.

I got the big pipe between the EGR and manifold pretty clean, and I can hear the diaphragm move when I apply suction to it, but I could not unclog the small pipe that leads to the vacuum modulator.

So the EGR is probably opening when there's enough vacuum, but it can't modulate with varied pressure after that point. The thing drives well at all speeds though, it just idles slightly rough.

I ordered an EGR block plate kit from LCE, and plan to put the Seafoam thru the PCV hose to make sure it's not wasted on the blocked side of the plates. The other 2/3 are going into the carb and gas tank as per instructions. I got 2 cans in case it takes more than one to make it idle smoother.

 

Good information.

 

I hate intermittent problems.

 

Yeah esp when you try and have a shop diagnose it after failing to find the cause and they can't replicate the symptoms and give you that "it's running fine" reply like you're wasting their shop time.

Anyways, got my block plate kit from LCE and after a bit of trouble finding a gasket for the exhaust inlet part of the EGR, I discovered via one of the older threads here that it's actually part of the intake manifold gasket.

The stock gaskets I think are Ishino, and paper thin. I did a bit of searching and in case anyone's interested, found a great source for an intake gasket set. They're called Titan Direct and are an Amazon sub vendor.

Titan sells the whole intake gasket set for only $6.73 with free shipping, and it's made by Fel-Pro. It's probably better than the factory one.
(EGR Exhaust Inlet outlined in red)


I'm just going to use the exhaust inlet block plate and trace around it and cut off the EGR inlet part and save the manifold gasket in case I spring a vacuum leak there. Too bad I didn't see this before buying the tiny piece for the EGR manifold pipe. I can always return it next time I'm at Autozone though.

Today I pulled out the charcoal canister and ran my 95 PSI air compressor through it in reverse direction after plugging the drain hose. There's plenty good air flow through it, so all seems good. When I get my gasket (hopefully Thur) I'l put in the block plates and Seafoam the engine.

I need the break for now anyway, as I aggravated an old lumbar injury struggling to get to the charcoal can. Managed to help a lady that stopped by when I was finishing up spot cleaning the bird doo off the roof and hood though. She was on her way to a wedding and needed a jump start.

 

Just to wrap this up, yesterday I got the gasket, so I took out the EGR and it's piggy backed vacuum modulator and capped the 4 vacuum tubes they connect to with some 1/8" vacuum caps that came in a 5 pack.

I bought a nice gasket scraper since the gaskets looked a bit baked on. I then put the EGR block plates on. The one upper left fastener on the EGR, which uses a stud vs bolt, had a tad too shallow a hole for the bolts in the kit, so I used a stainless washer I had along with the kit washer.

Today I SeaFoamed it and also bought some SeaFoam Deep Creep to clean and lube the throttle linkage and upper cable end. Part of what sold me on Deep Creep is it can be used after torching rusted parts and the heat draws it in vs just burning off.

The thing is running very nice now. Smooth, powerful acceleration, no rough idle, no sticky throttle, and not a hint of hesitation. It feels like it has more power and throttle response after the EGR block kit and SeaFoam.

Oreilley's happened to have SeaFoam motor tune and Lucas Oil Stabilizer on sale when I picked up the vac caps, scraper and Deep Creep, so I bought 2 more cans of SeaFoam motor tune and a bottle of Lucas Oil Stabilizer.

I swear it feels like this thing has 100,000 less miles on it now. If it weren't for the slight slop it has in the drive train after 244,000 miles, she'd be completely tight.

 

Good to hear you got it running smooth! It's interesting that blocking off the egr port fixed your problems. I just desmogged my engine and I'm letting some rtv dry a little before I fire it up. I'm really anxious to see if it runs better.

 

Actually, if you look back a few posts the dying and lurching problem was fixed by just replacing the PCV valve. I was planning to take off the EGR anyway though, esp after seeing how clogged with carbon it was.

Some say these engines can pass emissions even without the smog equipment though, and the way it's running now, I don't doubt it. Of course at 31 yrs old, it doesn't have to.