[Proxy]

Hi there i've just bought an 89 Sierra JX yesterday, it was all well and good on the test drive, but it was about a 150k trip home, so after it had warmed up i had an issue with it idling too high, then after a drive i had an issue with it stalling at lights, then later on it was almost constantly backfiring not just on decel or high revs, like a machine gun at half throttle,

before i get flamed i have searched and it seems a have symptoms for a few problems, what got me confused is that all problems happened at operating temperature except the high idle happened at cold aswel,

apart from that i have an almost useless handbrake and very vague steering,

the car has a 1.3L engine extractors to a small muffler with no cat or resonator, it also has 15" wheels, otherwise the car seems stock

i'm about to go buy a workshop manual from repco and go about checking things off with the carby, it seems to be running way to rich with unburnt fuel coming in clouds,

i'm kinda new to carbies the last one i worked on was a holley 350 and alot simpler,

i hope someone can point me in the right direction with which one of these problems to tackle first in order to narrow down whats wrong

thanks

-AJ

[Reubs]

Hi Proxy,

I'm no mechanic but these things might help.

1. Steering.
Check tyre pressures. Those tyres look slightly oversize so you shouldn't go much over the placard pressures. I ran no more than 25 PSI with 29" tyres. You should also check tie-rods and steering box for excess play. I have replaced 1 of the tie rod ends on mine. Someone has posted up about tightening the steering box.

2. Your carby sounds like it has been messed with - possibly to compensate for it being clogged or your car needing a general tune. The choke probably needs attention and the carby might need the jets cleaned out.

3. Check timing I guess to see if that is your backfiring problem.

A real mechanic should post up soon though to give you other/better advice.

[Proxy]

Thanks mate, what pressures do you reckon? i assumed there would be a small amount of play between the rubber on the surface and the base of the rim, but still some road feel, i haven't had a look myself at the steering components but it's probably due for a freshen up which i know a good shop for,

i do agree the carby has been messed with, i don't have a timing light though to check the timing, hoping it's just ignition and not valve timing thats out

The tires are 215/75 R15

[Reubs]

No higher than 25PSI unloaded. Try driving at 20PSI (like the placard says) and your ride will be much better then say 30PSI. Above 30 then the ride start to get really harsh and the steering gets quite light.

I have found most Sierras aren't looked after. They are a cheap seond vehicle for most people so maintenance is overlooked. There's probably not much wrong that a single trip to a good mechanic couldn't sort out.

[MacDaddy]

Proxy wrote:

Hi there i've just bought an 89 Sierra JX yesterday, it was all well and good on the test drive, but it was about a 150k trip home, so after it had warmed up i had an issue with it idling too high, then after a drive i had an issue with it stalling at lights, then later on it was almost constantly backfiring not just on decel or high revs, like a machine gun at half throttle,

before i get flamed i have searched and it seems a have symptoms for a few problems, what got me confused is that all problems happened at operating temperature except the high idle happened at cold aswel,

apart from that i have an almost useless handbrake and very vague steering,

the car has a 1.3L engine extractors to a small muffler with no cat or resonator, it also has 15" wheels, otherwise the car seems stock

i'm about to go buy a workshop manual from repco and go about checking things off with the carby, it seems to be running way to rich with unburnt fuel coming in clouds,

i'm kinda new to carbies the last one i worked on was a holley 350 and alot simpler,

i hope someone can point me in the right direction with which one of these problems to tackle first in order to narrow down whats wrong

thanks

-AJ

Welcome to Auszookers, always good to see another Perth Zook owner here !

Unless you know what you are doing, i would take it directly to Suzistore in Midland, they are the best, Suzuki only Mechanic's !
Just ring or email them your symptoms, and then book it in for a workover, they will get it fixed for you !

Suzistore
74 Elgee Road
Midland
Western Australia 6056
Australia
Phone 08 9250 4650
Fax 08 92504640
Email sales@suzistore.com.au
http://www.suzistore.com.au/

[jdk81]

Download the service manual to compliment the haynes manual. There is a download section here

Buy a carby rebuild kit off ebay. ($44)

Carefully rebuild your carby to factory specs. ($14 carby cleaner and an air compressor)

Check all vacuum lines are hooked up correctly.

Buy a motorbike fuel filter ($4) place between fuel pump and carby.
Replace the fuel filter on the car too ($15)

Pry off the cover on the idle mixture screw, screw it in all the way, then take it out two full turns.
Start it up and set idle at 850 rpm.
Check timing.

Once this is done, spray very small squirts of aerostart/start ya bastard etc down the primary throat while it idles. adjusting the mixture screw until it starts to loose revs instead of increasing with the slightest spray of aerostart.
This is your ideal mixture setting, the factory setting is slightly out because of the extractors.
Set idle to 850rpm again, and spray aerostart, repeat until it is at 850rpm and ever so slightly loses revs with a tiny spray of aerostart.

Inspect all rubber hoses on the vehicle, if any look damaged, replace them. (I replaced everything, assuming they havent been done before).

Consider a new air filter ($50).
Maybe a new set of plugs ($16).
If old plugs are very sooty, consider using a can of subaru upper engine cleaner ($14)
If the head is fouled with carbon, you will get preignition (knock) due to higher compression and/or higher temps from the carbon. Subaru upper engine cleaner is awesome.

It should idle at 1500 rpm or so when cold. (mine is set to 2000rpm in sub zero, normally 1500 rpm when cold at other times).
There is also an idle up solenoid which will make the car rev higher when the alternator is under load (triggered by heater and parker lights I believe). Mine is set to 1500 rpm.

Check the resistances on leads etc and coil too. (i replaced leads)

Consider a full oil change (gearbox, xfer, diffs and engine) and oil filter. (I did)
Check your coolant too. (I flushed and replaced)

Inspect your fanbelt and timing belt while your at it. (changed both)

Check bushes, bearings, cables etc etc etc.. list goes on and on.

I know its a total PITA to do on a car you just bought, but I did all this and more on mine. So I know, I wont have an issue with these things.

It's a little expensive, but if you take your time and do them yourself you learn a lot about your car, and you have the satisfaction that you know they were done, and most wont need to be done again for quite a while.

[hutch]

Proxy wrote:

so after it had warmed up i had an issue with it idling too high, then after a drive i had an issue with it stalling at lights, then later on it was almost constantly backfiring not just on decel or high revs, like a machine gun at half throttle

Welcome to AZ, Carby sounds to be a problem to me... I would say that the erratic nature of what you are describing is it sucking air in somewhere, the backfire is a give away to that. How was it on power? Do you think the timing is out?
Be sure to post up about how you fix it. cheers.

[Proxy]

Well i took the car to the Suzi Store and it's booked in next Tuesday, they are going to install a Reconditioned stock carby for me plus tune it all up, which will be sweet, and anything they missed off of jdk81's list I'll pick up myself,

Thanks everyone for this wonderful info I'll sure to be checking back to this thread over n over again until i got her running sweet

[MacDaddy]

Proxy wrote:

Well i took the car to the Suzi Store and it's booked in next Tuesday, they are going to install a Reconditioned stock carby for me plus tune it all up, which will be sweet, and anything they missed off of jdk81's list I'll pick up myself,

Thanks everyone for this wonderful info I'll sure to be checking back to this thread over n over again until i got her running sweet

Cool !
Yep they are a good bunch of guys there, they will get your Zook running sweet as !
And they normally give it a once over and tell you if anything is iffy, or will need looking at/replacing soon... but if not, just ask them to check everything, they know what to look for...

Your welcome Proxy !

[Proxy]

Well i got the zook back, and had a talk with the guys there, bought a new clock aswel for the interior and they threw in an inspection grommet for the bellhousing for free,

they also advised me to get rid of the pod filter that the previous owner had installed and also how the extractors had blocked off the EGR port and removing associated vacuum gear and EGR valve (with a blank of plate) would be fine if i wanted to clean up the engine bay,

anyways took the car home and ran great idle was a tad low for my liking had to give it more throttle when taking off which is nice n loud with the current exhaust, but after a longer drive later on the oil light came on during deceleration, i assumed that keeping revs up kept the pressure up (girlfriend has a mechanical oil press gauge on her mx5 goes up n down with revs)

anyways i kept the light off using the throttle and took it home,

next day jenny wanted to drive the sierra to the shops instead of our other cars, but the oil light didn't go off and it clacked like hell so we parked it up again straight away,

after an oil change and new filter (turned out there was about 1L of dirty oil in the car) no more oil issues,

BUT

after another long drive, all the carby issues came back, high revs 2000 when warm if you turn the lights off car stalls, or it revs like 50rpm and dies when decelerating or stopping,

i don't know what happened, but i thought a recondition carby new fuel filter leaving my car over night for a warm and cold tune, plus handing over $625 and following the mechanics advice may of left me trouble free for more than well i picked it up wednesday and it oil problems wednesday night and carby problems thursday, so no more than a day,


i can't think of what went wrong, i don't think the carby is broken (it certainly looks new) and i don't think he tuned it wrong cause it worked real well for half a day, but then again, how can the mixture screws and idle screws and so on move them selves outta whack?

[Proxy]

Don't get me wrong about the suzi store guys though, very polite and informative, i'm going to ring them sometime next week and arrange a looksee i'm sure they'll be as interested as me about the funny results

[jdk81]

it'll be crap getting into the carby

fuel filter between the tank and pump (they vibrate to bits)

add a motobike filter between fuel pump and carby.

ensure your air filter is working fine and no dust getting in.

Lights off = car stalling, is when the high idle is switched off, and the mixture jet comes into play.
Sounds like a bit of crap blocking the primary jet.
It is possible you are getting particulate matter from the fuel pump diaphram.
Take it back and complain, they will fix it again.
Install the motorbike filter before you take it there, so it doesn't fill with crap straight after they clean it.

When oil is low, the oil light comes on under braking because there isnt enough oil at the pickup. turns off when accel or constant speed.

[alien]

macbear how dare you not mention the AZ mega meetup!!!

Proxy- all the perth AZ members are getting together soon: http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... &start=390

[MacDaddy]

Proxy wrote:

Don't get me wrong about the suzi store guys though, very polite and informative, i'm going to ring them sometime next week and arrange a looksee i'm sure they'll be as interested as me about the funny results

I am sure they will be interested... and they will try and sort out the problem...

[MacDaddy]

alien wrote:

macbear how dare you not mention the AZ mega meetup!!!

Proxy- all the perth AZ members are getting together soon: http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... &start=390

Ha ha... i sent out alot of PM's, i am pretty sure Proxy was one of them...

[Proxy]

jdk81 wrote:

it'll be crap getting into the carby

fuel filter between the tank and pump (they vibrate to bits)

add a motobike filter between fuel pump and carby.

ensure your air filter is working fine and no dust getting in.

Lights off = car stalling, is when the high idle is switched off, and the mixture jet comes into play.
Sounds like a bit of crap blocking the primary jet.
It is possible you are getting particulate matter from the fuel pump diaphram.
Take it back and complain, they will fix it again.
Install the motorbike filter before you take it there, so it doesn't fill with crap straight after they clean it.

When oil is low, the oil light comes on under braking because there isnt enough oil at the pickup. turns off when accel or constant speed.

Too right, i didn't see anything visibly in the carby, but when i popped the hood today to have a look the ridiculous intake setup the last owner had on there had come apart and there was a tube from the carby hat to nowhere and a pod filter hanging down by the chassis rail, as for the fuel filter between the tank and pump that was changed by suzistore when they did the carby, and being outta money at the moment i'll have till wait till thursday to add another after the pump,

as for the oil, i don't know which to assume, either Last owner forgot to add that extra 2.5L/the oil is leaking/the oil is burning, i'm hoping the first one, or the 2nd with an easy to replace gasket lol

[Lockie666]

I suggest cleaning out the fuel tank, you never know what shitty sediment is left behind in fuel tanks until you have a look!

Replace the fuel pump, then run some injector cleaner in the new fuel.

Sounds like the carby is still receiving shit through the fuel delivery system.

[jdk81]

Proxy wrote:

jdk81 wrote:

it'll be crap getting into the carby

fuel filter between the tank and pump (they vibrate to bits)

add a motobike filter between fuel pump and carby.

ensure your air filter is working fine and no dust getting in.

Lights off = car stalling, is when the high idle is switched off, and the mixture jet comes into play.
Sounds like a bit of crap blocking the primary jet.
It is possible you are getting particulate matter from the fuel pump diaphram.
Take it back and complain, they will fix it again.
Install the motorbike filter before you take it there, so it doesn't fill with crap straight after they clean it.

When oil is low, the oil light comes on under braking because there isnt enough oil at the pickup. turns off when accel or constant speed.

Too right, i didn't see anything visibly in the carby, but when i popped the hood today to have a look the ridiculous intake setup the last owner had on there had come apart and there was a tube from the carby hat to nowhere and a pod filter hanging down by the chassis rail, as for the fuel filter between the tank and pump that was changed by suzistore when they did the carby, and being outta money at the moment i'll have till wait till thursday to add another after the pump,

as for the oil, i don't know which to assume, either Last owner forgot to add that extra 2.5L/the oil is leaking/the oil is burning, i'm hoping the first one, or the 2nd with an easy to replace gasket lol

Motorbike fuel filters are $4 from bursons etc
If you look at your carby, theres two ways it gets blocked.
Crap coming from the fuel pump, or crap getting into the breather tube.
Its in the green circle on the 3rd pic, 1st post
http://auszookers.com/index.php?name=Fo ... light=carb

So for the life of your engine and less carby headaches ensure the air filter assembly (from air filter to carby and every join inbetween) is working, no leaks or ways dust and crap can get in.
The $4 for the fuel filter is added insurance.

[Proxy]

jdk81 wrote:

Proxy wrote:

jdk81 wrote:

it'll be crap getting into the carby

fuel filter between the tank and pump (they vibrate to bits)

add a motobike filter between fuel pump and carby.

ensure your air filter is working fine and no dust getting in.

Lights off = car stalling, is when the high idle is switched off, and the mixture jet comes into play.
Sounds like a bit of crap blocking the primary jet.
It is possible you are getting particulate matter from the fuel pump diaphram.
Take it back and complain, they will fix it again.
Install the motorbike filter before you take it there, so it doesn't fill with crap straight after they clean it.

When oil is low, the oil light comes on under braking because there isnt enough oil at the pickup. turns off when accel or constant speed.

Too right, i didn't see anything visibly in the carby, but when i popped the hood today to have a look the ridiculous intake setup the last owner had on there had come apart and there was a tube from the carby hat to nowhere and a pod filter hanging down by the chassis rail, as for the fuel filter between the tank and pump that was changed by suzistore when they did the carby, and being outta money at the moment i'll have till wait till thursday to add another after the pump,

as for the oil, i don't know which to assume, either Last owner forgot to add that extra 2.5L/the oil is leaking/the oil is burning, i'm hoping the first one, or the 2nd with an easy to replace gasket lol

Motorbike fuel filters are $4 from bursons etc
If you look at your carby, theres two ways it gets blocked.
Crap coming from the fuel pump, or crap getting into the breather tube.
Its in the green circle on the 3rd pic, 1st post
http://auszookers.com/index.php?name=Fo ... light=carb

So for the life of your engine and less carby headaches ensure the air filter assembly (from air filter to carby and every join inbetween) is working, no leaks or ways dust and crap can get in.
The $4 for the fuel filter is added insurance.

well today i took off the intake, it was the stock tube, then a small to big rubber joiner then a silicone bend to a pod behind the headlight with a shield over it, i replace that with the silicone bend which has a small end for the carby hat straight to a different pod with bigger opening so fit the over the pipe without a rubber joiner and replaced the shield and added a brace, it's still not what i'd like ultimately in there, but this way there's no rubber or silicone being clamped onto rubber or silicone where it just buckles and comes apart at will, and there's the least amount of joins aswel so less chance for it to come apart in that sense aswel,

as for the fuel filter is that to ensure parts of the fuel pump don't end up in the carby? or just to catch the stuff the first filter doesn't, and am i right in assuming they are the ones you see on old cars see through with paper elements in them, if it's what I'm thinking of it looks like the one i have on my vh commo which i can find at the local stores on the shelf

[Reubs]

Proxy wrote:

as for the fuel filter is that to ensure parts of the fuel pump don't end up in the carby? or just to catch the stuff the first filter doesn't, and am i right in assuming they are the ones you see on old cars see through with paper elements in them, if it's what I'm thinking of it looks like the one i have on my vh commo which i can find at the local stores on the shelf

Fuel filter is mainly for the 1st reason IMO, but if your Sierra has not been started for a long time, the fuel pump starts to perish, and bits of rubber will end up in the carby unless you have an inline filter before the carby. Ryco sells a 6mm inline filter which is plastic with a metal guaze inside for less then $10. I don't think they can be cleaned and re-used. I have a speco 1/4" glass filter on one of my Sierras. It can be taken out and all the rubbish emptied but they are a bit more expensive.

As for the oil, did you check the dipstick before you bought the car? Down 2 1/2 litres sounds like the oil hasn't been topped up since it's last change!

[Proxy]

Reubs wrote:

Proxy wrote:

as for the fuel filter is that to ensure parts of the fuel pump don't end up in the carby? or just to catch the stuff the first filter doesn't, and am i right in assuming they are the ones you see on old cars see through with paper elements in them, if it's what I'm thinking of it looks like the one i have on my vh commo which i can find at the local stores on the shelf

Fuel filter is mainly for the 1st reason IMO, but if your Sierra has not been started for a long time, the fuel pump starts to perish, and bits of rubber will end up in the carby unless you have an inline filter before the carby. Ryco sells a 6mm inline filter which is plastic with a metal guaze inside for less then $10. I don't think they can be cleaned and re-used. I have a speco 1/4" glass filter on one of my Sierras. It can be taken out and all the rubbish emptied but they are a bit more expensive.

As for the oil, did you check the dipstick before you bought the car? Down 2 1/2 litres sounds like the oil hasn't been topped up since it's last change!

Well i didn't check the dipstick the dealer did and said "the oils so clean i almost didn't see it on the stick" now that i think of it and after seeing how drity the oil actually was i guess something shoulda clicked when he said that, but can't fix that now

[Proxy]

installed a speco fuel filter today and a breather filter on the pcv pipes as a temp fix untill better intake parts are sorted, i was thinking about putting a bung into the carby hat and running the pcv pipes into that, unsure if that would work though as i dunno how it was originally