Car strugles to start, idles fine, CEL comes on, dies.

[wseibel]

Hello everyone, I am new to the world of DSMs with my recently aquired 1990 Talon ESi FWD. I picked it up at an impound auction a week ago and trying to get it running. The exterior and interior are in fine shape, the car overall was a good deal, I just have some problems with it. When I try to start it, sometimes it'll crank for a long time, sometimes it'll start right up no problem. After that, it'll idle pretty smoothly(sounds like crap cuz of an exhaust leak) and runs decently. Then at random points it'll jolt, check engine light will come on, I'll hear clicks from the ECU and stall out. So I know that theres no problem with the mechanics to start it, I am assuming it's something electrical. A buddy's brother(mercedes mechanic) said it's probably a tps, so I got one coming in the mail. From what I've seen on the forum, my guess is I have some leaky CAPs and either need to get that fixed or get myself a new ECU.

Now can anyone help this poor DSM n00b out and offer some hints? Thanks a lot!!

 

[Polyol]

Check all of your hoses going to the intake. I left one of mine off after the mass airflow sensor and I got a CEL and the car died as well. Also you need to do a leak test to see if you have any bad leaks.

***Edit***

Just noticed you have a N/T...still check all of your lines. If everything looks ok do a tune up.

 

[SleepingEclipse]

check your vaccum lines, might be tps, or also mass air flow sensor...i have a friend that bought a 90 laser n/t and it has the exact same problems...he has bought a new tps, and that helped it a lil...does the car feel like it hits a wall at 4k rpms? if it does, try unplugging the mass air flow sensor(temporary fix)...

 

[wseibel]

No, it drives fine, aside from the random CEL followed by death.

 

[kristmen]

Well then you need to find out why its throwing a CEL... You need to pull the codes or get some type of logger.

Local autoparts store should be able to hook it upto a scanner. The errors are stored in the ECU even if the CEL is off.

 

[dicion]

DEFINATELY remove and check the ECU to see if it's alright. Look for fried IC's & leaky caps.

 

[wseibel]

I checked the ECU and it looked alright, the was no noticable damage around the CAPs, although I am not too positive as to what it would look like if it were damaged. Also, I do not know what the ICs are, so who knows if thats alright... Thanks.