Atleast that's what I want it to be Alright, I've got 120K miles and my GTA is starting to run like ****! Well not really because to me running like **** may be another persons pretty good running car.

Anyway, if you had like $800 to spend on just a tune-up what would you do? Here's what I've got so far: (Pices noted as "$0" means I already have the parts needed)

$200 Fuel Injection service, the vacuum hose type and the fuel rail type
$130 Alternator, plus a new charging cable in a larger guage
$0 Transmission Service, new fluid/filter/gasket
$0 Rear Diff service, new fluid/gasket
$0 Oil Change, I'm going from Royal Purple 10W30 to 15W40 now though
Check my spark plugs, they only have 15K miles and they are AC Delco Platinums made to last atleast 50K.
$45 Oxygen Sensor

Here is a list of things I just replaced in the last 15K miles (keep in mind that the last 20K miles were 99% at highway speeds, not in city traffic)

Spark Plugs
Spark Plug Wires
Ignition Module
Ignition Coil
Fuel Filter
Distributor Cap/Rotor
Cooling System Flush
Power Steering System Flush

I'm also going to be putting back in my stock PROM because the SLP PROM just seems to run too rich for me, I mean my eyes burn just standing by the exhaust tips, of course I'll have my fuel pressure checked and look for bad injectors during the F.I. service. I also may go with an Optima Red top and ditch my new AC Delco because I think it may be contributing to a low voltage problem I've been having.

What else would you guys suggest? Basically my car doesn't idle very smooth anymore and when it's at temp, in gear at a light, it will surge, sometimes so bad it nears a stall, it feels almost like the converters trying to lock up in drive at a stop. What about my EGR and stuff? I've never done any maintence on my emissions system, anything need to be done there?

What else am I missing? Oh and what's the oil filter that's larger than the PF25? Is it the PF35?

 

Pickup coil, and new iac motor along with throttle body gaskets. Sounds like you have a vacuum leak with the surging idle.

 

New IAC, new TB gaskets - check.

What's the pickup coil?

 

If you've still got a cat on it (and since you're in California, I'm assuming you do...) you might want to go ahead and replace it too, if you haven't already. A clogged cat will wreck your performance.

 

It was brand new Catco highflow 3" as of about 25K miles ago. I know the aftermarket high flow cars don't last very long but I'd expect 50K out of them. If not let me know and I'll replace it, they are only like $80 plus install so like $200. Not something I want to do unless I have too. Maybe I'll do a temperature test on it using an infared thermometer. Oh and my best friend has a CA Smog test machine in his home garage

 

You will have to pull the distributor out to change the pickup coil, it is under the brown hat thing in the distributor. The magnetic top/distributor shaft also goes bad and can cause a miss if the top of the magnet is cracked, check yours.

 

It's probably still good, then.

 

Damn that sounds like a PITA, I've never pulled and restabbed a distrubutor. I'll have to borrow a timing gun too. It's never been done though in the 4 years I've owned the car so I guess I better.

I figure the cat is still good but I'm up for smog Jan of '05 so I'll put a new one on in December...

 

Oh you know what! Would a tiny exhaust leak cause a bad idle? It just occured to me that a couple times now I've gotten a slight pop or two type sound from by my firewall, I was going to check my header gasket for a leak and check how loose my header bolts are.

Anyway would a leak that small cause a bad idle?

 

I also just decided I'm going to go with a brand new set of Accel Fuel Injectors.

What # were the factory LB9 injectors? Low impedence or high?

 

Factory LB9 injectors are 16 ohms by design, and are servicable down to about 12 ohms. That is generally considered to be high impedance.

Instead of $200 for a half-assed cleaning, pull the injectors and send them to Rich for cleaning and flow-matching. Eleven bucks apiece. Your new Accels may not be matched as well as Rich can get them, and may require a different control to operate them.

Save the money on a new IAC and remove and clean yours. A good time to do that is when you remove and clean the throttle body. Replace all your vacuum hoses and check the PCV. Another good thing to check is the EGR valve pintle, seat, and passages in the intake.

Test the pickup coil instead of just replacing it. Test the TPS as well. If you only want to spend money on stuff, buy a good tester, timing light, and vacuum gauge. If you don't feel like doing all that testing and adjusting, sell the car and buy a Honda. You can just throw it away when it starts to give you trouble.

 

I heard that Rich won't even service the original Multec injectors because they are so bad. Should I send the Accels to him or will they be good enough out of the box? And yeah if I did this I of course wouldn't not be spending the $200 on cleaning.

I was going to try cleaning the IAC anyway but if it turns out to be cheap then I was just going to buy a new one.

I figure I'll still just replace the pickup coil, I mean if it has 120K and it is still good, why not replace it anyway. Last thing I want is for it to fail in the next 5K miles just because I didn't replace it now.

TPS, yeah I forgot about that. I did have some trouble with that in the past but I went away. I think I'll replace that too...

 

i was going to say the same thing.


not to mention, if this is a complete tune up, you'll have to pull them anyway to replace the O-rings...




and yea, i think he stopped cleaning thoes... i sent a friend that just bought a 92 to him, and my friend told me that he wont even service thoes injectors anymore because they're so bad.

 

Cool I'll replace the injector O rings too, I didn't even think of that. that's why I made this post.

So should I send my Accels to him for matching or what?