I am growing attached to my wife's 87 740/t
I'm not sure if it is fear or pity.
I am not nor will i ever be a great mechanic, but the previous owners of this car were just cruel in their neglect.
She was just refusing to idle, and would stall every time you turned your head.
Making a looong story shorter, I replaced the IAC, the hoses coming to and from. Cleaned and re-gasketed the Throttle body, set the TPS to specs, and it was better but not good enough.
So i took a breath and wrenched myself into the timing cover bottom cover looked like a pit bull had used it for a chew toy, the Harmonic balancer was spun, the bottom timing belt sprocket's nub was broken off, and all of the front engine seals had RTV sealant on them to stop the oil leaks.
So i ordered parts let's call it $235 and we're not done.
The timing belt wanted to walk off the cam sprocket (brick board to the rescue) i had a square belt in a round sprocket, and the intermediate shaft sprocket, has a weird ridge on its outside edge . and the tensioner was warped (i had a spare)
So we washed the front of the motor and i managed a patch on the lower belt cover with gorilla super glue and some appropriate gauge plastic.
With all new belts and the ignition in the neighborhood of being able to be compensated by the computer, she is feeling much better.
My wife had a flat on the fwy, and then for some reason it would not start, as it was being hauled up on the flatbed the driver reached in ad turned it on, voila it ran , don't know why. So I drove the car for the next three day first two days she was o.k., the third day as i was pulling into work I could feel the throttle response get sluggish but i was there and didn't have time to fuss with it.
After work on the way home she stopped and refused to start.
Towed hone, went to the pick-a-part Saturday, and got newish Cam gear, intermediate gear,lower belt pulley and the replacement timing covers and back plate..
I redid the timing belt,seals, gears,tensioner etc. and everything went back together clickety click.
But it won't start.
I put my run forever f/p relay in the console and pulled the return line from the FPR and there was gas aplenty (or so it looked). I pull the #11 fuse and I can hear the main pump load up. and I can hear the main pump run when I stick my head under the car and it sounds smooth and happy.
I replaced the cap and rotor on general principal, plugs were new three months ago passed smog and looked clean ad no change in the gap when pulled them prior to doing the timing belt.
I have a gizmo I bought from Harbor fright, that attaches to the spark plug wire and lites up when it gets spark from the coil. Compression is 190 across the board, and i have pretty much stopped there, for lack of any more inspirations.
all thoughts, suggestions and ideas are welcome