'92 3.1 TPI w/T5

Stopped running one day, put a new dist. in and got it to fire but ran bad. Put #1 at TDC today, restabbed the dist. pointing at #1 rotor at rest and bolted it up, set the timing to 10 degrees BTDC with the connector unplugged (like the sticker on the hood) and it still runs pretty bad and is hard to start whether the bypass connector is plugged in or not. But will at least start now (with alot of cranking). Once started and warmed it starts up easy enough, but runs bad with throttle or under load.

I can smell alot of gas when I'm cranking and I get what I'm pretty sure is an air/fuel mist from the throttlebody sometimes. When I pulled #1 plug it was jet black and covered with soot and smelled a little gassy (maybe just from playing with the timing so much though?). Exhaust smells rich too but not much smoke besides a lil' bit of white on first startup (has always done that). Its been about 3 years since a tune up so new plugs and wires tommorow before I continue troubleshooting.

I really need this pile going and can't afford to put much money into it right now. I'm a good R&R guy but troubleshooting this TPI setup is a bit over my head. I'll probably grab a multimeter and maybe a vacuum gauge tommorow to poke around some stuff if I need to, where do I start?

 

Look for leaky injectors. Check fuel pressure decay. You are getting way too much fuel.
Also, you may want to replace O2 sensor, although that would have nothing to do with the starting part since the O2 sensor does not kick on until the exhaust temperature reaches 600*.
I bet that your plugs are getting fouled due to the rich running condition and as a result you are not getting a good spark.
Also, double check your vacuum hoses and such.

 

I just re-did all vacuum lines 2 summers ago and got that all straightened out (with alot of diagrams from here to get it spot on) so I'm confident in that.

I'm going to look for procedures on how to test the injectors and the fuel regulator, see where that gets me. When I get it to start it will usually idle ok but ANY throttle and it starts falling on it's face and acting up, especially under load.

Fuel pressure was 42-43psi with Ignition ON, and 40 while cranking, seemed to be good so too much fuel makes sense. Will report back hopefully with something that can help someone help me! lol

 

Just saw that I never updated this. Oops

The coil was bad. Took me a whole day to figure out, since I suspected something in the distributor or install went wrong, it was hard for me to believe in the coincedence of both the coil and the distributor and pickup coil all going out at roughly the same time. I remained pretty focused on that, kept pulling the dizzy and checking plug wires and swapping out the ICM... Wasted a lot of time, but got it done that night with a new coil.

Didn't take long once I decided my dizzy and timing was alright. LOL