Hey guys, I've recently fixed a few things in my 87 TA 305 carb. The fuel pump was causing my 'not starting' issue. Recently replaced the clutch as it was the original clutch with 139k on it. Now my biggest issue is i'm only getting about 10 mpg! Do I have a vacuum leak? Carb issues? How can I troubleshoot my problem? She is idling pretty steady around 1500 which is high. Every now and then she dips around 1000, but mostly 1500. She also surges every now and then. So far i'm leaning towards a timing issue. Would timing kill my mpg that bad? I should be at least getting 18-20 as i'm driving mostly highway miles. What do you think guys?

 

Is your check engine light on when you drive? If not, does it come on when you turn on the key? Read codes to see if they point to any issues. Sounds like a problem with your feedback carburetor(CCC).

 

No lights come on while i'm driving. Going down the road she seems to drive fine. I do get a service engine soon light that comes on when i turn the key to on (but not crank). Advance Auto or Autozone could tell me the codes right?

 

I'm in the same boat with the bad gas mileage. AA or AZ could not tell your codes. Do the paperclip method. It's one of the tech articles here, where you count the CE light blinking. It'll blink stored codes too.

 

Something's wrong. Most likely cause is a stuck choke or one that is not opening. Make sure the choke plate is straight up with the engine warm and spray all of the linkage down with carb cleaner-it sometimes gets gummed up.

Is everything connected properly? No missing parts? All of the vacuum lines look good or is it kind of a gummy mess?

Check your choke. Inspect your vacuum lines and replace as needed. If the cap/rotor/plugs and wires have not been recently replaced, do it now. Do not adjust your timing unless someone's dickered with it recently. You can check it with a timing light (and the ESC wire to dist disconnected) and verify that it's somewhere between 0 and 6 degrees advanced at idle but the idle needs to be below 1000 to do this.

It can run crappy and not throw a trouble code. The ECM wasn't too terribly sophisticated. But check for codes regardless.

Post back your progress and we'll work with you.

 

naf makes a good point. Things have to get pretty far out of whack before the ECM on your CCC car will set a code. Check engine light function sounds normal. Still, reading codes may reveal a problem. Check all the basics as suggested. Because the car drives okay, Im thinking of an issue with feedback mixture control. The key players in this system are the O2 sensor, coolant temp sensor, TPS, MAP sensor, MC solenoid.