# 1989 4 cylinder fuel problem?



## Smith1000 (Dec 29, 2005)

I have a problem going on that someone out there will likely know the answer to. I have an 89 4 cylinder and for about the last year and a half, it has been cutting out when cold, right after start up. It would eventually warm up and run much better, but you have to feather the gas pedal lightly to get there. If you put to much foot feed into it, it would go nowhere. It would stay running barely, but had no power. 

I performed some tune up stuff to it-new plugs, plug wires and a few other things, of which none helped.

I hadn't driven it for awhile and recently tried to start it and found that it would not fire over at all-but, if I pour a little bit of gas into the throttle body, it will fire over and run for a matter of seconds before dying. I suspected the fuel pump and removed the hose where it goes into the throttle body. I turned the key to the on position and in about 10-15 seconds, it nearly filled a pop can with gas. Seems to be getting plenty of fuel.

I checked all of the fuses and they are all fine, including the one that says "fuel cut off." I believe some part of the throttle body has failed--like a pump or a jet. Does anyone know what part may be the problem? Is there a part that fails in the throttle body such as a main jet, or a pump, etc. that would slowly fail? Thanks for any advice.


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## zanegrey (Dec 5, 2005)

the first thing is read the cides..

check the wire injectors before the plig.. it has a metal crimp that rust out and causes the 1 into 2 wires to come loose and loose power to the injectors...


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## Smith1000 (Dec 29, 2005)

Bingo. I skinned back the green injector wire right next to the throttle body and jumped over to the battery. Starts right up and runs great--plenty of power.

The power loss is prior to the electrical junction, or plastic coupler, that is prior to the throttle body. When I jump power to the green, it feeds back through the second white wire and all the way down below into the wiring harness. So, the power drop out is elsewhere-not sure where at this point, but I believe I just need a hot on run source to the injectors to start it and keep it running. I may have some wiring diagrams in a book around here. I may see if I can trace it back to the source. Thanks for the help. I found the metal clip and it was tight around the wire, but did not seem to break the power.


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## zanegrey (Dec 5, 2005)

read the codes...


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## Smith1000 (Dec 29, 2005)

Tried to read the codes this evening and found that it has a toggle switch rather than a slotted screw head. Per the instructions, there should be a slotted screw to turn for the 4 cyl. At any rate, I flipped the switch to on and had the key in the on pos. There is not check engine light on in the instrument cluster. Also, there are no lights (red and green) on the ECU. Something did beep 8 times and stopped. I tried a few different times and then decided to pull the seat out to get a better look. I broke off the first bolt I tried to remove so I decided not to mess with the others. 

I ran a wire from the key switch (hot in run only) to the fuel injector. Starts right up and runs great. It hasn't run this well for a long time.


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## zanegrey (Dec 5, 2005)

to read the codes ..

turn key to run position but the engine not running. then flip the ecm switch to on.
the lights will blink 1 time then twice then thrre times then four and finally 5 times and then repeat.. these are the modes.. 

after it blinks three times turn the ecm switch off and record the codes..


however (imo) if you do not have any lights on the ecm after turning the key on just leave the hot wire on and drive on ...

good luck...


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