---------------------- Forwarded by Richard C Welsh/MSD/US/PBI on 06/07/2000
05:34 PM ---------------------------

Richard C Welsh
06/07/2000 05:26 PM

To:
cc:

Subject:  Damnagon stutter !@#$

My schitzo '87 2.1L assumed its evil alter ego personality yesterday during a
hellacious downpour and kept loosing power/dying every 1-2 minutes.  I've had
highway-stutter before around 4000 rpm, but it usually worked itself out after
loping for a bit.

here's the scenerio: (very rainy, 50 degrees) An hour into the trip it starts
loosing power under acceleration at 3000-4000 rpm.  it then stalls, but will
start up if i turn the ignition off and then on again.  sometimes it'll run for
a few minutes, other times only 30-60 seconds.  despite the rain, everything in
the engine compartment seems pretty dry.

i'm thinking its an electrical or fuel system problem:

-could the fuel pump or fuel injection relay overheat/fail and shut off power to
the pump or injection system? i learned a while back that the pump will kick on
for a few seconds when you crank the engine, then shut down unless the engine
starts.  (it seems that could lead to fuel starvation)  When it dies, it doesn't
sputter, it just cuts off and coasts w/o power.

-how do you test an ignition coil/related ignition components?

-isn't there a over-rev limiter built into the digifant system?  if this is
engaging at around 4000 instead of 6000 rpm, would it shut the engine down or
just prevent additional RPM's?

-btw, i just replaced the fuel pressure regulator and fuel filter recently.

as always, thanks for your advice.

-Curt