>>> . . . Once I manage to get initial
>>>combuistion, the engine will rev up for about 3-4 seconds and then die
>>>again. This will normally occur a couple more times before I am able
>>>to keep the engine running (and I'm not just letting it idle here -
>
> I sympathize with this problem. You see, I own a 1983 Saab 900 which
>exhibits all the same problems - ordinary idle once started, dwindling to
>a rough, barely-turning-over-and-occasionally-stalling kind of idle, then
>speeding back up to an ordinary pace after 10-15 seconds. Pushing on the
>gas just makes the car stumble all the worse.
When I had a similar problem with my TR6 (though mine happened warm,
with the choke on the idle was too high to have problems), it turned out
to be too-retarded ignition timing. It would be idling fine at ~1K RPM,
and then the vacuum retard would kick in, and I'd have to play games with the
throttle to keep it from stalling. (I found it by watching the distributer
while it was trying to idle.) Anything under a certain level and idle was
very uncertain, if it got back to 1200 rpm it idled ok for a while until the
idle wandered down to the critical point again.
Randell
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