[T3]

["Jacob Schroeder" <schroeder@purdue.edu>]

My Square has been acting up recently, but not all the time.  Occasionally
when I start my car, it'll idle very erratically.  Sometimes it'll even die.
I'm quite concerned as it made it all winter without any such problems, I
would have thought she would have had more problems running in the winter.
Anyways, when I start it up, I can hear it oscillate between a normal
sounding RPM and a very low RPM, if I let it sit long enough, it will
usually swing low enough that it will die.  Also, I've noticed if I keep my
foot on the gas I can keep the idle speed up, but if I just barely press on
the gas, there's a point where I can cause it to die.

When the car is idling very slowly, I can hear a sound that either sounds
like rubbing metal or "swooshing" air.  It sounds like that is coming from
the distributor generator area.  I'm not sure if this is out of the
ordinary, or if it's typical noise that normally can't be heard over the
engine at normal idle speed.  When I thought it was the sound of leaking
air, I checked all the hoses I could see, and none of them were loose.  When
I pulled one hose off in particular, the problem seemed to go away.  This is
when I pulled the hose off of the top of the Air Intake Distributor.  This
hose leads from the top of the AID to the driver's side of the engine
compartment to a metal cylinder type object (I used to know the name of
this) which also has a connector on it like the ones that go to the
injectors.  Don't know if this means anything either, just thought I'd add
it.

I have also started to notice a significant decrease in fuel economy, when I
say significant, I mean it has dropped below 20 mpg (not quite accurate, as
I'm sure my speedo is a little off, so I'm guessing my odometer is as well).

I have no clue where to start or what to look at.  I was hoping you guys can
give me a starting point, or at least tell me what stuff to measure from the
car in order to report back to you.  The oddest thing is, that other times,
when I start her up, she'll run fine, just like she's brand new.


Thanks,

Jacob Schroeder
1972 FI Squareback


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