RE: 83 4000S sput of mostly idlingters, stalls, and sucks air. What give?

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

Well, it sounds like you should start by looking for the leak in the intake
tract that is causing the sucking sound you hear.  The only thing I can
think of where the oil you observe is related to the bucking would be if for
some reason oil is getting into the crankcase ventilation system somehow.
It may be that the violent decelerations that the bucking would cause has
damaged something inside the engine.  

One other thing you might want to look into is replacing the engine and
tranny mounts.  On a FWD car the engine & transaxle can swing around quite a
bit in the engine compartment if they aren't firmly held in place.  I
remember on my '78 Audi Fox was young when the dealer forgot to tighten the
front (torque) mount.  On first gear acceleration the engine/transaxle
torqued so far that the crank pulley would start to scrape on the oil pan
protection grate!  Fortunately I noticed this before I even pulled out of
the parking lot.  A loose engine/transaxle could certainly accentuate any
bucking ... and such wild motion is likely to create problems like cracks in
the rubber parts of the intake tract ...

Good luck!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

> -----Original Message-----
> My 1983 4000S non-quattro five-speed ran like a top until it 
> started bucking
> like a horse a month ago. It would drive fine while cold for 
> about ten miles
> or so, then it would start to cut out, buck, and lose power 
> under load. If I
> went easy on the accelerator while driving, I could get 
> around.  If I kept
> the revs up at a stoplight, I could take off without jerking 
> or stalling. A
> couple times when it started acting up during accelerations 
> from about 40
> mph or so, I floored it just to see what it would do. Both 
> times it bucked
> and sputtered to the point where no amount of gas pedal 
> feathering would get
> it back on track. It drove like it was running out of gas, 
> then died. Then,
> it started right up. I have replaced the plugs, plug wires, 
> distributor cap,
> rotor, fuel pump, and both fuel filters. Yesterday, it 
> started right up,
> would idle fine for 15 or 20 seconds, then die. If I gave it gas while
> idling, it sounded like it was sucking air. Twice after it 
> stalled, I could
> hear a once-per-second clucking sound in or very near to the metering
> device. I didn't notice this before. Today, it ran longer, but the oil
> pressure light flickered at all rpms.  After four or five 
> minutes of mostly
> idling, it began to emit light blue smoke.  Not thick smoke, 
> but it had
> enough of an oil-type odor that I shut it off.  This has me 
> stumped.  What
> is going on?
> 
> Doug Davis
> 
> 1983 4000S, five speed
> 1981 4000S, automatic
> 
> 
>