87 Wago electrical problem and Oil loss?
terrybuilt
Band Wagon
problems started with the over heat issue which resulted in head removal. had it resurfaced with all new valve guides and seats, then bench tested for leaks. results were solid. re assembled and came across my first issue which dealt with the intake gasket. everything i could see on the car's intake said 12 valve but my head is clearly a 16 valve....great, so which head is this? the machine shop was able to give me a different intake gasket that matched. the car is also running a weber 32/36 carb. got it back together and running but the biggest problems are......
#1
while driving the tach will randomly jump around. when it does that the car stalls out at the same time. this will usually result in the car dying. then it will randomly start and not have any problem for another couple tanks of gas. i have metered the coil (even grabbed another from a junk yard), tested continuity between all the related connections the manual talks about. the only part i cannot test is the radio condensor. it says to take to a tv repair shop. i can only imagine there is some form of an electrical issue because the bouncing tach and dying have been going hand in hand. right now the car will not start and left me stranded up the street. whatever intermittent problem i had is now permanent.
#2
other issue is i have never seen oil disappear so fast from an engine! no leaks or oil on the ground but i literally add 1qt every tank of gas (300 miles) or earlier. is this maybe due to a faulty PCV system with the whole devac? The haynes manual gives a generic picture of the system but it wasnt clear enough for me to decipher what was what.
In short i have exhausted myself in the haynes manual and trying to find info on the web/forums. Would just love to be able to have a reliable commuter. putting a 150 a day on it from SD to OC
Just trying to fix all of the crap the last owner created.
Any and all help would be spectacular. Thank you guys
#1
while driving the tach will randomly jump around. when it does that the car stalls out at the same time. this will usually result in the car dying. then it will randomly start and not have any problem for another couple tanks of gas. i have metered the coil (even grabbed another from a junk yard), tested continuity between all the related connections the manual talks about. the only part i cannot test is the radio condensor. it says to take to a tv repair shop. i can only imagine there is some form of an electrical issue because the bouncing tach and dying have been going hand in hand. right now the car will not start and left me stranded up the street. whatever intermittent problem i had is now permanent.
#2
other issue is i have never seen oil disappear so fast from an engine! no leaks or oil on the ground but i literally add 1qt every tank of gas (300 miles) or earlier. is this maybe due to a faulty PCV system with the whole devac? The haynes manual gives a generic picture of the system but it wasnt clear enough for me to decipher what was what.
In short i have exhausted myself in the haynes manual and trying to find info on the web/forums. Would just love to be able to have a reliable commuter. putting a 150 a day on it from SD to OC
Just trying to fix all of the crap the last owner created.
Any and all help would be spectacular. Thank you guys
Comments
wiring issues for the tach i suggest simply taking apart the dash and looking for loose grounds or ate away wires from pests and stuff if you havent already!
as for the oil im leaning towards bad piston rings or faulty pump or something considering you had the seals looked at already in the head.
side note can we see some pics?! lol not enough of these older wagons on here.
someone was telling me about something about the pcv valve related to burning up oil. there was a thread on here about it and when i inquired to get more info the thread got shut down. bummer
is there any honda manual online for these things or in one of these threads?
will work on some pics here shortly
In general, sounds like a vacuum/PCV issue with the oil consumption.
with the pcv does it go bad and then not allow the oil to circulate/burn up? is that the canister/tube under the intake?
can i get that by doing a compression test? car only has a 140k on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VhJA5K6Os
maybe check for blow by -
despite the language barrier its quite informative for those who dont know too much about it
#1 - the tach jumping around was the ignition module inside the distributor. Replaced with new from napa $109. problem fixed
#2 - the PCV was broken. replaced with new. i dont have a full report on the oil consumption yet. dont really think a small valve will fix that and i havent had the time to do the compression test