'85 4wd - Won't idle, fuel and temp gauges won't work.

klr

I'm resurrecting an '85 4WD, 1.5L EW1 with 230,000 miles. My son originally bought it 7+ years ago. It ran fine, but needed a clutch. He was going to fix it, but discovered girls instead so the car has been sitting all these years.

Now I bought it from him and I'm going to put it back on the road. I have it running but it won't idle. At 2000 rpm and above it runs great, but below that it dies quickly if I get off the throttle.

Another problem that may or may not be related is that the fuel gauge and the temperature gauge do not work.

One odd item: the first time I drove it (1/2 mile) The gauges did work briefly and it idled roughly once for about 5 seconds.

Any help would be appreciated.
Is there anywhere to download a shop manual? The Chilton one I have leaves a lot to be desired.

rex freymond

check the ground at the t stat housing

moebiius

possible culprit could be your dizzy aka distributor

ragenasian

Give us some more information so we can rule out certain things. Did you do anything to it like plugs, cap, rotor, fuel filter, anything to start narrowing down possible problems. Also I would check all the wiring and grounds. Sitting for so long things just start to corrode and rot away. Was there any fuel sitting in this thing for all those years?