New Air Regulator?
 

I got a new Air Regulator from Rock Auto. I'm holding it here, and I'm looking inside of it. The thing does not look completely open. Does this mean the "new" one I got is bad?

Crap can't edit...I was looking at the regulator on my non-turbo and it looks closed, but I'm wondering even if it's not open all the way, will it work. Or does it work itself to normal as you use it?

Here's a pic of how the new regulator I got today looks. I assume this is not right?

it apperars to be just the postion of it due to the fact there is no electrical current going to the bi-metalic spring, install completly, start your car, let it warm up and see if the position moves

Duowing...what was the temp like when you were holding that sucker??? Cause if it's warm out then it's not going to be fully open. It's only going to be fully open if it's cold out. Temperature directly dictates the size of the opening. it doesn't have to be on the car or plugged in for this to play a factor.

Well I put it in the car like that. While I tried to run it from a cold start. It was running pretty badly down the street, popping/backfiring, etc. Regular problem I've been having on cold starts. Anyway, I was running the car and I didn't get a chance to let it cool all the way. I'll try the car in the morning and see if it makes any difference. I was going to say, if the temperature outside has caused the thing to be more closed before I put it in, wouldn't that cause problems then when I go from a cold start?

i do know if u mess with the little screw on the side of the air regulator it opens it up more or less... i belive to open it up more " retard " the screw to close it " tighten " the screw

The air regulator doesn't sound like your problem if you're still getting popping/backfiring with the new one. Check out your cold start valve and thermotime switch. Also look for vacuum leaks and ohm your CHTS (cylinder head temperature sensor). You're running way to lean while cold. My 81 has this problem also. I can't seem to figure out what the problem is on mine either.

If anything it seems like it's running really rich at cold. Plus I was checking the air regulator after the car had sat for almost 8 hours. The thing was almost completely closed. I'm gonna try putting the air regulator in the freezer and see if it even opens up all the way. I have the problem basically up until I hit boost. Once I hit boost the car runs fine, but if I slow down to a stop I start going through this problem again. Then the car hits normal operating temp and it's like all the problems just dissapeared.

Edit: I put the air regulator in the freezer. After about 30 minutes the thing feels really cold, but the thing still doesn't look like it has moved.

Mine does the same thing, only I don't have boost. In the upper RPMs it's fine, but at idle or lower RPMs it pops and backfires. Technically that pop is called prefire (instead of backfire) and it's caused from running lean. I'm still scratching my head over mine, but once it's warmed up everything is fine. Maybe the O2? I've changed the CHTS and the air regulator. Mine is ok for the first 30 seconds (tells me the thermotime and cold start injector are working) then it starts it's low idle, lack of power at low RPM game. Unless maybe there's something wrong with the air bypass on the AFM...Anyone have a colortune they wouldn't mind getting rid of?

Could be the 02 sensor. But that's the one thing. I keep hearing the air regulator is supposed to be wide open when the car is compeltely cold, but the thing is almost completely closed. My car fires up and from a completely cold start it seems to have a bit of hesitation. Like it stumbles for a moment, then starts idling ok it'll rev alright for the first bit too, then it seems to start stumbling. So would that mean the thermotime and cold start injector are ok on mine as well? It seems to be worse with the "new" air regulator than the old one. The idle seems to be a little higher and has no power until about 2500 rpm. I'm thinking of going up to the parts store and picking up a new O2 sensor and throwing that on there. It sounded like thxone was having a problem sort of like this, only his car was fine at idle and WOT or better. My car seems fine at idle, I haven't really tried going WOT when it's cold. So I'll throw on a new O2 Sensor. Rockauto is going to replace my Air Regulator so I'll try that out as well. I'm hoping I can get this solved sometime soon. If not maybe I can manage to get it solved when I go through and do the exhaust manifold and the 5-speed swap.

They never open up completely. That small half moon slit that's about 1/4" wide is about as big as I've seen them. Maybe 3/8", not much more though. Try unpluging it and see if that helps. If the plug isn't on there the bimetalic strip won't close until the car is actually warmed up. If I were able to drive mine I'd give it go. Need a tranny though.

I'll have to try that then.

Cool, let me know it goes.

hmmm cloged catalistic converter?

catalistic? lol sorry, not to flame, but I found that funny. Catalytic converter.

Alright, so it souns like for us the CHTS, Air Regulator, Thermotime, and the Cold start injector are all working as supposed to. I don't know what else is left for the car on the cold start. You say the AFM has an air bypass? I didn't think it had a bypass on it. Sounds like the throttle body has a seperate bypass it uses for just idle, but since the car seems to idle ok, just a tad high it should be fine. So I'll have to try your theory on the Air Regulator, and I'll just have to start cleaning connections. I'm thinking like I said I may just throw a new O2 sensor. How effective would the O2 sensor be when cold/warming up?

Usually the O2 doesn't get read until about 5 minutes after startup. Which of course is when mine starts acting right. There is a bypass on the AFM. The small black rubber plug on the throttle body side of the AFM comes out and under it is a set screw to adjust the air bypass. The air bypass on the throttle body is adjusted by the idle air screw on the side of the intake which inturn adjusts the idle.

Ahh, see I believe the Turbo does not have a screw for adjusting that on it's AFM. So if we're both having this problem and I'm not able to adjust it. I imagine it's probably not that. Besides it sounds like that bypass is still only for idle.

Good point. Have you disconnected your BCDD (Boost Controlled Deceleration Device)? It's the cylinder thing under the throttle body. I disconnected mine and I think that might have been what did it. It was causing my idle to be high when it was warm, but it seemed to help with warmup on cold starts.

What does that do exactly? Or I should say, how does it work?

honestly, the only thing I know is that it somehow acts as an air bypass to keep the engine from dropping RPMs too fast when you let off the gas. I think there's a diaphram in it that when it's at idle it closes a valve and when the pressure drops as the throttle is opened it opens a valve the keeps the idle up for a few seconds after the throttle plate shuts.

Alright so I was messing around with it. The CHTS seems to be working because the car started acting really goofy when I unplugged it, and calmed down when I plugged it back in. Air regulator, maybe it is good? I was squeezing the tube to it, and the car's idle was beginning to drop. Holding the car at 2k rpms the car definitely had a noticeable miss. I'm thinking my timing might still be a little off, so I'll have to recheck that. Maybe the AFM is starting to crap out? I was looking through the Haynes guide and it showed some check for the O2 sensor where you hold the engine at about 2k rpms for a while, then you check a light on the bottom of the ECU to see if it's flashing. Well the light wasn't flashing off and on at all in a 10 second period. I don't know what this means. So I'm thinking maybe I should try a new O2 sensor, and see if I can get my hands on maybe another Turbo AFM. Any thoughts from the gurus?

Sounds like you definetely need a new O2, but that's not going to help the cold start situation.

So far here's all that's been done then. The car has a CHTS, Distributor, Cap, and Rotor that are all realtively a few hundred miles old. I just put on that new Air Regulator. I'm gonna pick up a new O2 sensor since it seems that's not exactly working correctly. The Thermotime I'd imagine seems to be working, and the Turbos don't have a cold start valve. So all that really leaves is I think the AFM and maybe the timing is still slightly off. I'm beginning to think the source is the AFM. I was doing a bunch of searches and alot of people who seemed to have cold running problems generally seemed to be ok when they warmed up but still seemed to lack power in the lower RPMs. The general solution to this was the AFM was dieing out. It seemed some of them did the AFM Rebuild that jfairladyz put together. I did that with no suck luck. In a lot of cases it seemed the AFM itself was just dieing out and they needed a new one. So I'm trying to get ahold of a known running Turbo AFM. To at least try it out. So does anyone have a spare known running Turbo AFM?

I know somebody that has a Turbo AFM, that is supposed to work. Let me contact them, and see if they still have it.