Engine lacking power and dying

[jonathan]

Hi my lada samara 1.3 1989, when accelerating up to like 70km/h it peaks out and even if i press the gas to the floor it doesnt go any faster then usually after it stalls out not always, today i went for a drive, i pressed the gas, moved like quarter mile and it began to sputter and it lost all power, if i press the gas nothi g happens, then sonetimes it keeps going down in speed until it dies, sometimes it picks up again goes for a but and dies again, sometimes its hard to restart it and sometimes it starts first time. Its got new spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, 25k miles on engine, carburetor accelerator pump replaced and cleaned with carburetor cleaner, everything else is factory equipment

Topic

[Mike]

You should be glad that a 28 year old Lada runs at all.

But honestly, on a car of this vintage, especially one from a manufacturer not known for quality engineering and that wasn’t particularly stellar even when new, you’ll have to start with some basic diagnostics. Compression and leak-down checks would be good places to start, as well as connecting a vacuum gauge to the engine to see how it reads. If the results of those checks indicate that this old thing is redeemable, it’s a matter of checking everything else. For instance, how long has it been since the carb was rebuilt? Is the distributor in good shape, and do the mechanical and vacuum advance mechanisms operate flawlessly? Is there rust/sediment/water in the fuel tank?

The problem could be almost anywhere, and in all likelihood, could be a case of several different issues compounding each other.

[jonathan]

I didnt make any compression testing as i dobt have the equipment myself carburetor was never rebuult just accelerator pump replaced, distributor is leaking oil and its original, but the cap and rotor are new, vacuum advance how to check if it works ? Fuel tank seems not bad when i opened it recently to replace fuel sender. These cars are known for having bad ignition module will this cause tge symprons im having ?

[jonathan]

Also recently i replaced intake manifold gasket and all the exhaust system is replaced

[Author]

Replies