8 mpg in 87 Stellar?

[Don46]

I have a 1987 Stellar CXL with the 2.0l engine, all stock. On the highway, it seems to run fine and I get about 30 mpg but in the city, it is cheeper to run my old dodge ram! There is only 75 000k on it, new plugs, cap, rotor. Even tried a different carb with a manual choke but didnt make much difference, still only got about 10-12 but it didnt take 5 minutes waiting for the choke to open so it would idle down. I have checked the timing and adjusted the valves but no change. The only other symptom is the odd smell of gas (no fuel leaks) and the idle will not set below about 1100 rpm. I am running out of ideas and hate to get rid of it, with only 75k it is barely broke in and it always starts no matter what the weather. Any suggestions? All I have left is the vacuum switch for the fuel shut off solenoid and I dont know when it should go off. Thanx.

[86stellar]

originally i would say that you auto choke is stuck on, but since you changed the car i cant say its that anymore. what carb are you using?
wonder if the jetting is too high (loads of gas going in) you have a manuel choke now but when you have it off is it really off on the carb, maybe its slightly on, that could be why you have the high idle,i have had tons of these and i never got less then 500km to a tank. you gotta drop that idle too, its to high should be at 650 to 750rpm range. any other questions let me know

[86stellar]

make sure that air filter isnt plugged too

[wilburisthecoolest]

Yeah, i would say jets and floats. Cause if the carb was EVER turned upside down, you need to check those floats.

[Don46]

I can say for sure that the air cleaner isnt plugged, just put a new one in. As for getting the idle down, it just won't adjust down any more on either carb, the idle adjustment screw is screwed right out and the rpm just won't go down any more. This is on both carbs so I am thinking there is another issue there somewhere other than the carb. As for the choke, with both carbs I have had the aircleaner off when the choke should be open and it is completely open. Which carb am I using.... well, the one right now (auto choke, wax pellet system which seems a real waste) is the factory carb, the carb with the manual choke is another mikuni that I picked up at a junk yard and just removed the linkages for the auto choke and installed a cable to make it manual. I'll try to figure out the jetting and floats and post the results. Thanks for the ideas!!

[Jed118]

I have the same problem, my 87 CXL gets 350K to a tank, 400 if I do mostly highway. In the summer it's marginally better, getting 450. It's the nature of the beast, she's a heavy one. It's also fitted with the automatic transmission. Both Stellars I've had have had auto's. James tells me the manual ones go though.

I have 130K for comparison. She burns oil too, not too much, but I get the cloud when I start it up. New plugs, fuel filter, carb cleaning, timing adjustment and cables + cap made a small difference. When I put my 15's back on, it's bound to get worse (215 out back, 195 front)

Don't get rid of it! If you do want to, let me and James have dibs (I get the trans!)

[Don46]

I would be happy to get 350-400k! I am only getting about 150k per tank around the city. I know I won't get 40mpg but this is ridiculus. Does anyone know anything about the vacuum switch for the slow speed fuel passage solenoid? Is there a chance it is not shutting off the passage when it should? Barring that, perhaps a suggestion for another carb that bolts straight in and performs well?

[86stellar]

the idle problem has got to be the carb,unless you have a vacuum leak someplace, spray some carb cleaner around the base of the carb and linkages and see if the idle changes. if so you got a leak. if you want to try a carb maybe one from an old 2.2 cav will work, who knows, some creative enginuity will need to be done here

[slomogt]

If it's running rich, you'll see lots of black smoke out the tailpipe, and that smell of gas you have will be unspent fuel also coming out your tail pipe.

Check thouse out, and if that's the case, then for sure you have a float issue, as well as other carb issues that will cause the car to pretty much run "flooded" all the time.

Rebuild kits arn't that hard to do.. prolly a cheaper route to go, at least you take the carb out of the OA scenario.

Other factors as mentioned above will also come into play, such as vacuume leaks, and even crappy plugs, Have a look at the EGR valve as well, Be sure it's working.

[wilburisthecoolest]

There might even be a carb upgrade kit out there. I know the Weber 32/36 is an extremly popular carb with many kits to retorfit just about any car.