Skater

The deal died. The car is available. Please take this off my hands before I part out the 88 as weight.

1989 SW8 Turbo Charcoal N9TEA. 165K miles. Factory hitch. Blue fuzzy cloth seats This is a one owner family car. It wintered in Florida for most of its life. Service history is documented. Propeller shaft u-joint replaced.Head gasket and re surfacing of the head at 130K. Second radiator. New water pump at 150K. New custom exhaust last fall. Car was not driven this winter. Tie rod ends and vented rotors and pads at 155K.Engine is strong. No issues with the drive train. Air con converted to R-134a and condenser changed to all copper. It blows cold. Bosch alternator. Minor oil weepage around lower pan and transmission. Three minor problems. Fan motor speed is constant and slider will not control it. Shifter plastic is coming off. Shifter linkage is a bit loose. Heated seats don't work. I removed the rubber bushings and made a fix. New tires at 160K. This car will pass NH inspection and I would drive it anywhere if I fixed the fan. Hood and roof were re-painted with a metal flake laquer. Some rust spots where the paint has chipped but no structural rust. Rear hatch needs primer and paint. Also 1988 505 Turbo wagon. 9NTE engine. Parts car. Ericson head, new rings pistons and big end bearings. I drove it until the water pump let go. Stored with a fresh filter, oil change and new antifreeze. Front struts are the recall galvanized ones with little mileage. Steering rack has stainless sleeve on pinion shaft. It won't rust and leak. Trans is good. Converter locks at 50 MPH where as the SW8 does at 60.. This car was fast. Waste gate got stuck thus the head and piston work. 4 Alloy Star 15" wheels from a 86, 4 Standard alloys with good snows matching the ones on Mummy's car. Boxes of parts included for two other wagons included. Shop manuals for engine, drive train, and electrical You can buy all this for $900.00. I want someone who loves the car and knows them to buy it. My 3 mile commute to work doesn't let me warm up the oil and I am older and less able to focus on mechanics anymore. I am in Southern NH. You can strip the 88 and I will haul it off. Drive the 89 home. Skater Grey Wagon.doc

Thanks Guys for steering me to the ignition. I made three changes at once, not good for learning what failed. Changed the coil, spark suppressor widget, and filed some peaks and pits off the rotor outside edge. The new old coil installed is Bosch. The old one was not. It has not been very cold this week but the symptoms have gone for now. The engine runs a bit tighter (nice) smooth idle. No hi way speed test yet. I will look for an electronic ignition. Changing plugs soon. Cheers, Skater

My confusion comes with the fact that after a slight warm up the problem disapears. The other is that the tach runs off the primary side of the coil. To my thinking it is spiking. Fitted BogiCord wires. Old but low miles. I have a spare coil and don't know what the plugs look like. I'll get to it this weekend. Stand by for full report. Rabin: What is your electronic ignition...I don't know the brand. Skater Sea Coast, NH

Stump the chump. My SW8 runs strong and is a pleasure but, if I start it from cold and try to apply load like driving off slowly it bucks and the tach needle jumps around. A few minutes down the road and it just transforms to a dream ride. Great torque mild boost and smooth power.I had several 505 Turbos and never had a problem turning the key and driving off even at 20 below. This problem has developed recently. No hard starting. No problem starting cold. Idles fine. Will not show symptoms if slightly warm. NTC is correct. TPS is set to spec. Timing on the mark. Plenty of power when warm. Changed ignition box. Changed fuel box. Could it be: Bad coil? No misfires or problem when warm. Bad aux air device? Stuck shut? I have squeezed off the hose and it doe not change RPM. The fact that the tach jumps has got me. This would be ignition signal gone wild. Two different ignition boxes do the same. Skater

I have 4 good 15" alloy wheels from an 86. Good condition, one climbed a curb but could be dressed and painted. Best offer over $100. Will ship. Tell me where you are for quote. I am in Southern NH. If your interested I will send pictures next week. Skater

Update on the ECU swap: I replaced the ignition ECU again with the correct one for the 9NTEA wagon. I will confirm that the ECU that started the thread was blown. I checked the electro-valve for flow and switching and re-worked the hoses back to TEA. All this because I converted to a TE setup with my 88 parts as a test. I used an air regulator to check the boost gauge and found it oil logged at the sender with a heavy oily goo (probably distilled crankcase oil). After cleaning out the hose and sender with solvent it is agreeing with my pressure gauge. I also tested the break point of the waste gate by watching it open with my regulator attached (engine off,car on a jack). It seems to open at about 8 psi. I think this is light boost because on the road I do not get full boost, only mid gauge pressures on the dash. I know the electro- valve modulates but I would think the only signal is from the det sensor saying we are banging, cut the boost. I think the electro-vaIve is off until detonation so I expect the waste gate to stay shut. I have no det indicator light on the dash. Timing is spot on and power is good and smooth. Will the waste gate by-pass and open it's self? Can someone suggest the proper way to set up the wastegate actuator? I did replace it once when the diaphram let go and I have no idea if it is the proper part or if I have enough pre-load. The car is running better than ever...I'm smiling. skater

I suppose one quick and dirty way to tell if you have the right one is to measure across the terminals with a hot engine. Since the thermistors have a common connection point (ground), if you see a reading that is double what you should see, then you likely have the right sensor. In other words, if it's supposed to be 250 ohms (I think that's right for normal operating temp), and you see 500 ohms or more across the terminals, you're good. However if you see 300 or less, you probably have the wrong sensor in there, that or it's out of spec (which may cause a problem anyway).

Up-date: I was getting a 2.3 code as well as the light on/ no code thing and decided to read the pin out at the box. Det sensor was open even though it was new 1000 miles ago. I have scrapped the ECU in favor of an 88. This involved removing the electro valve, re-arrange the waste gate plumbing and swapping the air mass meter, and changing the det sensor . It is amazingly better. Not super boost but I am going to check that. Low end torque is great and the boost shows about 25 percent on the dash gauge. I don't get the over boost I remember. Rather a slow steady pull. The waste gate actuator blew out and I changed it some time ago, could it be too soft? I received a replacement 89 SW8 ignition ECU in the mail today. I plan to put it all back to stock soon. I feel I am on the right track. JunktionFET: The NTC sensor is split into two in the same housing. One side is for the ignition box the other is for the injection box. I think there is a dedicated sender for the dash temp. Skater

I want to swap my ignition ECU in my 89 SW8/N9TEA. I have a good 88 ECU. I plan to disconnect the electro waste gate valve and re-plumb the waste gate. Anyone do this? Will it cause problems? Skater

Mr Moderator, Thanks for the reply. This is a N9TEA I have had codes that stay up and can be read when at idle, this one goes away. It only comes on under light aceleration between 1K and 2K and seems not to effect the engine. Det sensor is new too. Ill do more but it is baffeling. Skater

UPDATE: Changed the O2 sensor. Smoother idle and perhaps all around....still the LED faults but can be erased by letting off and then hitting it again. Generally runs well. Black tape on the LED? Skater