died while driving, wont maintain idle rpm

[drb0mb]

hello gentlemen, so the other day i was driving my stock 1988 7mge right, i accelerated to 50-60 mph and just shifted into third when i pressed the clutch to coast the car suddenly didn't want to maintain idle rpm and died. all the expected lights came on and i noticed the car had died...let out the clutch and it came back to life, but now required excessive throttle to keep moving like it was running on 3 cylinders. pushed the clutch in again and it died, so i managed to take it to a safe place by keeping my foot on the gas and holding 4-5k rpm since it would struggle and die if the rpm went below about 3k.

it was running great since i replaced the starter and until yesterday i thought i'd finally gotten everything ironed out.
i have new spark plugs of the correct kind, brand new leads, brand new distributor, new battery, timing set...i'd like to rule out electrical as part of the issue but its sure acting like an unfortunate time when the spark plug wells kind of pooled up with water

i did dick around with the air flow meter the evening prior to taking it out that fateful morning, but basically just took it apark to see if it was dirty since the acceleration felt a little sluggish to respond

so it sat overnight and i hoped it would magically correct itself when i went to start it this morning but the issue persists. it can be started... but i need to give it a lot of gas to keep the rpm above 3k or it dies.

the ecu flashed no stored codes

 

[jetjock]

An induction leak will cause that. You took apart the AFM?

 

[drb0mb]

partially...i assessed it was more work than i had time for when i took half of the screws out, so i put it back together. never actually opened the unit up... it was mostly out of curiousity anyway so i abandoned the effort. half the reason i got the car was to teach myself how they work. i did remove the entire accordian thingy from the throttle body (which i've done dozens of times to mess with the gaskets and spark plugs), pull it out of the car, dust it out and examine the air filter. i poked at the little metal flap behind the air filter a few times to see if it was getting stuck or something.

 

[drb0mb]

welp, ended up getting it towed since i gave up trying to troubleshoot. took it to a local shop...no word for a week, told him it was low priority anyway. called him back yesterday and he said he wasnt sure what the problem was since it was getting proper air, fuel, and spark. so...i have concluded the problem is...the car... i bought a new one today, identical vehicle except this one doesn't talk shit to me.

ta daa

 

[jetjock]

Where's the animated facepalm smiley when you need it...

 

[IndigoMKII]

welp, ended up getting it towed since i gave up trying to troubleshoot. took it to a local shop...no word for a week, told him it was low priority anyway. called him back yesterday and he said he wasnt sure what the problem was since it was getting proper air, fuel, and spark. so...i have concluded the problem is...the car... i bought a new one today, identical vehicle except this one doesn't talk shit to me.

ta daa

As for the other car?

 

[drb0mb]

well, this one with the issue here is actually an "operational" parts car i got for 400 dollars with a multitude of problems, but nothing beyond repair. i live in europe and i'd like to keep them both alive and well to bring back to the states when i leave, but i realistically expect to walk away with only one of them.
hahahaha sorry to elicit that facepalm reaction there, my mommy always said i had a dry sense of humor... thanks for being the only person to originally reply anyway