[T3] Endless Problems Fixed! ...Sort Of...

[J. Jonik]

Type III  72  FI  Standard....

 For a Long Time, this car has had Fuel Problems. Virtually every component has been checked or changed.  But, things were still bad, sometimes worse--sometimes, for a while, almost ok.
  A few weeks ago ---smell of gas, stalled...but then started, with the usual white smoke...after a few minutes.    Not even a mile after that, it stalled again...but this time it would Not Start....even after an hour.  My girl friend came and pushed me home with her car.

  The next day, I found that the oil was way up over the fill line...diluted by a lot of gas in the engine.  I changed the "oil", of course.   I checked fuel pressure. It was constant at 29 psi.  Checked other things with VOM...all seemed ok.    Voltage was ok too.  After some test driving without leaving the neighborhood, the gas was again filling the engine. 

   A mechanic who knows about T IIIs said to not bother checking the Control Box but just to change it for one of my spares...with the right numbers, of course.

   It's been almost two weeks now and the fuel problem has STOPPED!  No drips, no smells, no stalling, no smoke, and easy starting...even when very cold.

  Still afraid to drive far, I kept expanding test drives.   No problem EXCEPT one thing....
The idle is hard to set.  
   It can sit there idling nicely for five or ten minutes (testing it out while warmed-up) but then, when driving, the idle goes way down when coming to a stop...only once to the point where oil light flickered.
  This is not all the time.    For a while it will be like a new car.  Then back to the low idle.

   What components are likely involved in this?

Unrelated issue:  Twice in the last two months the starter would not turn.   A couple careful taps with a hammer "fixed" that problem.   I THINK this means the Solenoid is sticking. Right?  
  I have spare starters with solenoids...but is this fixable outside of a serious repair shop?



      
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