So with the heat, the car has been feeling a little extra assy.
Today I beat the gf home so I pulled out the trusty multimeter to check the TPS sensor. All I had was safety pins and continuity test said they were good so I pushed them in and put my little clamps on and hooked up. Put the key to II and checked my reading. If everything I read is correct, normal TPS at rest should be 0.48V, mine read 0.51V. I guess it's not a crazy huge difference? I pushed the trottle open with my finger slowly and watched the voltage climb, it was steady, no spikes and it never dropped, peaked at 4.59V with the throttle pinned. Held it for a second, was steady. I also took a video of the multimeter while I pushed the throttle by the gas pedal, just to be sure, same readings.
Does that show the TPS is ok? I know there's a +0.03V on the CT and +0.09V on the WOT...
Gf got home, I already had my distributor out by that time so I said eff it and pulled hers out. Dropped it in mine with my rotor and cap and wires, checked timing to line it up really quick. I let it get to operating temp and revved it a bit in the driveway and then went for a spin. It drove like it does before it hits operating temp, very smooth. I did a few laps around the neighborhood, stopped in the middle of the street for some light take offs and I couldn't feel anything strange. Even light gas, granny take off was very smooth and then giving it like 3/4 throttle around 1200 rpms it picked right up. I took it on the highway and from a stop went WOT from 0 and was at 75 in no time, took off like a bat out of hell. Back through the neighborhood it was very smooth. Back home.
Swapped the distributors like NASCAR pit crews change tires, put the gf's back in her car in case she had to come get my dumbass (with her new O ring
), got mine back to my timing mark, double checked - looked good, closed up and gave it some revs in the driveway. Light take off from the driveway and it pretty much chugged, same at the stop sign at the end of my road. Half throttle through gears, trying to increase throttle towards 2000rpm, the car feels like it has 2 stage vtec, like it gets a shift of power around that 2500-3000rpm mark and then vtec at its normal rpm. It really felt unimpressive after stealing the gf's distributor. It didn't run as bad as it has been, but it's also a less humid, cooler day. I did a hard take off a couple times and it just didn't feel the same.
So that's my night so far. I did some reading and I'm sure it's irrelevant or incorrect or doesn't apply, but someone thought maybe the ignitor was overheating and it was causing it to work harder and basically made the car run like ass. I only bring this up since it seems to run noticeably worse on warmer, more humid days (I DO realize this is pretty common and by no means some sort of crazy breakthrough in automotive troubleshooting). Just curious if that could be a thing, since the car did run noticeably better with her distributor, in between the periods on me driving home from work, and then taking another test drive after the swap and putting mine back in.
Thoughts? Should I start looking for a replacement distributor, or is there more to look at?