I'm resurrecting an '85 4WD, 1.5L EW1 with 230,000 miles. My son originally bought it 7+ years ago. It ran fine, but needed a clutch. He was going to fix it, but discovered girls instead so the car has been sitting all these years.

Now I bought it from him and I'm going to put it back on the road. I have it running but it won't idle. At 2000 rpm and above it runs great, but below that it dies quickly if I get off the throttle.

Another problem that may or may not be related is that the fuel gauge and the temperature gauge do not work.

One odd item: the first time I drove it (1/2 mile) The gauges did work briefly and it idled roughly once for about 5 seconds.

I downloaded a service manual and started tracing down the electrical/gauge issues. I also found out that when the A/C unit is switched on no power goes to the idle solenoid.

So, are these problems related, or should I be looking at a non-electrical problem for the idle issue?

Any help will be appreciated.