Hi all -



I've got an '89 Sidekick, manual, 4wd, 1.3l engine.  It is something of a beater - what I use in the woods to get firewood and haul other materials.  Over the last few months, it has started, intermittently, to run, but seemingly on very "low Power," almost like only 2 cylinders are firing and getting power to the transmission.  When this happens I have to totally floor the gas pedal to go anywhere.  Most of the times it has happened over the last month or so, it will finally get itself "right" again, giving me full power.  Today I struggled with it for 1/2 hour, just trying to pull it back into my garage - I'd have to rev it, then slowly let off the clutch, maybe move five feet before it almost stalled out, or did.  Finally, after about 10-15 minutes of that, and after I really floored it, it came fully back to life, a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust - but almost like by giving it so much throttle i had pushed out some sort of blockage. 



I am not super-proficient with engines, so I'm really unclear as to what I should do.  I was going to do a compression test after reading some other posts about somewhat similar issues.  I was also thinking I should do something of a tune-up with new plugs, wires, and a fuel filter. 



It didn't seem like it would be a timing belt issue, since eventually it does seem to run on all four cylinders, but, again, i am no expert.



Any help would be greatly appreciated!

A tuneup (plugs, wires, fuel filter, distributor cap and rotor, check/set timing and valves) would be a good place to start if it has been awhile since any of that has been replaced.

The fuel filter would be a good place to start.  When it is getting cranky, will it idle at all?  If so, you can remove the air cleaner, and give it a sniff of carb cleaner into the carb and see if it smooths out any.  If it does, it is starving for fuel.  You mention smoke...what color?  If it is black, heavy smoke, then most likely it is flooding, and a plugged fuel filter probably isn’t it.  If it is flooding out, you could have a float or needle/seat problem in the carb.  Another thing to look at if it will idle is to look down the carb and see if fuel is pouring into it.  If it is, needle is hanging open, allowing fuel to push through the carb and flood out.  You can try lightly tapping on the carb body near the fuel inlet...if needle is hanging up the vibration can allow it to close.  You still might check fuel filter, because if it is super nasty, it can start allowing trash thru, and that trash can get in the needle/seat and hold it open.  Another thing to check is go ahead and pull a spark plug...see how it looks.  If it is really black and “wet”, that Is a sign of running rich.  You can google good pics of reading spark plugs.

If it's been running rich the catalytic converter might be plugged up a bit as well and need replacing.

Well, because they were cheap enough i did new plugs, wires, and fuel filter.  that seemed to help a little.  Timing belt area looked fine, nothing loose, etc. 

It still smokes after warming up - mostly out of the exhaust manifold - smoke is blue-ish i would say. 

So i'm about to do my compression test, but am not sure which fuse or relay is for the fuel pump, which I need to pull to do the test, right? The under-dash fuse box on my Kick has no cover, and i'm struggling to find the info online. Does anyone have the fuse box layout for an '89 Sidekick 1.3l engine? Not the one in the engine bay, but under the dash on the drivers side, which is where it seems that fuse should be. thanks!

Compression Test - done. The good news is that there is almost no variation between the cylinders. The bad news is that they each read about 125, while the FSM says compression should be between 170 and 190.

So.....

This points to what exactly? Head gasket? I'm attaching a pic of the spark plugs I just put in two days ago - is it normal for them to be this black after driving maybe 10 miles? Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mLEa0THqgEox6rp0RuAl4DZTFyOQQRfp

Did you do a wet compression test?

Uniformly low compression across all the cylinders suggests either ring/bore wear or incorrect valve timing - if the compression numbers come up on a wet test, it'll be bore wear.

Judging by the plugs, you are definitely running rich.  If it has been just pouring fuel in, it could have washed down the cylinder walls.  Have you smelled the oil?  Does it smell like gas?

89' 1.3 carburetor engine, a rare combination, you will have 5.62 diff gears also, if not TBI you need to go through the carb, and if O2 sensor equipped that probably needs to be replaced, cat is most likely restricted as well, and with blue exhaust, the engine is probably worn out, you should consider transplanting a 1.6 engine and trans, I'm not sure if the bell housing will come off on this combination, and I have an auto trans anyway, the intake will work with the 1.6, the exhaust might as well, 1.3 headers will bolt to a 1.6 but the bell housing is wider that a 1.3 and will contact it. 

89' 1.3 carburetor engine, a rare combination, you will have 5.62 diff gears also, if not TBI you need to go through the carb, and if O2 sensor equipped that probably needs to be replaced, cat is most likely restricted as well, and with blue exhaust, the engine is probably worn out, you should consider transplanting a 1.6 engine and trans, I'm not sure if the bell housing will come off on this combination, and I have an auto trans anyway, the intake will work with the 1.6, the exhaust might as well, 1.3 headers will bolt to a 1.6 but the bell housing is wider that a 1.3 and will contact it. 
BTW 1.3 and 1.6 distributors are not interchangeable, I don't know why, I just know the 1.3 didn't want to play nice with the 1.6 head, so if you swap engines get one that has a dizzy on it.