Driving normally at highway speeds, this past week I have picked up a strong stumble. So much so, it feels like the fuel pump or ignition is shut off.
Being as I picked up a cheap fuel pump from Craigslist, I assumed that was the cause. Hooked up the gauge and I have a perfect steady 42 psi with vac line off and about 34 with it on. Preassure rises with throttle, so everything seems to check out.
I run codes, I get a 91 (lean drivers side) 34 (get out of range) and a air injection code.
I pulled the egr off since its really easy to get to, and its stuck and has a ton of black gunk. Cleaned it up, and minimal preassure moves it in and out. Looked at the smog pump, and I have a missing hose clamp. Whoops, wonder how long its been like that. Hooked that back up.
Unfortunately, engine was too hot to do the o2 sensor, so I let it be for now.
After messing with the egr and smog pump, I ran codes again. They still show up, havent cleared them yet. I then ran an engine cylinder ballance test. The motor isnt running smooth, but I had just ran codes and figured why not.
Got a 90 the first time and a number 5 the second.
Now obviously the o2 is going to affect the car running well and that is in the works for tomorrow. Ive noticed a drop in gas mileage too, so if thats all it is it would make me pretty happy.
So the plan right now is to swap that o2 and see where I am at tomorrow. Ill probably pull the number 5 plug while I am there and make sure it looks okay, but the plugs aren't that old.
The real question here, I've lucked out pretty good on o2 sensors. The only time ive really had to replace them was for emissions. I never really noticed a big difference in how the car ran. Can a bad o2 cause my bad stumble?
Usually O2 sensor being bad wouldn't cause the stumble you are describing.
I didn't think it would. I wouldn't mind a gas mileage increase that I've recently noticed a drop on.
Guess ill swap in my spare dizzy/tfi setup this weekend and see if it clears anything up.
Well, I habe an update. I dont think its the tfi or the o2 sensor.
While driving today a spark plug blew out. It wasn't loose, the center electrode was spinning and moving in and out of the outside body of the spark plug. This is the same side I had the o2 code on, so I think its all just bad plugs.
I didnt have any tools, but coasted into autozone, bought a $1.99 autolite and it is running much better. Autozone loaned me a socket and had it done in 30 second. Guess I'm gonna do the rest this weekend.
So I changed out all the spark plugs. One or two were pretty used up and way out of gap but non seemed to be super bad.
After that the car seemed to run much better so I left it alone. Of course it started the random sputtering again. This time I put the fuel pressure on the window. Couldn't get it to dip or do anything funny.
Ran codes again, smog pump (82) which is bypassed. And get came back (34) so I am gonna mess with that next weekend. Ran another engine cylider ballance test and it passed, no more o2 code.
Since its still been stumbling, I pulled the dizzy/tfi out of another car. Cap looked pretty good and so did the rotor button. Cars running pretty good, gonna try to drive it again tomorrow but I couldn't get it to do anything bad.
I'm not convinced its the tfi/or pip, but it should rule that out if I have any more problems.
I had this happen on the Coupe and battled it for over a year only to find out the bushing in the distributor was worn out and under acceleration it was screwing up the timing and spark. Bought a remanufactured distributor and car ran really well after that.
Well, I guess it was the distributor or tfi.
I pulled the spare out of my engine (been sitting since probably 2007 and dropped it in. Car feels a bit lazy, might have gotten the timing a bit off, but it hasn't stumbled once since.
Well, 4 or 5 days later and the stimble is back. Not quite as bad, but very erratic and intermittent when it does happen.
Ignition coil? Stuck valve? Had a similar issue on my 95. Never got around to really fixing the stuck valve as it would free itself back up after the car warmed up a bit, but the ignition coils were garbage. I know 4.6l =/= 5.0 but its a thought.
Well I've pretty much verified fuel is good as well as the computer and I have already traded out the tfi/pip. I have had a bad coil once. It was arching out to the fender. Honestly the car still ran good while it was doing that. Just happened to see it when I was topping off washer fluid late at night.
I'm down to wiring or fiddly things. Working 6 days a week, 10 hrs a day 3 hours from home is catching up to me.
So I went out to the car and the battery was dead. I hooked up the jump box and didn't even try to start. Got out to cables and something was visibly on fire under the intake manifold near the rear bell housing.
Shut off the jump box and pulled the cable. I was able to blow out the visible flames. But I am at a complete loss. I've never had a car catch on fire, and the only wiring I could see In the area was the o2 sensor harness. Fuseable links don't appear to be melted. I am not going to have a chance to mess with it until next weekend. Gotta be in bed by 8 and up by 4:30 in the morning for work
sounds strangely similar to what I was experiencing recently. was trying to jump start the car on a totally dead battery and would see smoke from the firewall-ish area. mind you, this was a 2.3t, so it may not be an engine thing or could be totally unrelated. I actually ended up replacing the vehicle's battery, pulling the whole driver's side harness back to check for shorts and found nothing but a few portions of copper wire from the fusible links and some grody looking connections at the anti-theft relay (you know the one thats connected to the vacuum tree, right by the booster?) cleaned all that up real nice, reloomed the harness and made quintuple sure everything was plugged in properly. might be a good time to check all the grounds and replace any cruddy looking terminals if you can't find anything else to cause the issue.
Hope this helps, but I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
O2 harness is melted. Gonna try to pull it now.
Is there no fuse or fuseable link for o2 sensors on an 86?
Unplugged the o2 harness because I forgot how much of pain it is to get to. Hooked up the jump box and it no longer gives me an error and the car starts right up.
Soent about 30 minutes pulled the connectors off the o2's. One connector is melted at the o2, so i need to either replace the o2 or repin it with another and haven't gotten the other side fished out quite yet.
Started it up jist for fun. Idles a bit off but seems to have fixed the fire and hopefully my intermittent stumble and battery issues.
Seems to be fixed. I left it dead for a week so I am gonna test drive it and make sure the battery is good still.
Hopefully its good enough to drive to work tomorrow.
Seems to be running better. I'm hoping somehow this had to do with my strong stumble.
Pretty sure the wires were shorted out between the heated o2 wire and who know what that did to the eec.
WOW!!!
reading all this sounds just like what the year 2020 would be dishing out.
ive said it before,,,
these cars are getting to a point where they have exceed all engineering expectations and as time marches on, some of the things we never looked at before are starting to show up as the problem.
so.... put this one on your diy list of things to do..............
replace the three capacitors on your eec mother board sometime soon.
even when these caps are somewhat bad, the eec still functions and the only results you get are odd ball intermittent problems.
so.... put this one on your diy list of things to do..............
replace the three capacitors on your eec mother board sometime soon.
even when these caps are somewhat bad, the eec still functions and the only results you get are odd ball intermittent problems.
Any link or info on this and how to do it? Thank you.
Beleive it or not, but I believe this to have been like this since I owned the car.
The entire time I've owned this car, its gotten bad gas mileage (between 20-25 freeway) and its had an intermittent stumble that I just couldn't find.
I have occasionally gotten an o2 code and even swapped out the side that had the issue twice. Both times I assumed that it was fixed because it seemed like the issue went away.
Even after I did my head gasket, it seemed to run better, but I was bummed that it still had a miss. I did a basic tune up on it and couldnt find anything wrong so I jist left it as is.
I've owned this car for about 3 1/2 years. In that time I've put around 120k on it. I though I knew it pretty well and had it pretty well figured out. In all that time, ive only been able to chirp the tires on wet pavement.
Not only does the stumble seem to be gone, but the intermittent issues as well. I haven't quite ran a full tank out of it yet, going to do that over the holiday weekend.
But it also seems to have all kinds of power down low. Up top feels about the same, but I can now spin a tire from a dead stop and keep it spinning.
I honestly believe that wire was messed up the whole time ive owned the car. It also had a brand new o2 sensor on that side when I bought it.
Its not perfect, feels like it might be pinging a bit at low rpms/high load, and feels like it needs a real tune up. Maybe its time to change the oil and air filters for the first time.
Please, I hope you are joking, at least on the oil. lol
The O2 heater should only have power when the ignition switch is in RUN. May want to check the condition of the ignition switch.
The fuse link is the ignition switch power.
I know everyone's been dying for an update on this.
It was definitely the O2 sensor harness. I took a much closer look at it last winter, and the old harness had a sharp solder joint that could touch the bare ground. The power and ground wires are spliced right at the "t" and looks like some sort of solder connection. When it shorted out, it killed the computer, and was causing the intermittent stumble I was fighting for so long. Mileage is up, went from 20-25 to a new best of 29, averaging between 25-28 mpg highway.
Life has really gotten in the way, I have been working out of state alot, and just haven't had the energy to really mess with the car. It's a bit over 275k miles now. It blows blue smoke and eats oil like crazy now, the longer you run it, the worse it is. For some reason, the transmission started neutral revving when it's below freezing. Still doesn't slip once warm, but it feels like it's on its last leg.
I also wrecked my other 86 (135k miles). No injuries, I drove it home after getting smashed between a lifted Chevy 3500 and a tow truck towing two cars. Every panel, tail light, trunk and door is smashed pretty good. Insurance called it a no fault accident, so I just ate the car.
It was pretty interesting driving it home though. The drivers side front fender got pushed up and over the tire.
Plan is to swap the running gear between the two, and drive the wrecked car with the bad engine to the junkyard down the road from me.
I do plan on dropping the oil and maybe taking a video just for fun before I pull it. Curious what a 150k mile oil change will look like.
ping eric as well on your evtm question.
he called me a year and a half ago and i sent him access to my dropbox to a shiznit ton of evtm's,, i think when he downloaded they got erased or something,, the only survivor link up on dropbox is my 87 evtm.
you need an 86 i think and i can upload that if you want and send an open link
https://www.coolcats.net/documents/
All manuals from 1983-88 are in there (thanks Scott!).
no worries,,,
i gotta get my act together on these uploads,, and dead links.
Haystack
ive got 375kmi on my 302 20th,, i feel compelled to credit rotella 15w40 diesel engine oil. plus changing the oil often sure does help.
I started this habit long long ago because one day i changed my oil and after a trip 50miles round,, i came home and checked it and it was sorta dark again. from that day forward,, about every third oil change i use 4qts of cheapes oil to keeping the old filter,,
then drain the cheap stuff, add new filter and new rotella. ive noticed it kinda flushes hout the motor and keeps the oil looking good and carmel in color much much much longer than before.
If you happen to have a spare 302 oil pan that has a low oil level sensor provision,, i could use one... jcassity@frontier.com or 3047724082 to discuss cost ,, i appreciate it.
i am still wanting to experiement on a two piece oil pan since i now have the sheet metal splice strip i found from BLine.
I checked my storage today, my oil pan was smashed, and I already stole the good one and forgot about it, sorry. If you want a front sump smashed oil pan that leaks, I'll send it to you for shipping cost. It isn't smashed badly, motor mounts ripped out and the front corner washiznitting the sway bar and I didn't notice until it was leaking.
When I was 16, knew nothing about cars and was a pen 15y know it all, I decided I was going to do an h.o. swap and bought a brand new (remanufactured) engine.
When I got married, money obviously was tight, I ended up buying a car with a bad engine, I was really excited to throw all the parts at it. I got it all put together, dropped it in the car, and not only was the engine bad, but so was the transmission. Had a very badly skipping first gear and 3 neutrals. Didn't even make it around the block.
After trying to save up for a new or rebuilt trans, I gave up, picked up another cheap t-bird that was listed as "non-running" food trans, which I got for a song, I think I paid $150 for the whole car due to an "electrical fire", sight unseen. After it got dropped off, it was in much better shape.
Since I already had an extra wiring harness on the stand, I figured it might be cool to see if it will try to start and verify the engine works before I swapped cars, so I decided to see how bad the harness was.
Single bad fuseable link, replaced that and the car fired right up, it had lower miles, and was in much better shape, but also removed the reason why I "needed" to swap the engine, so the now ex-wife said we'll just save it for now, and when it blows you can spend money to put it in. So I ended up saving the engine and junking the other car.
Since then (about 2006), I have only changed the oil if it was a needed thing, meaning I had to drop the oil pan for some reason, and I have tried as hard as I could to blow up every cougarbird since. My current 86, the one with 275k miles, I drove it home, 50 miles on the highway when I bought it in first gear bouncing off the rev limiter. I figured for sure it would fail, it had a bit of a stumble, and a bit of an exhaust tick, so I was sure it had a bad lifter.
I drove it as is, hard as I could, trying to blow it up. If the oil got low, I'd wait until the oil light was flickering at idle, and keep driving it until I got done with whatever I was doing that day, and then I would throw 1 quart of the cheapest oil I could get at it. I don't think I ever once pulled the dipstick. Again, that was 135k when I bought it, after 9 years, it's at over 275k last I checked, the dash lights have been burned up so I can't read it for the last 4 or 5 years and I haven't checked since.
Eventually the exhaust tick and stumble got really bad, I also started blowing coolant. Again, I topped it off when the engine seized from overheating, otherwise I just drove it as is. It got bad enough I started blowing radiators and heater cores, so I decided to pop the valve cover to see how bad it was.
With how much I beat on it, and overheated it, I was sure it was a blown head gasket, secretly hoping for a cracked head. Instead, I found that it was missing a head bolt, just one between two cylinders. Engine looked mint, no metal shavings, I even pulled a few lifters and they had some wear, but it was really clean and even, hardly a single scratch on them.
I pulled off the head, head gasket wasn't even blown, but I already bought the kit, so I replaced it anyways. Only replaced the gaskets and the one busted head bolt, and it ran like a top, minus an occasional stutter that came and went, which is what ended up being the o2 sensor harness. After I fixed the O2 sensor harness, car still ran good, only used about a quart of oil a tank, so I just topped it off. Oil filter is rusted with almost no paint left on it last I looked, but has a thick layer of black gunk, likely oil mixed with dirt (I often drove on dirt roads). About a year ago, I think the valve stem seals all have up, that or the oil rings. Now I can't keep oil in it, blue smoke everywhere, uses a full 5 quarts in half a tank, not worth driving anymore with the cost of the oil so I parked it.
i have read this 5 times,, and twice to friends and all of us had all kinds of laughs. i swear to god there should be some sort of movie or comedy about your so relaxed and laid back attitude and how hard these cars keep trying to prove to you they are worth saving... good story,, should be a sticky