Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) October 05, 2005, 05:02:39 PM Hello, it's me again, the guy who was asking about the differences between the Turbo Coupe and the 5.0L Tbirds. Right now I am finding myself increasing angry at an issue occuring with my 3.8L 87 Thunderbird. Here is the Problem:(This only started happening about 1 week ago)A week ago while driving around town everything was going great. Car was running fine and I was on top of the world. I stopped at an unusual gas station to fill up that I normally would never go to, but it had what I needed so I filled up there. Anyway, I was driving to various places for about 2 hours. On my way back home while driving on a busy thoroughfare, with the air conditioning on, I stopped at a traffic light. When I did the car made a sputtering noise like it was out of gas, the engine shook briefly and then shutoff. I attempted to restart the engine at least five times. Everytime it either turned on for a split second, sputtered again and shut off, or it kept turning over but never started. Everytime I thought I had it started, I gave it plenty of gas (floored it) but even with the reving, the engine simply sputtered and turned off again. I had to push the car out of traffic and sat for about 1 hour waiting for help to arrive. When my buddy arrived to get me, I attempted to start the car. Bingo! It turned on and ran fine. I was able to drive it home.After this I assumed I had simply gotten some bad gas. I vowed never to get gasoline from that mom n' pop station ever again. Well, today I was driving around and it happened again! I was heading home after about an hour of driving when in the middle of the road (Not even stopped this time) I felt the engine sputter. I was hesitant to let out of the gas for fear of the engine dying all together in the middle of the road. I quickly dashed to the nearest turning lane which led into a neighborhood road. As soon as I pulled into the turning lane and let out of the gas, the engine died. (And there were angry people behind me as well, which is always nice) I attempted to restart the engine about 7 different times. Each time I could keep it running for maybe 2-4 seconds but then it would sputter again like it was out of gas. (I had plenty of course). Finally I was able to get the engine going and quickly put it into drive. I had to floor the thing just to get it to sputter across the road onto the neighborhood street. Once on that road, it quickly died out again. Again, after about 30 minutes or so, the started right back up like nothing happened, and I was able to make it home. What does this mean? It's certainly not the bad gas again. The engine wasn't overheating before hand. My fluids are fine. What could be causing this? Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #1 – October 05, 2005, 05:09:22 PM Fuel Filter, fuel pump....Almost sounds like you are hydro locking the fuel system. Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #2 – October 05, 2005, 05:09:51 PM Sounds like the fuel pump is on the fritz... Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #3 – October 05, 2005, 06:56:56 PM Tfi? Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #4 – October 05, 2005, 07:19:07 PM Yes it is. It isn't EFI, nor Carberator. Could it use some cleaner? Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #5 – October 05, 2005, 08:19:54 PM Did you run it completely out of gas recently? Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #6 – October 06, 2005, 01:11:50 AM Check The Thick Film Ignition, or TFI. This part can cause enormous problems. I had my cougar 4 months on blocks only for this F#$%&$g part.....Some of the guys can explain that procedure... Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #7 – October 06, 2005, 01:24:20 AM Sounds like your TFI module. It's the little box on your distributor with the wires runnin to it. Other board members here have had the symptoms you describe . When mine went ( 4 of them in 10 years in 3 different cars ) it was always while moving, the car would instanly stop running and not start again until the TFI was replaced. Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #8 – October 06, 2005, 01:43:28 AM Is his TFI on the distributer or on the core support like my 88 3.8? Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #9 – October 06, 2005, 10:55:22 AM The thing about my problem is, when car dies out while running, I usually can wait about 40 minutes or so and then the car will start right back up and run normally. Although I must say that since this has started happening I have been noticing what sounds like an engine miss. Another thing is that just this morning while attempted to head out to work, while heading down my street the car did it again, sputtered and stopped. Luckily I was able to restart it and reverse the thing back into a parking spot. Could It just need a tune up? I don't think it's that TFI thing because it does eventually start up again after waiting a while. Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #10 – October 06, 2005, 11:44:25 AM Quote from: DMC24guyCould It just need a tune up? I don't think it's that TFI thing because it does eventually start up again after waiting a while. Trust us, a flaky TFI can and will cause this type of problem. The symptoms line up almost perfectly. Start by changing this one part out, then if you are still having the same problem we can help you trouble shoot farther. Bottom line is, it's most likely gonna be the TFI . Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #11 – October 06, 2005, 12:50:00 PM Yes, I've had a GT stang do this, it will try to start and then shut right back off. Sometimes you have to wait a while for it to start back, because the ignition box cools off. You might try ice on the ignition module when it won't start, but the only test is to buy a new module. If the problem doesn't go away then you have a spare module, which you will need one day BTW. Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #12 – October 06, 2005, 01:14:00 PM You can have a lot of tricky problems with the TFI. My car stopped when running at 80km/h, stopped at stop, stopped when charging fuel, etc......and required 4 o 5 tries to run again, even 20 minutes... Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #13 – October 07, 2005, 01:43:51 AM I thought that you could get it tested at auto zone? Just find a buddywith another cougar,....or tbird and see if theirs works. Quote Selected
Re: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) Reply #14 – October 07, 2005, 07:53:54 AM QuoteI don't think it's that TFI thing because it does eventually start up again after waiting a while.Electronic parts don't like heat. Ford put the TFI module on the side of the distributor. :disappoin Go to Google and search for Ford TFI heat and you'll see what we mean. :D Quote Selected
Topic: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) (Read 2996 times)
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Topic: Annoying Problem Occuring with T-Bird (Need Help) (Read 2996 times)
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