Bought a 88 stang 2.3 na. needs work. help please

[amorgan93]

i just bought a 1988 mustang lx 2.3l N/A. i got a super great deal on it. $400 in the car total. Dont judge it though. The car has a bad miss in it, idles rough, accelerates slowly and very roughly, the entire car shakes. No knocks, rattles, pings, anything like that. I pulled the old plugs which were shot, and put in 4 motorcraft plugs. Nothing changed. I looked at my O2 sensor and it has a huge dent in it, which leads me to believe the o2 sensor is bad. The car burns rich also. I dont think the miss in in the ignition or anything, in fact i think all 4 cylinders are firing normally, maybe just a wrong balance of fuel/air. It also has a crack in the exhaust manifold, but my dad got me a header from a ranger that fits the 2.3 the rangers header does not have a o2 sensor place on it though, but it does have the piping for the EGR. Oh and the previous owner replaced the distributor cap, rotor button, and plug wires.

Can someone tell me how to make a place for the o2 sensor in the headers, or should i take it to an exhaust shop and have then do the job? this header is extremly thick and heavy. Im not 100% sure its even OEM, it may be aftermarket. So could i relocate the o2 sensor further down past the header, in the begenning of the exhaust where the metal is much easier to drill through?

Thank you in advance for the help

 

[Delray Dude]

i just bought a 1988 mustang lx 2.3l N/A. i got a super great deal on it. $400 in the car total. Dont judge it though. The car has a bad miss in it, idles rough, accelerates slowly and very roughly, the entire car shakes. No knocks, rattles, pings, anything like that. I pulled the old plugs which were shot, and put in 4 motorcraft plugs. Nothing changed. I looked at my O2 sensor and it has a huge dent in it, which leads me to believe the o2 sensor is bad. The car burns rich also. I dont think the miss in in the ignition or anything, in fact i think all 4 cylinders are firing normally, maybe just a wrong balance of fuel/air. It also has a crack in the exhaust manifold, but my dad got me a header from a ranger that fits the 2.3 the rangers header does not have a o2 sensor place on it though, but it does have the piping for the EGR. Oh and the previous owner replaced the distributor cap, rotor button, and plug wires.

Can someone tell me how to make a place for the o2 sensor in the headers, or should i take it to an exhaust shop and have then do the job? this header is extremly thick and heavy. Im not 100% sure its even OEM, it may be aftermarket. So could i relocate the o2 sensor further down past the header, in the begenning of the exhaust where the metal is much easier to drill through?

Thank you in advance for the help

The 1993 and 1994 Ford Ranger header is the one you want. It has the O2 bung in it. 1995 to 1997 Rangers is the header you have - it was located in the pipe. You have a few choices. You can cut your existing pipe and have them weld in the section of pipe with the O2 bung, you could drill a hole in your header and have them weld in an O2 bung, or you can get the 93/94 header and it'll drop in and work without having to mod the exhaust.


Well there is the issue of the EGR - but that can be plugged at both ends and I'd recommend doing it.


If I were you, I'd do the last and then you could sell the header on E-bay - the Pinto / mini stock guys prefer that one as it's one less hole they have to plug. Too bad you didn't post last week - as I had a 93 header I was selling. I might be getting my hands on another one this Saturday.

I do have a 12" section of exhaust pipe with the O2 bung in it hanging around. I guess it all depends upon how much money you want to spend (unless you can weld the pipe in yourself) - muffler shops might charge you a few bucks to do it. The swap is fairly easy to do yourself - only bitch part is the 2 bolts from the collector to pipe.

 

[amorgan93]

alright ill have to talk around, see if anyone is willing do do some cheap welding for me. About the miss in the motor/rough running problem. you think it sounds like a bad o2 sensor, and are the sensors fragile cause the dent is fairly big, maybe broke some internals in the sensor??

 

[Delray Dude]

More than likely the O2 sensor is trashed. That may be your problem, but you may have a few other problems too, the computer is dumping fuel, the O2 sensor and the MAP sensor help guide it in the fuel delivery. I'd 1st do the O2 sensor - as they usually go bad. MAP sensors do go, but not as frequently - you can rob one off a junkyard car to see if that is part of the problem, but you will need to find an 87 to 89 Mustang as 90 to 93 they used Mass Air. Also, don't rule out the injectors and pressure regulator. The injectors can and do go bad and will leak more fuel into the intake. They are not cheap new, but you can try a set from a good junk yard donor - any 87 to 93 Mustang (4 banger) will work, as also any Ford ranger from 93 to 97. The pressure regulator could be failing and overpressurizing the system too.

Another possibility is the computer itself, they can go bad.

I'd start with the easy things 1st - O2 sensor 1st.

 

[amorgan93]

come to find out the o2 sensor wasnt even plugged up. The previous owner replaced the exhaust on this car (halfway). but the manifold is cracked and plugging up the o2 sensor didnt help anything. The car runs rough as hell, and has about the power of a 5hp briggs and straton lawn mower motor. The car somehow out of a miracle spun the tires in my yard (which was wet and muddy) and spun pos, didnt dogleg. But it has the rear end for the 2.3 in it because the axles only have the 4 lug as opposed to the 5 lugs on the 5.0 cars. The car also doesnt move at all when shifted into (D) from P, but will work in regular D. If i have it in D, and push it forwards into (D) it will click in place, but has tension on it, pulling back. It also wont stay in 1, it just shifts up to 2 when i let go, which leads me to think the shifter linkage needs adjustment. And the car is burning rich. The fuel guage shows either F or E, nothing in between. The coolant temp guage doesnt work. And when turning the ignition to the "on" position, no ligts come on that indicate that the computer is even working. No check engine light, nothing. The previous owner said he had to remove the guage cluster cover thing because a bulb for the speedo burned out, and there is evidence that he did because he didnt put the screws back in it to hold it in place. Is it possible he disconnected the lights for the computer (check engine, etc.). Could the computer be **** shot and just in "limp mode" or whatever you call it? Also i know my vacuum modulator valve is bad because the engine is sucking up transmission fluid into the throttle body.

where do i even start? please help me because ive had this car for 2 days and already want to stick 20 pounds of ammonium nitrate on it.

and if it helps identifying the car in any way, it has cruise control on it. doesnt work because the cable connected to the throttle body is broken.

and there is evidence, im almost 100% sure the motor in it now is not the original. the odometer shows 311,000 miles, but im not sure it wasnt pulled from a car in the junk yard, considering the car has mis matched seats and mis matched rims.