Ok, I need to get some input. I'm tired of getting input....lol. I like to help others with their cars. I posted a thread in June about getting my car decent to drive. I had 10 or so items that very much needed to be done. This post, unfortunately, is not one of those items. Just when I was almost thru the important ones on that list you guessed it. Another put me down on the side of the road problem.
Three or four years ago I rebuilt my OEM distributor with a new PIP and new TIF. It lasted until about six months ago then started its crap again.
Y'all know I do not need one more thing on my plate right now...car or otherwise. I'm dealing with a family member that's ill and causing me great stress, huge lack of finances, and an old car that is driving me crazy. I try to post and encourage others about fixing their cars and knowing there's going to be some things come up. I am just the lucky soul that gets to have something come up every single week. No, I'm not joking. That, on its own, is difficult to deal with...even someone with money to constantly fix something would hate it. I hate leaving the house and never knowing if I'll be stranded. No, I can't afford AAA and honestly never even met anyone that has that. No one I know in my neck of the woods does anyway. My goal with the other thread was to fix the car to a point that it's just decent transportation. I don't want a simple trip to the next town to be a potential journey.
Back to today's problem. The car starts as it always has. Sometimes the shut-offs don't happen for a week. Then normally while on the interstate going 70mph it just hiccups once, twice or a few times. Sometimes it completely stops running. I always leave it in gear with the clutch out. When it decides to come back on it does and I keep rolling. Sometimes it takes me all the way down to 30mph to come back on. Many times there's an 18 wheeler behind me or a line of cars. If it doesn't come right back on I have to hit the emergency lane on the side of the interstate. This went on for a month or so. I was hoping it would totally die so I could be sure that whatever I did fixed it. Two weeks ago I finally decided that I'd go ahead and swap distributors. I have a couple of extra factory distributors so I grabbed a '90 one that's still got the factory PIP/TIF in place and put it in the car. Of course, the shutting off on the road went away and I could actually feel the difference in the two sets of electronics. The car seemed to run a bit smoother. Two weeks go by and I'm on my way home yesterday evening and I felt a stumble. I closed my eyes (while driving!) and told myself I did not feel that. Didn't matter. Five minutes later it started shutting off and then back on the rest of the way home.
Things I have come to notice..... When it shuts off I do not lose dash lights or gauges. As a matter of fact, nothing on the dash indicates anything different. It may buck and stumble a few times in a row or just once. All this has always been what I consider the PIP going bad. I still think that's what it is. If for example, it was a loose wire in some random spot that just lost electrical connection, the dash light or gauges would flicker or something. I do believe I'm just losing the fire. I've tried one of the Spectra Premium Distributors (FD17 from Oreilly $87) and it was the most flimsy piece of junk I've ever seen. I took it back after setting the timing and the whole thing flexing in my hand like plastic. When I rebuilt the distributor a few years ago I put the best PIP that NAPA had in there. I'm sick of things not lasting. My factory one lasted almost the whole time I've had the car. I can't get one to last 5 years now. I've replaced the ignition switch just a couple years ago. If the ignition was cutting out though the gauges on the dash would show it.
I have one other factory distributor with the factory PIP still in it that I can try. Not sure if that's worth it or not. This is just getting old. I'm almost back to my OTHER thread from a while back about giving up on the car and parking it for good. I don't have the money to do hardly any repairs on the car much less get another car. And of course the mustang is due tires in the next few months if not sooner. Never ends. Yes, I'm very discouraged. I've spent the last 5 or 6 years replacing almost every part on the car in hopes of getting it dependable.
New parts over that time: (think about all this added together and how much trouble I'm STILL having)
-New A/C system (compressor, drier, accumulator, condenser, etc....all parts)
-New cooling system (radiator, thermostat, hoses, heater core, fan blades, fan clutch, water pump, etc...
-New 130 amp alternator upgrade with wiring kit, battery, all grounds checked and replaced if needed
-New steering system (new Unisteer Kit w/ manual rack, ends, solid steering shaft...all parts new) Only done because I could not get the power steering to stop leaking.
-numerous other things like power windows motors, door lock actuators (lots), weatherstripping, new mufflers, new gaskets on the timing cover/water pump/thermostat, all new factory steel pulleys, new speedo cable, new coil, new wire and plugs, etc.
I have also added approximately 917,365 quarts of oil. The car is now using 1.5 quarts of oil every 750-800 miles on the dot. I don't even have to think about it anymore....750 miles comes I know in 50 more miles it's oil time. (oil is for another day so just fyi) I was working on a fix for the oil then the dang thing started shutting off again. Don't need oil if it won't run!!!
Anything y'all can post I'll be glad to read. It's just sad to me that I've put such an enormous amount of parts in the car and it's just as bad as when I started. And for the record, I put the best stuff I could find in most cases. Motorcraft heater core (this after 3 junk LMR ones), Bosch 130amp alternator, etc, etc. Still no luck. I've replaced almost everything except the actual long block and transmission! And I had the engine that's in there rebuilt a few years ago.
Shutting off...that's the immediate problem that I need to fix.
Three or four years ago I rebuilt my OEM distributor with a new PIP and new TIF. It lasted until about six months ago then started its crap again.
Y'all know I do not need one more thing on my plate right now...car or otherwise. I'm dealing with a family member that's ill and causing me great stress, huge lack of finances, and an old car that is driving me crazy. I try to post and encourage others about fixing their cars and knowing there's going to be some things come up. I am just the lucky soul that gets to have something come up every single week. No, I'm not joking. That, on its own, is difficult to deal with...even someone with money to constantly fix something would hate it. I hate leaving the house and never knowing if I'll be stranded. No, I can't afford AAA and honestly never even met anyone that has that. No one I know in my neck of the woods does anyway. My goal with the other thread was to fix the car to a point that it's just decent transportation. I don't want a simple trip to the next town to be a potential journey.
Back to today's problem. The car starts as it always has. Sometimes the shut-offs don't happen for a week. Then normally while on the interstate going 70mph it just hiccups once, twice or a few times. Sometimes it completely stops running. I always leave it in gear with the clutch out. When it decides to come back on it does and I keep rolling. Sometimes it takes me all the way down to 30mph to come back on. Many times there's an 18 wheeler behind me or a line of cars. If it doesn't come right back on I have to hit the emergency lane on the side of the interstate. This went on for a month or so. I was hoping it would totally die so I could be sure that whatever I did fixed it. Two weeks ago I finally decided that I'd go ahead and swap distributors. I have a couple of extra factory distributors so I grabbed a '90 one that's still got the factory PIP/TIF in place and put it in the car. Of course, the shutting off on the road went away and I could actually feel the difference in the two sets of electronics. The car seemed to run a bit smoother. Two weeks go by and I'm on my way home yesterday evening and I felt a stumble. I closed my eyes (while driving!) and told myself I did not feel that. Didn't matter. Five minutes later it started shutting off and then back on the rest of the way home.
Things I have come to notice..... When it shuts off I do not lose dash lights or gauges. As a matter of fact, nothing on the dash indicates anything different. It may buck and stumble a few times in a row or just once. All this has always been what I consider the PIP going bad. I still think that's what it is. If for example, it was a loose wire in some random spot that just lost electrical connection, the dash light or gauges would flicker or something. I do believe I'm just losing the fire. I've tried one of the Spectra Premium Distributors (FD17 from Oreilly $87) and it was the most flimsy piece of junk I've ever seen. I took it back after setting the timing and the whole thing flexing in my hand like plastic. When I rebuilt the distributor a few years ago I put the best PIP that NAPA had in there. I'm sick of things not lasting. My factory one lasted almost the whole time I've had the car. I can't get one to last 5 years now. I've replaced the ignition switch just a couple years ago. If the ignition was cutting out though the gauges on the dash would show it.
I have one other factory distributor with the factory PIP still in it that I can try. Not sure if that's worth it or not. This is just getting old. I'm almost back to my OTHER thread from a while back about giving up on the car and parking it for good. I don't have the money to do hardly any repairs on the car much less get another car. And of course the mustang is due tires in the next few months if not sooner. Never ends. Yes, I'm very discouraged. I've spent the last 5 or 6 years replacing almost every part on the car in hopes of getting it dependable.
New parts over that time: (think about all this added together and how much trouble I'm STILL having)
-New A/C system (compressor, drier, accumulator, condenser, etc....all parts)
-New cooling system (radiator, thermostat, hoses, heater core, fan blades, fan clutch, water pump, etc...
-New 130 amp alternator upgrade with wiring kit, battery, all grounds checked and replaced if needed
-New steering system (new Unisteer Kit w/ manual rack, ends, solid steering shaft...all parts new) Only done because I could not get the power steering to stop leaking.
-numerous other things like power windows motors, door lock actuators (lots), weatherstripping, new mufflers, new gaskets on the timing cover/water pump/thermostat, all new factory steel pulleys, new speedo cable, new coil, new wire and plugs, etc.
I have also added approximately 917,365 quarts of oil. The car is now using 1.5 quarts of oil every 750-800 miles on the dot. I don't even have to think about it anymore....750 miles comes I know in 50 more miles it's oil time. (oil is for another day so just fyi) I was working on a fix for the oil then the dang thing started shutting off again. Don't need oil if it won't run!!!
Anything y'all can post I'll be glad to read. It's just sad to me that I've put such an enormous amount of parts in the car and it's just as bad as when I started. And for the record, I put the best stuff I could find in most cases. Motorcraft heater core (this after 3 junk LMR ones), Bosch 130amp alternator, etc, etc. Still no luck. I've replaced almost everything except the actual long block and transmission! And I had the engine that's in there rebuilt a few years ago.
Shutting off...that's the immediate problem that I need to fix.