97 skips horrible at low rpm

89fox5.0

New Member
May 28, 2009
3
0
0
Morrill, Me
i just got the car and i knew it had a skip or miss... i bought new plugs and noticed the old ones smeeled like raw fuel. when in first gear (5 Spd) it doesnt want to take off, the skip is real evident here, through the other gears its noticeable but no near as bad. i replace the cam position sensor and cam angle sensor.. im curious where else to go from here. wires look good and there are no codes at all.
 
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What is the condition of the spark plug wires? If original the wires are 13 years old. Try this old racer's trick. Run the car in a totally dark location. Look for the blue light which is the spark escaping. Closely inpect the sprark plug wires looking for white spots. This is evidence of arching. Check the routing of the spark plug wires. The ignition system is a very high energy system. The factory routed the wires a certain way for a reason.

How did you install the cam sensor? On the V6, the alignment of the cam sensor is CRITICAL. If the correct tool was not used, highly unlikely the alignment is correct. OBTW, a misaligned cam sensor is unlikley to throw a code.

Clean the MAF. Use only cleaner designed for the job. This step is important. A contaminated MAF will over state air flow at idle and under state under load. The causes the motor to run rich at idle and lean under load.

Check for vacuum leaks. Check all hoses, tubes, fittings, oil cap, dip stick, valve covers, PCV lines, and replace the PCV value if old. Check for exhaust leaks as well. Especially around the EGR system. Don't cut corners here. Even a tiny leak will casue problems.

How old are the O2 sensors? If over 100k miles, consider replacing the front sensors.

Since this is a new to you car, consider that these V6's are bad about blowing head gaskets. Consider running a compression test just to verify that the base engine is in OK shape.

Not a bad idea to run a coolant system pressure test. The tester can be rented from your local autoparts store. This will also let you know if the head gaskets are holding.