Anyone in Northern CT got some spare time?

[ironheart1]

Hey there~

Just wondering if anyone in the Manchester, CT area has some free time to perhaps swing by and take a look at my car. My mechanic is baffled and we can't seem to nail down the problem. Cash is tight so I can't afford to just replace sensors and whatnot until the problem goes away, especially if that's not related to the problem. I'd be happy to provide gas money and pizza or something, I'm just pretty desperate at this point as the GT is my daily driver and gets me to/from work. Anyone who can help out, I'd appreciate it immensely. Feel free to PM me if available

Thanks in advance. Sick of getting by my car

 

[25thmustang]

What seems to be the issue? It might be something simple it might not. I am not far from Manchester, but let me know what the problem is, might be able to help you out without leaving the house!

 

[ironheart1]

Ok man, here goes:

Well, to start, the car is 16 years old so obviously it's going to make some noises and whatnot. I thought I had some odd noises related to the transmission but as it turns out, the guy I went to for maintenance put 75w-90 in my T5. I just swapped in some ATF and most of the odd grinding noises and stuff went away.

Just for the fun of it, we changed out plugs, wires, cap and rotor out, and my mechanic adjusted my timing. They told me that the car pulls harder than ever before, so I drove it. Either they're completely stupid, or I am. I currently have to downshift just to get up hills now, I got beaten by a stock '99 Mitsu Mirage (I hope my girlfriend lets me live THAT one down), and it's just running like complete crap. I didn't have this issue at all before my friends did the tune-up. It surges oddly and misses really, really bad.

Also, I had a slight leak from one of the cats that has gotten substantially worse since I left my car with my friends/mechanic. Possibly related?

Ugh. This car is going to be the death of me. What do ya think?

 

[2k2fourpointsix]

First of I would drain and re-fill the tranny with some synthetic ATF again to get rid of the residual Gear oil. And as far as running like crap after a tune up, I would first double check the firing order to make sure they dont have a few wires mismatched. If that looks good, I would have a competent person re-set your timing, its very possible they did not adjust it properly. When I had my 5.0 I bumped the timing to 13 deg. advance and it made a noticeable SOTP gain. And don't forgot that whenever you are running advanced timing, to ONLY run 92 octane fuel to avoid detonation!!

 

[ironheart1]

Cool cool. I actually drained and filled the transmission twice for just that reason. It shifts pretty nice now, especially considering its 110K miles, never rebuilt, has a bad clutch and had gear lube in it for a couple daily-driven months.

I have yet to check the firing order but my guy is really confident that he did that correctly. Timing was set at 10* BTC and it still ran like crap, oddly enough. It's just a really obnoxious set of problems this car has been having.

When I get gas, I'm going to try a higher octane just for the hell of it. Can't hurt at this point.

 

[25thmustang]

Okay a few things to ask, do you have a stock fuel pump? Do you have an adjustable fuel pressure regulator? Do you have original 02 sensors? It sounds like it could just be the tune. Mine ran like crap too, stalled, backfired, and just made junk power, so we bumped timing from 10 -16, and went from 28 psi of FP (dont know why it was so low) to 38 and the car makes great power now!

 

[ironheart1]

Fuel pump - Stock
O2 Sensors - Unsure, probably original
AFPR - No

I'm just about to post an update in 5.0 Mustang Tech, it seems its fuel-related. Sometimes my fuel pump primes, sometimes it doesn't. Not sure what that means exactly.

 

[25thmustang]

Fuel pump - Stock
O2 Sensors - Unsure, probably original
AFPR - No

I'm just about to post an update in 5.0 Mustang Tech, it seems its fuel-related. Sometimes my fuel pump primes, sometimes it doesn't. Not sure what that means exactly.

My car had issues with bad idle when cold, and stumbling and backfiring and it was a poor tune and bad fuel pump (still went 13.1 like this). Even though its money I would suggest fuel pump, it made a night and day difference for me. An AFPR is great to have to, to keep it tuned right and make power if you need more or less fuel!

 

[94gtny]

I had exactly your problem when I replaced my plug wires on my 94. I managed to break a wire. I put the original wires back on and the car ran great. Make certain the wires don't have some kink or short. A great way to test this is when it is dark, use a misting spray bottle and spray towards the wires. You will see an arch. Also, you may very well here an ticking while the car runs. If you do, look for the arching from teh wire to the metal it is touching.

Good luck!

 

[88stangnut]

Trust me man, I had major problems, check 3 things, the o2s are hooked up, theres a plug for them on the pass side fenderwell and check the firing order, if u have a chiltons manual dont look at the fireing order with the pic, its not for a H.O. 302 the correct one is on the left page . and 3 is timing mine was screwed with soo bad it stumbled everywhere. surged like crazy, no power stalled at lights

Try that and let me know how it goes, hope i was a help , i know how it feels to see your stang limping around, mine did for 4 months

 

[ironheart1]

I had exactly your problem when I replaced my plug wires on my 94. I managed to break a wire. I put the original wires back on and the car ran great. Make certain the wires don't have some kink or short. A great way to test this is when it is dark, use a misting spray bottle and spray towards the wires. You will see an arch. Also, you may very well here an ticking while the car runs. If you do, look for the arching from teh wire to the metal it is touching.

Good luck!

Thanks for the tip man, I wasn't able to get anything done yesterday as I work 3rd shift and didn't get my carcass out of bed until 9PM, but I plan on going nuts with the car today fixing it.

I pulled up next to an 80's Supra Turbo with his targa roof off, he was just asking for it. I couldn't play though, I would have gotten owned in this state, I need to get this car fixed :damnit:

 

[ironheart1]

Trust me man, I had major problems, check 3 things, the o2s are hooked up, theres a plug for them on the pass side fenderwell and check the firing order, if u have a chiltons manual dont look at the fireing order with the pic, its not for a H.O. 302 the correct one is on the left page . and 3 is timing mine was screwed with soo bad it stumbled everywhere. surged like crazy, no power stalled at lights

Try that and let me know how it goes, hope i was a help , i know how it feels to see your stang limping around, mine did for 4 months

I'm still amazed the thing runs. I have minor tranny issues, a BAD clutch and now the engine is going ape*****. I'm going to try to check these things tonight, have to run to Autozone and grab the Chilton's. Should have had it a while ago. I'll keep you guys posted.

Oh, one more inquiry... Someone I know said that it sound like I might have jumped a tooth in the timing chain. Does this happen often? What are the symptoms?

 

[94gtny]

Hey, just a quick suggestion for your trouble shooting. You said everything was fine until your "tune-up". Trouble shoot the things you changed in the tune up and I bet you hit your problem. Everything suggested in this post "could" be the cause of your problems, but check the obvious first. Don't mess with the complicated stuff until the easy has been ruled out. Good luck!

 

[ironheart1]

Heya guys. I followed your advice, and it turns out the problem was directly due to a bad plug wire. Thanks fellas, I appreciate all the good advice. Still idling weird but it runs and drives and actually has balls again. Yay!

But now, another weird problem.

http://forums.stangnet.net/showthread.php?t=474083

Thanks guys again for the help, if any of you need a hand with anything, feel free to PM me.