Im rich...(running :-/)
- Thread starter Synned
- Start date
Let’s start at square one:
1.) Problem only happens when the engine is warm/hot.
2.) Car idles OK, no surging(?)
3.) You saw black smoke, so you think the car is running rich.
4.) Engine backfires when you step on the accelerator.
5.) Engine seems to have problems at part throttle and lower RPM.
6.) Engine runs good above 3000 RPM, pulls hard and does not miss.
Is this an accurate summary of your problem?
1.) Problem only happens when the engine is warm/hot.
2.) Car idles OK, no surging(?)
3.) You saw black smoke, so you think the car is running rich.
4.) Engine backfires when you step on the accelerator.
5.) Engine seems to have problems at part throttle and lower RPM.
6.) Engine runs good above 3000 RPM, pulls hard and does not miss.
Is this an accurate summary of your problem?
jrichker said:
Yes 1. Only happens after a little bit of driving or a while of driving when cool.
2. No idle surging very occasionaly when I first put it in gear the RPMS will drop and then rise but only once then it's fine.
3. Yes I've seen black smoke and this was while the car was hesitating, backfiring.
4. It will backfire a lot if I rev the car parked.
5. At lower RPM it hesitates when I go, and feels strong at WOT 3000k+ but it still may be lacking power.
That pretty much sums it up...
Backfiring into the intake manifold only occurs when there is either a lean mixture, sticky valve or crossed spark plug wires.
Do all the testing on a warm/hot engine since that is when your problems occur. Start at the top of this list and work your way down. Do all the steps, and don't skip any. Avoid throwing parts at the problem in place of careful test and evaluation.
1.) To eliminate the easy stuff first, check the firing order. Since you are not the car's original owner, check to verify that it is indeed an HO engine. Remove the #1 & #3 spark plugs. Put your finger in #1 spark plug hole. Crank the engine over until you feel compression on #1 cylinder. Slowly turn the engine until the TDC mark and the timing pointer line up. Mark TDC on the balancer with chalk or paint. Put your finger in #3 spark plug hole and crank the engine 90 degrees. You should feel pressure trying to blow past your finger. If you do not feel pressure, repeat the process again. If you feel pressure, it is a HO engine.
No pressure the second time, remove spark plug #5. Put your finger in #1 spark plug hole. Crank the engine over until you feel compression on #1 cylinder. Put your finger in #5 spark plug hole and crank the engine 90 degrees. If you feel pressure now, the engine is not a HO model, no matter what it says on the engine.
Using a small carpenter or machinist square to mark the harmonic balancer off into 90 degree sections may be helpful here.
A 15/16 deep socket & breaker bar or ratchet may be used to turn the engine.
The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8
2.) Check the plug wires, distributor cap and rotor for carbon tracks or evidence of spark jumping around. The spark plug wires are best checked in the dark with the engine running. Look for sparks jumping or a blue glow around the plug wires
3.) Buy or borrow a vacuum gauge. You should pull 18"-21" of vacuum at 1000 RPM. The vacuum gauge needle should be steady, it may vibrate a little. If you see large sweeps of the vacuum, more than 2" change, or low vacuum - 8"-13" you have a vacuum leak or a sticking valve.
4.) Do a cylinder balance test to eliminate weak cylinders or bad injectors. Warm the car's engine up to normal operating temperature. Use a jumper wire or paper clip to put the computer into test mode. Start the engine and let it go through the normal diagnostic tests, then quickly press the throttle to the floor. The engine RPM should exceed 2500 RPM's for a brief second. The engine RPM's will increase to about 1450-1600 RPM and hold steady. The engine will shut off power to each injector, one at a time. When it has sequenced through all 8 injectors, it will flash 99 for everything OK, or the number of the failing cylinder such as 22 for cylinder #2. Quickly pressing the throttle again up to 2500 RPM’s will cause the test to re-run with smaller qualifying figures. Do it a third time, and if the same cylinder shows up, the cylinder is weak and isn’t putting out power like it should. See the Chilton’s Shop manual for the complete test procedure
Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter. I’ve used it for years, and it works great.
See http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/
OR
See http://www.dalidesign.com/hbook/eectest.html for more descriptive help
OR
See http://www.mustangworks.com/articles/electronics/eec-iv_codes.html
For those who are intimidated by all the wires & connections, see http://www.actron.com/product_detail.php?pid=16153 for what a typical hand scanner looks like. Normal retail price is about $30 or so at Walmart.
Or for a nicer scanner see http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?3829 – It has a 3 digit LCD display so that you don’t have to count flashes or beeps.. Cost is $33.
5.) Get a good analog voltmeter or a DVM with an analog bar display to check the TPS. Use the green and black wires to take the measurements. At idle you should see less than .99 volt, at WOT you should see more than 4.25 volts. Open and close the throttle slowly several times. You should see a smooth and steady change as you open and close the throttle. Any jumping around means that the TPS is defective.
Do all the testing on a warm/hot engine since that is when your problems occur. Start at the top of this list and work your way down. Do all the steps, and don't skip any. Avoid throwing parts at the problem in place of careful test and evaluation.
1.) To eliminate the easy stuff first, check the firing order. Since you are not the car's original owner, check to verify that it is indeed an HO engine. Remove the #1 & #3 spark plugs. Put your finger in #1 spark plug hole. Crank the engine over until you feel compression on #1 cylinder. Slowly turn the engine until the TDC mark and the timing pointer line up. Mark TDC on the balancer with chalk or paint. Put your finger in #3 spark plug hole and crank the engine 90 degrees. You should feel pressure trying to blow past your finger. If you do not feel pressure, repeat the process again. If you feel pressure, it is a HO engine.
No pressure the second time, remove spark plug #5. Put your finger in #1 spark plug hole. Crank the engine over until you feel compression on #1 cylinder. Put your finger in #5 spark plug hole and crank the engine 90 degrees. If you feel pressure now, the engine is not a HO model, no matter what it says on the engine.
Using a small carpenter or machinist square to mark the harmonic balancer off into 90 degree sections may be helpful here.
A 15/16 deep socket & breaker bar or ratchet may be used to turn the engine.
The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8
2.) Check the plug wires, distributor cap and rotor for carbon tracks or evidence of spark jumping around. The spark plug wires are best checked in the dark with the engine running. Look for sparks jumping or a blue glow around the plug wires
3.) Buy or borrow a vacuum gauge. You should pull 18"-21" of vacuum at 1000 RPM. The vacuum gauge needle should be steady, it may vibrate a little. If you see large sweeps of the vacuum, more than 2" change, or low vacuum - 8"-13" you have a vacuum leak or a sticking valve.
4.) Do a cylinder balance test to eliminate weak cylinders or bad injectors. Warm the car's engine up to normal operating temperature. Use a jumper wire or paper clip to put the computer into test mode. Start the engine and let it go through the normal diagnostic tests, then quickly press the throttle to the floor. The engine RPM should exceed 2500 RPM's for a brief second. The engine RPM's will increase to about 1450-1600 RPM and hold steady. The engine will shut off power to each injector, one at a time. When it has sequenced through all 8 injectors, it will flash 99 for everything OK, or the number of the failing cylinder such as 22 for cylinder #2. Quickly pressing the throttle again up to 2500 RPM’s will cause the test to re-run with smaller qualifying figures. Do it a third time, and if the same cylinder shows up, the cylinder is weak and isn’t putting out power like it should. See the Chilton’s Shop manual for the complete test procedure
Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter. I’ve used it for years, and it works great.
See http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/
OR
See http://www.dalidesign.com/hbook/eectest.html for more descriptive help
OR
See http://www.mustangworks.com/articles/electronics/eec-iv_codes.html
For those who are intimidated by all the wires & connections, see http://www.actron.com/product_detail.php?pid=16153 for what a typical hand scanner looks like. Normal retail price is about $30 or so at Walmart.
Or for a nicer scanner see http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?3829 – It has a 3 digit LCD display so that you don’t have to count flashes or beeps.. Cost is $33.
5.) Get a good analog voltmeter or a DVM with an analog bar display to check the TPS. Use the green and black wires to take the measurements. At idle you should see less than .99 volt, at WOT you should see more than 4.25 volts. Open and close the throttle slowly several times. You should see a smooth and steady change as you open and close the throttle. Any jumping around means that the TPS is defective.
Ugh,
Fuel pressure is checked, 32 at idle, when wot its like 40. Vacuum is good. Car still bogs/hesitates when you get on it after it has heated up. I went to a friends garage and the guy there couldn't figure it out either. He thinks it might be clogged cats. I'm at a complete loss. I just ran a can of seafoam through it and there was a ****load of smoke but I guess thats normal. He called a ford dealership and the guy that hes friends with at the ford place is going to search their database for this known problem and get back to me. Do our catalytic converters get clogged? I guess nobody really knows since nobody leaves them on
. Jrickter, fuel, vaccum, and tps are all good. TPS was check with a snap on which also verified the o2's and maf working within range. The computer shows nothing. Cylinder balance test shows nothing.
When I ran seafom, the right exhaust pipe smoked a whole lot more than the left one. The same side in which one of the plugs looked oily. Coincidence?
It doesn't sound like an ignition problem does it? TFI/PIP?
You guys are my last hope!
Joe
Fuel pressure is checked, 32 at idle, when wot its like 40. Vacuum is good. Car still bogs/hesitates when you get on it after it has heated up. I went to a friends garage and the guy there couldn't figure it out either. He thinks it might be clogged cats. I'm at a complete loss. I just ran a can of seafoam through it and there was a ****load of smoke but I guess thats normal. He called a ford dealership and the guy that hes friends with at the ford place is going to search their database for this known problem and get back to me. Do our catalytic converters get clogged? I guess nobody really knows since nobody leaves them on
. Jrickter, fuel, vaccum, and tps are all good. TPS was check with a snap on which also verified the o2's and maf working within range. The computer shows nothing. Cylinder balance test shows nothing. When I ran seafom, the right exhaust pipe smoked a whole lot more than the left one. The same side in which one of the plugs looked oily. Coincidence?
It doesn't sound like an ignition problem does it? TFI/PIP?
You guys are my last hope!
Joe
off road h pipe sounds like a good investment to me , along with 2 new 02 sensors and check the wires going to them and make sure they arent frayed and grounding on something , I would fule out the fuel pump taking a dump on you once the car has been running a few minutes too , the fuel could be starving after its HOT ........have you changed the fuel filter lately ? Is the pump really loud ???
ttt
HISSIN50 said:
Okay I definetally dont get it then. I thought there was too much fuel being sent because it feels like the car is drowning itself when I accelerate and has to catch up to the pedal. Like burn off the excess fuel and then go. Also sometimes when I try to start the car it feels like its drowning itself and dies. What could make my car run rich when it heats up?
Maybe it isn't running rich. Find a back road and do a full power run in 2nd or 3rd gear. When you hit peak RPM turn off the ignition switch & put the trans in neutral. Pull of the road and pull one spark plug from each side. Black plugs are too rich, white plugs are lean, tan plugs are good.Synned said:
See http://www.centuryperformance.com/spark2.asp for more help on reading spark plugs or http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=reading+spark+plugs&btnG=Google+Search if you really want to go digging.
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