Everyone, I need help! I can't seem to figure out my issue. I got a 1995 Mustang GT 5 Speed. All stock, no mods.
Get ready, this is going to be a long story... A couple of weeks back I went to take my sister to San Francisco (200 miles away) so she could fly out of SFO to Hawaii. The Mustang did WELL on this trip there, but on the way back I noticed the tachometer seemed like it was sticking. The car ran pretty well the whole way. A week later my sister is stuck at LAX because of a mix up on flights, so as the protective big brother, I drive to LA (250 miles away) to pick her up. On the way there I notice the tachometer doing the same thing (sticking) and there is a small hiccup in the acceleration. On the way home it was getting a little worse. Well, I get it home and my buddy Davis3 and I started to take a look at the car. We found a couple of spark plugs arcing, so I replaced the spark plugs with Motorcrafts. I see them arching again, I then replace the plugs with autolites and wires with Autozone brand wires. I recheck and found no arching at all. I continue to drive the vehicle and still feel the small hiccup. The vehicle feels like there is a misfire. Just in case, I cleaned the MAF and the IAT sensors to make sure there wasn't a problem there. I did have a K&N freshly oiled in the air box, but I since then replaced it with a factory filter. It seemed to help, or maybe was just coincidence, who knows. Because the misfire feel came back. I was thinking maybe the PIP went out, so I replaced the distributor with a reman unit from Autozone. I installed it and set the timing to specs. The car seemed to still have the hiccup. I figured maybe I might have a faulty coil... I replaced that. Nothing changed. So after all that is done and said, I had Davis3 come over with a code reader and ran a cylinder balance test. It reported loss of power out of cylinder #3. After replacing all those components, I figured I would replace a possible faulty fuel injector. I purchase a set of remanufactured fuel injectors, I replace the top plenum gasket while I was at it. After the install of the fuel injectors I started the car. The car ran worse than before. It felt as if the cylinder was completely dead. I then came up with the theory that by replacing the upper plenum gasket made matters worse with the lower intake manifold gasket. I figured it was a good investment replacing the lower intake manifold gasket since I doubt it was ever replaced. At the same time I could reinspect the injectors and see if there were any real leaks. Once i got to the point of removing the lower intake manifold bolts, the bolt closest to the thermostat housing broke on me. I, being the master mind I am, was able to get it out and chased the threads just in case. I checked the intake manifold gaskets and saw no evidence of a leak. At the same time, I figured I would replace the distributor just in case the distributor i recieved from Autozone was a bad-new part. The replacement distributor I recieved from Autozone was a better reman unit, the shaft and all were brand new. The only thing that was old was the outter housing, as a good reman part should have. I installed everything back into place torquing everything down to factory specs. We start the vehicle and she's running just the same. I decided to attempt to swap ignition control modules with a known good module. Started it back up, and still doing the same thing. Davis3 and I figured possibly a bad ECU causing this concern, so we then swapped my ECU to his 94 stang to see if his vehicle starts to act up. We swapped it into his car in case there was a short to ground in mine, frying two computers would not be fun lol. We started Davis3's car up and his car seemed to run perfectly fine. I started to think and decided to check the wiring at the #3 cylinder. in order to do that I had to remove the upper intake plenum AGAIN, and ohm out the wiring at the connector to the main connector at the firewall. I ohm'd it out and it read continuity. So that's not the issue. I'm kind of at a loss with this issue...
So with that being said, here's our thoughts. Davis3 seemed to think there was a little excessive ticking coming from a valve cover. I don't think there was... I'm wondering if one of the reman injectors is bad and coincidentally was placed on the #3 cylinder spot. I'm planning on swapping the injector with another known good injector later tonight and see what happens...
Any input would be great at this time! Thank you all in advance.
Get ready, this is going to be a long story... A couple of weeks back I went to take my sister to San Francisco (200 miles away) so she could fly out of SFO to Hawaii. The Mustang did WELL on this trip there, but on the way back I noticed the tachometer seemed like it was sticking. The car ran pretty well the whole way. A week later my sister is stuck at LAX because of a mix up on flights, so as the protective big brother, I drive to LA (250 miles away) to pick her up. On the way there I notice the tachometer doing the same thing (sticking) and there is a small hiccup in the acceleration. On the way home it was getting a little worse. Well, I get it home and my buddy Davis3 and I started to take a look at the car. We found a couple of spark plugs arcing, so I replaced the spark plugs with Motorcrafts. I see them arching again, I then replace the plugs with autolites and wires with Autozone brand wires. I recheck and found no arching at all. I continue to drive the vehicle and still feel the small hiccup. The vehicle feels like there is a misfire. Just in case, I cleaned the MAF and the IAT sensors to make sure there wasn't a problem there. I did have a K&N freshly oiled in the air box, but I since then replaced it with a factory filter. It seemed to help, or maybe was just coincidence, who knows. Because the misfire feel came back. I was thinking maybe the PIP went out, so I replaced the distributor with a reman unit from Autozone. I installed it and set the timing to specs. The car seemed to still have the hiccup. I figured maybe I might have a faulty coil... I replaced that. Nothing changed. So after all that is done and said, I had Davis3 come over with a code reader and ran a cylinder balance test. It reported loss of power out of cylinder #3. After replacing all those components, I figured I would replace a possible faulty fuel injector. I purchase a set of remanufactured fuel injectors, I replace the top plenum gasket while I was at it. After the install of the fuel injectors I started the car. The car ran worse than before. It felt as if the cylinder was completely dead. I then came up with the theory that by replacing the upper plenum gasket made matters worse with the lower intake manifold gasket. I figured it was a good investment replacing the lower intake manifold gasket since I doubt it was ever replaced. At the same time I could reinspect the injectors and see if there were any real leaks. Once i got to the point of removing the lower intake manifold bolts, the bolt closest to the thermostat housing broke on me. I, being the master mind I am, was able to get it out and chased the threads just in case. I checked the intake manifold gaskets and saw no evidence of a leak. At the same time, I figured I would replace the distributor just in case the distributor i recieved from Autozone was a bad-new part. The replacement distributor I recieved from Autozone was a better reman unit, the shaft and all were brand new. The only thing that was old was the outter housing, as a good reman part should have. I installed everything back into place torquing everything down to factory specs. We start the vehicle and she's running just the same. I decided to attempt to swap ignition control modules with a known good module. Started it back up, and still doing the same thing. Davis3 and I figured possibly a bad ECU causing this concern, so we then swapped my ECU to his 94 stang to see if his vehicle starts to act up. We swapped it into his car in case there was a short to ground in mine, frying two computers would not be fun lol. We started Davis3's car up and his car seemed to run perfectly fine. I started to think and decided to check the wiring at the #3 cylinder. in order to do that I had to remove the upper intake plenum AGAIN, and ohm out the wiring at the connector to the main connector at the firewall. I ohm'd it out and it read continuity. So that's not the issue. I'm kind of at a loss with this issue...
So with that being said, here's our thoughts. Davis3 seemed to think there was a little excessive ticking coming from a valve cover. I don't think there was... I'm wondering if one of the reman injectors is bad and coincidentally was placed on the #3 cylinder spot. I'm planning on swapping the injector with another known good injector later tonight and see what happens...
Any input would be great at this time! Thank you all in advance.
