Needle in a haystack

[KarmaKid]

O.K.......Grab a beer, sit down and I will explain this problem as best I can.

About 2 weeks I was driving my 94 GT, which is mainly stock. I glanced down at the guages and they were all whacked out. My oil press. was pinned at high, it usually sits right in the middle. My temp. guage was up and down from middle of guage to high, it usually sits fairly low. My amp. guage was sitting a lot lower than normal.

So I pulled in to a parking lot right away, popped the hood, chkd batt terminals, overflow for radiator, and oil dipstick. Everything was where it should be. Waited about 10 min's, started it up, same scenario.

Had it towed to ford like a dumbass becuase I had an extended warranty. Heres what they came up with:
CRACKED BATTERY
OIL PRESSURE SENDING UNIT LEAKING
OIL PAN ROTTING AND LEAKING
REAR MAIN SEAL LEAKING
RADIATOR LEAKING

All of these issues I knew about before hand and have been minor issues since I bought the car last year but have never affected the performance of the car. I would have tiny, tiny spots under the car from the leaks but nothing major.

I lost my kidneys the beginning of last year, 2 weeks after I bought my stang, and havent wrkd for a year now. Therefore, I havent been financially able to do much to the car. Just got my transplant 2 months ago, so getting back to life.

Anyways, the friggin warranty didnt cover a damn thing. So I dished out 320.00 to ford for a new battery (which they said they had to put in to diagnostic the car). I honestly dont think they did a damn thing, just pointed out the obvious. So, now the car is home, and I dont have a clue as to what the issue is. When you start the car, even after sitting, the oil press. guage shoots straight to H. After running for about 5 min's the temp guage climbs like its gonna blow, then dances around. The amp guage is still much lower than normal, even with the new battery.

I have ordered the sending unit from mustang unlimited. Checked the voltage with car off, 12.04 volts, running is about 13.5, and it fluctuates by about .+/-.25. If I try to drive the car, even after letting it warm up for 5 min's, it bucks when I accelerate, at the same time the battery light will flicker and my RPM guage goes wacky but the rpm's of the engine arent coinciding with the guage.

I replaced the alternator with a boineyard one last year. I pulled it out and removed the voltage regulator. It looks like a really crappy rebuild inside. I'm thinking maybe alternator?

Also, as an added bonus to my streak of awesome luck, I cracked the lower intake manifold while replacing the temp sending unit! So now the whole top motor is apart. Wish I had the cash to do some upgrades.

Anyways any help from anyone would be appreciated.

Sorry so long winded
Jeremy D.

MAC cold air intake
Flowmaster catback
BBK X-Pipe

 

[sldghmr]

Dude....your probably looking at a ground wire issue. I've got the same issue with my pod. After I put my pillar guages in things started to go crazy, so I pulled it all out, but that turned out to fix nothing. Read around and found out that there is supposed to be a strap that goes from back side engine block to firewall (helps grounding), so I made a temporary one going from back intake manifold bolt to firewall and it helped for a long time. Now when engine bay warms up after driving for 20 min and then I come to a stop and sit for about 2-3 min the guages "pop" on me...start driving again and they straighten out....I think there is probably a little ground wire broken somewhere....

 

[KarmaKid]

Thanks sldghmr. I was thinking the same thing. Now I just have to find out exactly where the grounding issue is. I will start where you had your issue.

 

[Venom351R]

all my guages went wacky on me one time, OIL Press was off and temp was way high. Turned out to be that a ground wire came loose.

 

[RIO5.0]

Ground sounds reasoanable to me....I had the ground strap that runs from the drivers inner fender to the block go bad....Its sheated in Black plastic...For 5.00 you can buy a like copper ground to replace it...mine looked fine but was gonzo...
Mine was arching at the fender side...

also remove the Neg ground from where it locates on the block, by the oil filter...clean all those up real good...that whole cluster right there can get pretty rusted/oxidized...that bolt that everything connects to gets pretty corroded...

I had a like issue with the wacky gages...I put in another battery and all was good...Unfortunately you weren't that lucky....

 

[KarmaKid]

Thanks for everyones quick reply. Tomm. is supposed to be sunny and dry here in MA so I will tackle it then. I will let you guys know what I came up with.

 

[KarmaKid]

O.K......So I replaced the ground cable on the drivers side fender going to the block with a copper one. Also cleaned up the major ground next to the oil filter. Unfortunately the upper and lower intake I bought wont be here until Thursday. Also replacing oil sending unit, serpentine belt, antifreeze, oil and filter, cap and rotor, and finally fixing my backup lights and brake lights.

I have been driving my sister;s Hyundai.....ugggh. Its been beautiful out too. Oh well, patience is a virtue.......or something, lol.

I will let everyone know how I made out next weekend with my electrical issue.

Thanks again,
Jer

 

[95riosnake]

let us know how everything goes once it's all back together, good luck

and $320 for a battery? DAMN thats highway robbery!

 

[KarmaKid]

Grrrrrrr

So I am still friggin waiting for my Instake to get here. I bought them off Ebay. Dude said he sent them on Wed.. It's been 3 damn weeks without my baby! Anyways. I got the upper manifold off, the MAC cold air intake out, and all wires hoses and connections disconnected, except for the 2 fuel lines. I went out and bought the fuel line tool to remove the spring clips. Then I read a couple of post's and write up's about just unbolting the fuel rail and not disconnecting the feed and return fuel lines.

Can I just unbolt the rail and then pop the injectors out while leaving them in the rail? Or should I pull the rail off the injectors, then remove the injectors from the manifold?

I saw the "How To" somewhere in the forums here on this, but wanted some 2nd opinions.

Also, when I do remove the lower manifold, does anyone have any tip's on do's and dont's? Like should I use a solvent along with a scraper to remove the original gasket? Should I use a spray on gasket along with the gasket itself instead of RTV?

Hopefully the upper and lower manifold will be here Monday......Ughhhh.

Thanks Everyone

Jeremy D.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Yeah just leave them in the rail and swing it out of the way. Thats what ive done all the times that my intake mani has been off. But seriously 320 bucks for a battery they reamed u. I would ask for a refund, ****in dealer bastards.

 

[KarmaKid]

Finally

Suh-weet! Manifold's made it hear today.

I have everything apart, cleaned and ready to be put back together.

I have a couple of questions that I cannot find crystal clear answers to. These are probably a no brainer questions for most of you.

What exactly should I buy for gaskets? I unbolted the water pump. So 1 of those. I unbolted the TB from the upper. So one of those. Buy a new gasket for between upper and lower maniofold? And if so, do not use RTV on that one? Buy a new gasket between heads and lower manifold? or just use RTV?

I have read, here in the forums, to use a gasket with RTV between the heads and lower, and I have read just RTV?

I know this question gets asked alot. Keep in mind I am putting back stock manifolds.

And by the way, about FORD raping me.........I had an outside warranty and was hoping they were going to pay the bill. They didnt cover a thing. Ford said to go any further, they had to replace my battery which was cracked, in order for them to get proper results from diagnostics.......blah blah blah....

trust me, LESSON LEARNED.

Thanks Guys,
Jer

 

[Hef5.0weisen]

FelPro MS93334, it's a kit with most of the gaskets you'll need. Don't think you had to take the waterpump off for u/l manifolds, but you do what you do. RTV, none between u/l.....some like to run a bead on the front and back of the block w/o the seals, some use both, some just the seals, up to you. At least put a dab in the corner's. Me..I use the gaskets, with a dab off RTV in the corners, no problems here. Good Luck, and btw, that kit does not have T/B gaskets

 

[urban96]

for some install tips check the FAQ sticky at the top of the page, thats what i used when i did my intake swap

 

[KarmaKid]

Needle Found........More Friggin Issue's

Ok, so, I really think it should be against the law for dumbasses like me to be able to use a wrench.

Yesterday was the first day off from work that was sunny since I received my manifold. Started putting the the manifold together. Took me all day cuz I was taking care of some other business too. Got home from wrk tonight, raining like a mofo out, so I pitched a ghetto a*s tent over my hood. While putting the fuel rail back on, I forgot the "O" ring to the top of 1 of the injectors was still stuck in the rail. So I got 3 bolts into the manifold that keep it in place but could'nt get the fourth because it wouldnt go down on the last injector far enough. So I lightly tapped on it with a rubber mallet, and I do mean lightly. Giving up that marvelous idea, I removed the fuel rail after remembering the "O" ring was still in the rail. The plastic that surrounds the tip of the bottom of the injector broke off 2 of them from banging on it.....awesome!!! I'm thinking partial peaces fell into the intake too.

Soooooo, I basically went from having a grounding issue, which could have been fixed with a $5 cable in a matter of minutes to paying ford $320 for a battery and 3 hours of labor, and a bunch of bull........to cracking my manifold and breaking 2 fuel injectors in the process of replacing it.........I think I'm gonna open my own shop.

...........to be continued

 

[urban96]

you might be able to get the pieces you broke on the injectors from napa in what they call an injector rebuild kit. any pics of the carnage?

 

[RIO5.0]

This is available at Napa...4.00 per kit or so...

Hang in there....we all had episodes like that....Next time around it'll be that much easier....

 

[KarmaKid]

Carnage Pix

You rock Rio!!

Thanks man, I will head over to NAPA after wrk tomm.

Heres some pix of me scraping the heads yesterday and then the broken injectors......web page is all screwed up, but you get the point.

PIX

BTW, is it a good idea to clean the injectors with carb cleaner or something? They are really dirty

 

[KarmaKid]

Finally, Finally, Finally......

I did it!

I'm all done......Rebuilt injectors, ported upper and lower manifold, new egr valve and gasket, new pcv valve and breather, new battery, new ground cables, new headlight/dimmer switch, new brake light switch.

The is the 1st time I have ever taken something like this apart, put it back together, and it worked!

I'm am sooooooooo happy to have my baby back and definitely learned alot.

Lokking forward to my BBK headers next.

Thank you so much for everyones help, especially the tip about boiling the plastic tips in the rebuild kit for the injectors, slid on like butta

Gilled the take with 94, poured 2 bottles of stp injector cleaner and thats all she wrote.

 

[RIO5.0]

Great...sweet when things come together...