PLEASE HELP, CEL on and idling poorly

The best thing to do now is to pull the codes. If you don't have a reader and don't care to buy one, then you can do a McGyver, and pull them with a paper clip. A member (jrichker) has posted several times how to do this. Run a search on his name and it will come up.

As a shot in the dark I will guess either egr or smog related.

jason

vristang said:

The best thing to do now is to pull the codes. If you don't have a reader and don't care to buy one, then you can do a McGyver, and pull them with a paper clip. A member (jrichker) has posted several times how to do this. Run a search on his name and it will come up.

As a shot in the dark I will guess either egr or smog related.

jason

Click to expand...

Agreed... still it sounds like vacuum to me.

Do you here a whining or whistling sound?
If so spray carb cleaner around til it stops and there's the leak. I still have a leak at my phenolic spacer which reminds me:
Also might want to check fuel pressure (phenolic & changing vacuum lines spacer screwed mine up)- anytime you start bringing a lot more air into the motor it's a good idea.

While dumping codes, perform the cylinder balance test to see if the miss can be narrowed down to one cylinder (misrouted plug wire(s), bad plug, bad wire, etc) or if it is endemic across the board (vac leak, etc).

Good luck.

Cylinder balance test:
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.

How does he ^^^^^ do that?

Ok ok, let's try some more. JRichker, I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 50000000000000000000000000. What is it?