Popping and Caughing at WOT?

[TrickFlowd]

Ok...heres the deal with the module. I just got off the phone with a Mechanic at a local ford dealership. He said all the modules from 87-93 5.0L motors are exactly the same. I had the module that is on the car tested, and it is in perfect working order. So...the module can't be the problem.

What would happen if my harmonic balancer is toast, and how do I tell? If I set the timing to 15 degrees, and it ended up being 15 degrees retarded instead of advanced...what would happen? The car idles fine, and drives fine until you get on it. Then its like someone shut off 2 cylinders. Also, when coming to a stop and pushing in the clutch, sometimes the car dies!

 

[ShortThrow50]

The car wont run if you had the timing retarded 15 degrees. If you turned your distributor clockwise to 15 you are fine.

 

[ShortThrow50]

I recently had a problem with my ignition module. Had it tested and it was bad. I had one laying around from a Lincoln Towncar with a 5.0. I was told that the one from the towncar could be different than a stock mustang module. The car starts and drives, but 3/4 to WOT it pops, and caughs, and has basically NO power at all. It pops out the exhaust when letting off also. The car basically falls on its face when givin any gas. Could this be from the module? I had the towncar module tested at Advance Auto and it was good.

I was just reading this again. If the car was 100 percent fine before the module change, then it has to be related. How did you know the module was bad in the first place? What were the symptoms? Just trying to start from scratch again.

 

[TrickFlowd]

The symptoms were no spark. The car would start, idle for 1-2 mins and just die. Then no spark at all. If the car sat over night it would start again and idle 1-2 mins and die. Then no spark once again. Finally it wouldn't start at all.

Jrichker gave me a checklist and I checked the coil, no spark. So this pushed me towards the TFI module. Took it to a local parts store, had it tested, and it was dead. Put the lincoln module in, car started right up. Ran fine except for a flat spot around 6k in between shifts. So I thought maybe it was timing. Put a timing light on the car, bumped it up to 15 degrees and the car started popping and caughing up threw what sounded like the upper intake. So I bumped the timing back down and it did the same thing.

I checked my TPS voltage and that was at 1.4 volts. (The kid I bought the car from was a dumbass, he had the tps on upside down, but the car ran fine with it like that, I have no idea how?) The volts on the TPS is suppose to be .98-.99. So I set the volts to .985. The popping and caughing problem is still there. But the car did not run half bad before I messed with the timing and TPS voltage. (just had a bad flat spot, no popping and caughing)

I have a leaky gasket on the lower intake to block (lifter tunnel). I am planning on fixing this problem very soon. Could this possibly have something to do with it? Maybe the motor is sucking air in threw the intake to head gasket? Just haven't had much time to work on the car. Only on weekends.

 

[ShortThrow50]

No i dont think its the intake. I think you should back track. I dont have my tps at .99 cause my car never runs right like that, regardless of what people say. I have my tps at like 1.2 volts. If possible, take a pic of your tps on the car and post it up.

 

[TrickFlowd]

ok. Then that makes perfect sense. Hear me out...

When I bought the car, the kid said the TPS sensor went bad, so he replaced it. When I got the car home, I noticed the sensor was on upside down. But, the car ran like a raped ape. Would go sideways bang'n 2nd gear. But, I thought the TPS being upside down was a problem, so I flipped it over and adjusted it to where the car ran good. But ever since, now that I think about it, the car ran like crap. Maybe thats why it was upside down? I have no idea. But before the car started acting up like this, the voltage was around 1.4 volts. I moved it to what EVERYONE says- .98-.99...and the car runs like total crap. I'm gonna try setting it to 1.2 and see how it runs. I bet thats my problem.

Where is the coolant temp sensor? Prolly near the upper radiator hose neck, where thermostat is?

 

[ShortThrow50]

Heres a pic of my engine. I have it labeled for you. #1 is the coolant temp sensor. And #2 is the water neck in which you will have to remove to get to the thermostat. The thermostat is behind that thing.

 

[TrickFlowd]

Cool. Thanks man!

Your TPS is set at 1.2 v? What does it read and WOT? Why the hell does everyone say to set it between .98-.99?

 

[ShortThrow50]

Cool. Thanks man!

Your TPS is set at 1.2 v? What does it read and WOT? Why the hell does everyone say to set it between .98-.99?

LOL. I never checked WOT but Im curious so Ill try and check it later but yeah its at 1.2 and the car runs great. Its at 1.2. When I first got the car a year ago it was all stock and had like 60k on, the tps read 1.4 on it then. Your not the first person that I saw had a 1.4 volt reading, Ive read ALOT of cars being that reading. Im not gonna say to much because I dont want to start a huge debate on here. Needless to say, ill never go back to .99. It used to run ok at .99 when the engine was stock but now with all the mods I have, the car wont even stay running with .99v I have to have a minimum of 1.2v. I think this may be because I nead a good program. Im in no hurry though because I only drive this think maybe once a month. I only put 400 miles on it since I bought it. Is your car a Daily driver?

 

[TrickFlowd]

Nope. I drive my car maybe once a weekend. For about 10 miles if that. My car would stay running at .99v but it runs like ****. It has to be that though! Thats the only thing I messed with besides the module, and we both know the modules are the same. I have to get around to changing it back to 1.2-1.4 volts and see what it runs like. Hopefully that fixes the problem so I can put it away for the winter and know it will run fine next spring when I get it back out.