Smog pump problem HELP!

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

jpmcclos said:
I just had this problem today to. Hoses were going to crap. Also, whatever that hose is that you have in a pic, try pluggin that and seeing if it works. Where was it going to?

I did plug the black hose back into the metal pipe that runs back to the heads. Then I REconnected the little wire that plugs into the top of the evap cannister and nothing changes. I'm wondering if I knocked something loose when the smog pump initially came out. It kind of fell and pulled the hoses it was connected to.

Anyway, the more and more I read I'm beginning to think it's a vacuum problem for sure. Like I keep saying (over and over again unfortunately ) my car ALREADY had a problem of stalling when I hit the brakes. BUT.....

before I did the smog pump today I was able to slowly come to a stop and push the clutch in at low rpms to avoid stalling COMPLETELY. That in itself is a sign of a vacuum leak.

Now I can't even keep the car idling. As soon as I start it, it revs up and then dies instantly. HOWEVER, if I start it and then give it a little gas for a minute I can get it to idle temporarily. Once I start driving it's a different story. As soon as that clutch goes in the rpms PLUMMET. ALL THE WAY down. WTF?

rpm182000 · May 27, 2007

Like Anthony said check your vacuum.

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

rpm182000 said:
Like Anthony said check your vacuum.

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

AnthonyR23 said:
definetely sounds like a vacuum leak to me!!!! Some things are just coincidental... try to ignore that you took the smog pump off.. and just chase out that vacuum leak.. get a vacuum gauge.. what vacuum are you getting??? Mine is 22.

How DO you check your vacuum? Besides spraying starter fluid around the problem area or using a stethascope.

AnthonyR23 · May 27, 2007

Honestly it's easy... knock on some people's doors who have garages... and a few cars in the driveway.. someone will have a vacuum gauge... A vacuum gauge is like a little gauge with a hose on the end... very cheap!!! If your staring at your car from the front with the hook open.. at the top right is a vacuum distribution block.. little black thing with vacuum lines going too it.. there should be one that is blocked off.. I think it says b/r... anyways just stick the vacuum gauge on it.. fire up the car.. even if you have to rev. it... whatever.. vacuum should be pretty stable... get a friend to look at the vacuum gauge.. I bought a kit from mustangsunlimited.com for about 30 bucks.. was a kit with a bunch of different size vacuum lines.. I got yellow ones.. and I replaced as many as I could.. now getting constant 22. which is high apparently .. have heard some guys that only get about 18 and are still good.. but on most gauges it has a good area!!! or normal area on the gauge.. if the reading is in the low area which is usually shown on the gauge... what would be a low vacuum reading... Another thing you could do is throw it on the egr vacuum line.. just unplug a vacuum line and throw the tester in.. but make sure you don't unplug something that will leave the vacuum open.. Honestly needs to be a sealed vacuum... that is the number one cause of idle problems... which is what I have learned!! Thanks Jricher!!

AnthonyR23 · May 27, 2007

have to quickly correct myself.. the egr should read 0 at first.. but if you run a engine on diagnostic test with a test light and paper clip or tweezers.. it will trigger the egr valve to turn on the vacuum.. definitely easier to just go with that capped off vacuum spot.. I mentioned about on the vacuum distribution block...

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

AnthonyR23 said:
Honestly it's easy... knock on some people's doors who have garages... and a few cars in the driveway.. someone will have a vacuum gauge... A vacuum gauge is like a little gauge with a hose on the end... very cheap!!! If your staring at your car from the front with the hook open.. at the top right is a vacuum distribution block.. little black thing with vacuum lines going too it.. there should be one that is blocked off.. I think it says b/r... anyways just stick the vacuum gauge on it.. fire up the car.. even if you have to rev. it... whatever.. vacuum should be pretty stable... get a friend to look at the vacuum gauge.. I bought a kit from mustangsunlimited.com for about 30 bucks.. was a kit with a bunch of different size vacuum lines.. I got yellow ones.. and I replaced as many as I could.. now getting constant 22. which is high apparently .. have heard some guys that only get about 18 and are still good.. but on most gauges it has a good area!!! or normal area on the gauge.. if the reading is in the low area which is usually shown on the gauge... what would be a low vacuum reading... Another thing you could do is throw it on the egr vacuum line.. just unplug a vacuum line and throw the tester in.. but make sure you don't unplug something that will leave the vacuum open.. Honestly needs to be a sealed vacuum... that is the number one cause of idle problems... which is what I have learned!! Thanks Jricher!!

Whoa! Thanks man. I'll be heading out to my buddies garage tomorrow to check the IAC and all the vacuum lines. This is a process I'm sure we'll partake in. When I figure out the problem I'll be sure to post the result. I can't wait to get this thing idling right b/c she's running SO STRONG right now. I just can't keep her idling.

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

What would be considered LOW vacuum. I know you said you're reading 22 and other folks are reading 18, but what number is considered LOW. Anything under 18?

AnthonyR23 · May 27, 2007

I think 13 would be considered low.. just a guess.. but seriously.. on my vacuum gauge there is a green area that says good ... and a red area that says bad... should say right on the gauge... garage is all locked up for the night... let me know what your getting when you find a gauge.. someone told me that 22 is excellent... but I can't really say what is too low.. my car wasn't idling anything below 1800 rpm... and was surging badly... couple times had to shut the car off and restart it... to get it down below 2200rpm which points to the throttle position sensor... but after I replaced the vacuum lines.. which is worth the 30 dollars and they look good.. see my sig. pic and those yellow lines at the back... think about those 20 year old cracking vacuum lines.. people probably often forget about those... and do there exhaust and who knows what mods.. after doing that... I did a diagnostic test.. and my emissions codes where coming up.. so I bought new vacuum solenoids for the tab tad and egr valves... and took off the iac motor on the front of the throttle body cleaned that out.... and unplugged it.. then adjusted the idle screw on the bottom of the intake down to 800 rpm with the iac unplugged.. then had to drill out the holes and my throttle position sensor and adjusted it so the wire voltage read .92 . after that Idle is perfect!!!!!! Sounds like a lot but the dedication to getting rid of idle problems definitely helps me sleep at night!! lol

AnthonyR23 · May 27, 2007

Honestly man.. don't stress about it... just do one thing at a time... your diagnostic codes will be all messed up... idle will be off the wall with a bad vacuum leak... if you can confirm that your getting good vacuum than we can move to the next cause... but for know just chase that down!!

AnthonyR23 · May 27, 2007

do you have your egr hooked up???

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

AnthonyR23 said:
do you have your egr hooked up???

I have NO idea. It's too dark for me to even go out there and check. BUT.......just we're on the same page......where is that?

Roland69 · May 27, 2007

if you still have cats then they might be pluged now since you have no smog pump.

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

Roland69 said:
if you still have cats then they might be pluged now since you have no smog pump.

I don't have cats. I'm rollin with the o/r h-pipe. That's the whole reason I decided it was safe to remove the smog pump.

AnthonyR23 · May 27, 2007

you know where your throttle body is right... it is the roundish thing sticking out the side of the egr spacer in-between the upper intake manifold and the throttle body is the spacer... it is sticking out the side towards the firewall... and it should have a vacuum line running to it... the vacuum line should be hooked up to the egr solenoid.. you know that pic you showed... with the tube you took off from the smog pump.. the vacuum lines that were hooked up to that go to the wheel well on the passenger side.. there is two vacuum solenoids that are side by side.. above the two is a single vacuum solenoid.. that is the egr solenoid... that should be hooked up to the egr valve.... one way to check if your egr valve is working is to take a good vacuum.. and we don't know if your vacuum is working right.. (may have vacuum leaks) but if you put a good working vacuum line up to the egr and bypass the egr valve vacuum solenoid the car should stumble and may even stall... all those vacuum lines that hook up to the solenoids that went to the thermactor air bypass valve and the thermactor air diverter that you took off.. hook up together.. if there open the car could stall and I am guessing when you took off that... you probably left those lines open... that's where I would look first... definetely will stall at idle if you left those unplugged... you have a single vacuum line going to those solenoids... they split in tees... what I would do is take all those lines off.. but be carefull and make sure you remember what you are disconnecting.. that rerun the vacuum lines to only where you need them...

Ike83 · May 27, 2007

AnthonyR23 said:
you know where your throttle body is right... it is the roundish thing sticking out the side of the egr spacer in-between the upper intake manifold and the throttle body is the spacer... it is sticking out the side towards the firewall... and it should have a vacuum line running to it... the vacuum line should be hooked up to the egr solenoid.. you know that pic you showed... with the tube you took off from the smog pump.. the vacuum lines that were hooked up to that go to the wheel well on the passenger side.. there is two vacuum solenoids that are side by side.. above the two is a single vacuum solenoid.. that is the egr solenoid... that should be hooked up to the egr valve.... one way to check if your egr valve is working is to take a good vacuum.. and we don't know if your vacuum is working right.. (may have vacuum leaks) but if you put a good working vacuum line up to the egr and bypass the egr valve vacuum solenoid the car should stumble and may even stall... all those vacuum lines that hook up to the solenoids that went to the thermactor air bypass valve and the thermactor air diverter that you took off.. hook up together.. if there open the car could stall and I am guessing when you took off that... you probably left those lines open... that's where I would look first... definetely will stall at idle if you left those unplugged... you have a single vacuum line going to those solenoids... they split in tees... what I would do is take all those lines off.. but be carefull and make sure you remember what you are disconnecting.. that rerun the vacuum lines to only where you need them...

Would the car run perfectly fine until I put the clutch in or would the car not run at all with the egr unplugged or whatever, b/c the car runs GREAT until I hit the brakes, the clutch, or allow it to idle.

AnthonyR23 · May 28, 2007

give me a little bit on that one... my dad may know....

Ike83 · May 28, 2007

AnthonyR23 said:
give me a little bit on that one... my dad may know....

I'll be outside trying to figure out the problem

Ike83 · May 28, 2007

Is anybody ready to take this **** to the "twilight zone"?

I just went outside and started my car and it's idling perfectly. I am willing to bet that when the car warms up it will start to die. What in the HELL is that a sign of?
The car NOW appears to run fine when it's cold, but won't idle at all when the temperature reaches 170 or 180. WTF?

Ike83 · May 28, 2007

By the way, I just checked the EGR and everything is in place or hooked up.

Both the wires are plugged in: the one that goes to the evap canister and the one that runs to the EGR. Both hooked up, so I imagine that's not the problem.

On to the next theory.........

Smog pump problem HELP!

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