The Black Pearl - Progress Thread

Ehhhh ... kinda-sorta, yeah. Actually, it already does idle at about 500 RPM, which I used to think was too low (I'm used to EFI motors that idle at 750 RPM). It idles kind of lopey at first and needs a little bit of help when you first start it up (have to give it just a hair of throttle, like it's carbed or something), but when it's cold it accelerates and cruises fine ... or at least it did last night. Then when it warms up to operating temp, it starts acting all stupid every time you come to a stop. Because of that, I'm thinking it's a sensor issue, but I dunno where to begin on this. Whatever it is seems to be making it run pig-rich, too, because when I romped on it from a start, Frankenstang said she saw dark smoke (blueish-colored) when she was following behind, and the EGR valve stunk of unburned fuel when I took it out to clean it.

Ideas:

1. TPS
2. EGR valve position sensor
3. Coolant temp sensor (maybe stuck and tricking it into going into closed-loop mode full-time? ... or never going into closed-loop mode?)
4. Oxygen sensor (not reading properly when in closed-loop mode?)
5. More than one of the above items

Dunno, haven't had a chance to check the TPS voltage yet. I know for a fact that the vacuum lines are 100% routed correctly and in good shape now, since I've farted around with them for like two weeks now and verified everything against the vacuum line chart.

The EGR valve does have a position sensor on it, just like the later EFI 5.0's. I should pull it off and see if it's got gunk built up on it or if it's not moving correctly. I think I have a spare one laying around from an EFI 5.0, but I dunno if it'd be the same part or not...

Plug wires are a possibility, but I don't see any unusual deposits on any of the plugs to indicate that any of them aren't firing - every one of 'em is clean as can be. But I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to throw a set of wires on there, anyway...

stykthyn said:

if it's a bad sensor or any electronic sensing device you will most likely have a code stored. try pulling the codes if you can.

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Will do ... although I've read many a tale of how worthless the EEC-III system is for ever reporting trouble codes at all, let alone ones that are relevant to the problem part(s).

*scribbles on to-do list for next weekend*

UPDATE: YARRRRR! She almost be seaworthy!

Yesterday's list of fun:

1. Finished trimming up/adjusting fan shroud - no more rubbing/clicking;
2. Soldered up connections to TPS sensor that were crimp-connected by PO - one was loose enough that it pulled apart completely;
3. Replaced ugly-arsed and messed-up washer/coolant reservoir combo piece with universal reservoir and washer pump that I had laying around in my closet, wired up, and I now have a functional window squirter;
4. Trimmed/cleaned up battery cable ends, terminals, and posts;
5. Checked timing and set to 10* BTDC;

As it turns out, the biggest problem with the car's ability to run correctly was that the timing was set to 0*. I'm guessing the PO pulled the dizzy to replace the TFI module at some point, since it looks aftermarket, and probably forgot to mark the dizzy/rotor beforehand, so he just set Cylinder #1 to TDC, aimed the rotor at that, and just left it there at 0* as soon as he got it to start.

Suddenly, this car has balls now. Nothing outrageous, of course, and still obviously lacking in power compared to any stock EFI 5.0, but it'll spin 'em from a stop and chirp 'em on the 1-2 shift, so it's definitely better than it was. I still apparently need a radiator; I drove it over to my place without it overheating at all, drove it to Wal-Mart up the road and back with no problem, but on the way back to park it for the week, it got up to the 3/4 mark again.

Also, there's still a weird surging-at-cruise and an occasional idle surge problem with it that seems to come and go, although since I rolled the timing up to 10*, at least it doesn't stall out at every damned stoplight - what's weird is that it ran better when it was warmed up compared to when it was cold or half-warm, so I'm not sure which sensor(s) to be looking at for that issue. Again, maybe the EGR position sensor, maybe the TPS, or maybe the MAP sensor ... or something else I can't think of, yet.

So, for making a full round trip to/from its parking place to my home without overheating, it earned its decorative "Remove before flight" ribbon (which I've transferred from car to car for like the last 10 years or so). Just for poops n' laughs, as soon as I can afford to toss a radiator in this thing, I'm running it on down for smog inspection to see if it'll pass. If it does pass smog, then it shall have earned its skull n' crossbones plate.

Not sure if a CFI motor uses an IAT sensor or not. Haven't yet noticed one on the intake, anywhere. I snapped some nice shots of the top of the motor with the aircleaner off, which shows everything in super-duper nice detail from 3 angles ... but I forgot to post 'em up on here this morning before I left for work.

Coolant sensor, I'm not sure if it's good or bad for certain, I'll have to check it with an ohmmeter sometime next weekend and see if it reads within specs. But FWIW, it strangely seemed to run really well when it was warmed up as opposed to when it was cold. The first two times I ran it yesterday, it was all sputtery n' crap, even after I bumped the timing. On the way to Wal-Mart, it was really surging at stoplights, but at least it wasn't stalling out and it had plenty of power; when I started it when leaving Wal-Mart, however, it idled friggin' PERFECTLY and drove wonderfully, and only had a teeny-tiny surge at cruise.

The surge-at-cruise thing makes me really lean toward it being EGR-related. I've got one or two spare EGR position sensors I might try swapping on there for giggles, as they seem to have the exact same electrical connector and the EGR valve itself looks VERY similar in design to the EFI motors'. FWIW, every cruising surge issue I've had before on any other car has been an EGR issue of some sort ... but being that every other thing on this CFI motor is unique and weird, who knows.

List of suspects:

1. EGR position sensor;
2. EGR valve;
3. Clogged injector(s) - visually, the passenger-side injector has a decent spray cone, but the driver's side looks a little less neat-spraying;
4. TPS;
5. O2 sensor;

Oh yeah, and since I bumped up the timing, it starts now without needing to give it a little bit of throttle to get it started and to keep it idling high enough to not stall out. I'm just hoping this other issue is something simple like that which I can fix without having to blast away a bunch of money on new parts.

Oh yeah ... pictures! I'm only a week late posting them.

View attachment 305755

View attachment 305756

View attachment 305757

I snapped these before I fiddled with re-soldering a few connections and cleaning a few things up, so pay no mind to the gross-looking connector off the choke. That thing had something like old chewing gum stuck on it.

LaserSVT said:

So wheres the hoses that attatch to thoes ports on the base part of the EGR assembly?

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I figured someone might notice that.

I bypassed the EGR spacer when it popped that hose the second time the car boiled over. It was running from some crappy T-fitting connection off the heater core. It's the same exact deal as what people regularly bypass on EFI motors (the EGR spacer behind the TB) and it's never caused any ill effects.

The engine bay's pretty ugly with all those wires n' hoses and such, but really even cleaned up, it doesn't look much better. The factory-original pics I've seen of CFI engines look just as messy, just minus the dirt.

Sure wish I could swap to carb and get rid of like 75% of that garbage in there, but ... I'm poor. And I dunno yet if I could sneak it through smog with a carb, either.

UPDATE: Threw in a brand new 2-core radiator and OEM fan with clutch. What a huge PITA. The radiator was shaped slightly different than the last one, and because of that and because the radiator support is bowed up in the middle somewhat AND the motor mounts are almost totally FUBAR, the fan shroud had to be trimmed AGAIN. Jeez ... trim it much more and I might as well not have a shroud on there, at all.

Spent so damned long on the thing trying to get everything to fit together just right that I didn't have any time at all to drive the car around, just let it idle and burp the air bubbles out. At least it didn't get hot, and it took a fair amount of time to heat up to normal operating temp. On the plus side, the car's idling GREAT, starts up real easy. What the hell ... I might just take it on in for smog testing next weekend to see if it'll pass ... if I can afford it.