I Am Now A Fox Body Owner, Also Have Some Questions

[Ant85]

A few of you have been posting in my other thread called 'Stock fox body worth?' I have been looking for a couple of months, then decided to register on here to get more feedback about potential cars I was interested in. I think I turned 4 down since I've been a member here. Then I stumbled across a '92 SSP for sale. I am not going to lie, I never even heard of a SSP model before. I knew that they were used as police cars, but the term SSP was new to me. I did a little bit of research on them so I could know more about them. What really made me want this car was the fact that it was an LX body style and a coupe. They are hard to find(at least in my area) and that is what I really wanted.... I took the drive this morning and as soon as I saw it I knew that this was the one. It's not a perfect car. My main concern was it having a straight body, little rust and ran good mechanically, little to no mods. All of what this car has. I have not taken any pictures of the car but here are some the previous owner took. He also had another set of wheels and tires. The tires on the other wheels were a lot newer. Since I had to drive 180 miles back home I did not want to risk driving on tires that are cracks in them. The wheels that I have are silver.....




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[elmillgoa]

The pictures don't work

 

[Ant85]

Forgot to post my questions...

1. On the way home it started raining then raining harder and harder. Wipers stopped work. After tapping on the motor they began working again. I know I need a new motor, but while I was under the hood I noticed there was a smaller plug that looked like it was supposed to be plugged in somewhere, but couldn't tell where. The plug was grey and had to holes. I will post a picture once it stops raining.

2. The previous owner said it felt like it had gears installed but was not sure which one. The speed odometer is about 10mph off. It reads too high. The RPM gauge seems accurate so when I am doing 75(reading 85) the RPM's are a little under 2,500.

3. On a cold start it will shut off if you don't rev it up a little. I had to rev it up about 5 times just giving it a little gas, then it settled in at normal idle. IAC cleaning? I will probably change the plugs and wires in it soon, but I did notice that at stop lights or if I was sitting for a couple of minutes it would idle good, then kinda sounded like it had a cam in it. It didn't feel rough or anything. Just had a slight cam sound to it.

 

[Ant85]

 

[88LX5.Oh]

The car looks pretty clean

 

[jcgafford]

#3. Drop the codes for key on engine off and key on engine running. Post your results

 

[aar0s]

No pics of it but ill bet the little gray plug is one of the ODB plugs. Good looking car.

 

[Ant85]

#3. Drop the codes for key on engine off and key on engine running. Post your results

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but wouldn't my CEL be on if there are any codes present? I know the bulb works because it will come on with the key turned on. When car is running the light is not on.

No pics of it but ill bet the little gray plug is one of the ODB plugs. Good looking car.

You are correct.

 

[jcgafford]

No the cel rarely illuminates. But stored codes are most likely there.

 

[mikestang63]

Not all codes will trip a CEL. You need to run the KOEO and KOER codes to see if there are any issues with the car before chasing down problems. All you need is a paper clip and count the number of times the CEL blinks as you are running the tests. There is a writeup in the tech section sticky that shows you how to run the codes by jrichker.

 

[Ant85]

Okay thanks. I will try to get that done tomorrow after work and post back.

 

[Ant85]

I have codes 41, 91 and 96

41 - System Indicates Lean -passenger side(R), No o2 Sensor Switching Detected. always lean -passenger side(CM)
91- o2 Sensor Circuit Indicates Lean -driver side(R), No o2 Sensor Switching Detected. always lean -driver side(CM), Shift Solenoid 1 Circuit Failure (O)
96- Fuel Pump Circuit Open-Battery To PCM (CM,O)

 

[jcgafford]

O2 sensors me thinks

 

[aar0s]

Check the O2 wiring to make sure some vermin hasn't had them for lunch then the fuse, if they are fine then change the 02's (they are probably originals, have fun with that) and clear the codes, dont know about the 96 code though.

 

[Coops79]

Mine had/has the wiper issue also. On mine it's the motor. If you hold the top connector tight against the case it works. A couple big tie wraps fixed mine for the safety... And I still haven't bought a new one. I don't drive it if the forecast is for rain though

 

[Mustang5L5]

I have codes 41, 91 and 96

41 - System Indicates Lean -passenger side(R), No o2 Sensor Switching Detected. always lean -passenger side(CM)
91- o2 Sensor Circuit Indicates Lean -driver side(R), No o2 Sensor Switching Detected. always lean -driver side(CM), Shift Solenoid 1 Circuit Failure (O)
96- Fuel Pump Circuit Open-Battery To PCM (CM,O)

Clear the codes first...and then rerun them.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Usually a code 96 causes no drivability issues.

 

[mikestang63]

jrichker has a good writeup on how to test the O2 sensors. It may be in the archives as a sticky. If you need to replace them, invest in the O2 removal socket as it has the slot in it for the wire. You can also use a 7/8" wrench.

 

[Ant85]

Thanks I will go look for that thread. I was already thinking about replacing the O2 sensors just because I don't know when the last time they were replaced at. Could bad O2 sensors be causing the idle problem I am getting on start ups when it's been sitting over night or for many hours? I also noticed sometimes at idle at stop lights the idle drops down to about 600RPM. I tap the gas and it comes back up a little and stays but will go back down. As much as I want to start spending money on go fast parts I want to make sure the car is running properly before doing anything else. I also noticed that today when I got on the gas pretty good it felt like it wanted to stumble a little.

So far I will be ordering new plugs and wires, fuel filter, O2 sensors, clean the k&n filter, clean IAC, TB, do you guys recommend fuel injector cleaning that you dump in the tank? I also have one of those drip lines that can be attached to a vacuum line, but afraid to use it on an older car because I've seen it cause more problems. Am I missing anything else?

 

[hoopty5.0]

As far as I know, O2 sensors are not used on cold start-up. Until the engine warms up, the computer runs in a "closed loop" mode. Once at operating temp, it switches to open loop and reads the 02 sensors to achieve the magic 14.7 AFR that narrow band sensors are used for. So no, you cold idle issue shouldn't be O2 sensor related.

Yeah, I've done a lot of reading on mega squirt. I could be wrong, and some please correct me if I am.