These may be the dumbest questions you have heard all day!!

[mustangillusion]

Ok im having some problems with my stang. 1st problem. when you grab the wrong gear, like say you need 2 and grab 3, just for instance. When the car bogs from the incorrect gear the engine will pop. It use to do it alot...well when my friend drove anyway. He's not very good with a stick. He wont crash it but not very good at selecting the right gear. So it pops when it has a load on it. IM pretty sure its timing. I bumped the timing to what I thought was 14 deg but my timing pointer has been bent before so im not real sure if its correct. So I got it to 14 deg and then put in computer chip that ive had lying around for a while. It got better Now only pops every once in a while. Do you think I need more or less? My mods are e303, ported 37te's, gasket matched upper and lower, & full exhaust.

Problem # 2. Kinda sounds like its loading up a bit. May be timing as well. when your just barely into the throttle at low rpm's the exhaust kinda sounds like its gurgling, but when you get on it, it cleans up. cap and rotor are new plugs are new. But here is what I think is the problem oNe of my plug wires got close to the exhaust and melted the wire seperator that I had on my wires. Didnt seem to damage the wire but it was about a half inch away from the header. I took it off along with another one an with an ohm meter checked the resistance of the two. the one that got close to the header read 7 ohms and the other one read 7 ohms. So seems to me its ok? Im open to any suggestions.

 

[mustangillusion]

ttt

 

[Mustang5L5]

Does it pop like a backfire, or does it stumble like a misfire??


If it's a misfire, what kind of plugs are you running and how new are your wires??? Tru to look at your engine running in PITCH BLACK and see if you notice electrical arcing on your wires (light blue glow)

 

[mustangillusion]

It pops like a back fire. I already advanced the timing a little but like I said my timing pointer was bent at one time and may not be reading correctly.

Im running motorcraft plugs (awsf42c) which are new put in yesterday. Plugwires are double silicon which are an autozone brand, new at time of build 2 months ago. I didnt notice the gurgling sound coming from the exhaust until plug wire got close to the header.

 

[mustangillusion]

It has also kinda seem to always have a misfire. Im not positive it is misfiring but the engine doesnt run smooth, but it could just be the cam. The idle is pretty steady at 800rpm but the exhaust tone it puts off doesnt seem to have any rythum to it. If your watching the engine as it runs every other second or so it will slightly shake kinda like one of the cylinders is missing.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Well a bent timing pointer is a problem. If you are unable to be 100% sure where your timing is then you don't know if it's too much advanced or retarded. A new pointer is easy to find and that's where I would start.

Also, read the engine codes. '87 GT's do not have a check engine light, but they do score codes. You just have no idea when they are stored due to the lack of a functional light. You can either buy a code reader, or use this link to read them yourself.

http://www.corral.net/tech/maintenance/eecivtest.html

Don't bother going to Autozone and having them read them for you. They will only read the codes if the check engine light is on. Since 87-88 Mustangs with Speed Density do not have a check engine light (but they do have the spot that reads it on the cluster) they will say there are no codes and not do anything for you. Beleive me, been there

 

[mustangillusion]

I will try replacing the timing pointer and see where that leads me.