Cobra lost power after installing Crane 2031 cam

[SVTtripleblack]

It sounds to me like your EEC had learned out a lot of fuel in the adapatation memory (idle range). This adapted fuel trim is probably also used with the cold start fuel (I don't know the Ford strategy in detail, but this math is fairly common in the industry). This is probably why it ran fine from the shop and got screwy when the EEC was power-failed. Also, engines are much more forgiving when they're warm compared to cold. A cold start is one of the most dynamic conditions in engine operation. Hot restarts also use a reduced amount of fuel since more of the gas atomizes instead of getting lost to cold ports during a cold start. So it might have only ran well on the first day because it didn’t completely cool down.

In additon, WOT AFR is only loosely reated to idle AFR. If he did actually modify your pressure, he might have solved a WOT fueling issue and screwed up idle fuel flow. So much so that you're getting WAY too much fuel to start.

Well I pulled my plugs and they were soaked with fuel. I bought a back up set and installed them and got the car to fire. It only idled for about 30 sec then died again. Just like you suggested, I think my fuel pressure is somehow way to high. I'm going to get a afpr and set it to 40 with vac off and see what happens. I'll only be able to pick that up on Sat. though so I'll let you know how it goes. I really, really appreciate the help guys. I'm going to send the tuner a bill for that afpr. That Jacka--

 

[SVTtripleblack]

Oh, and after washing my car I noticed two light but long (6-8") scratches on my freshly painted hood ( just fixed 2 months ago from my idiot brother in law backing up into it). Luckily I could polish them most of the way out. Man I would ream that shop out if that didn't come out. You live and you learn I guess. Sometimes it doesn't always pay to go with the cheapest shop. Now I know why their quote was $200 cheaper than the others, because they cost me $200 of grief. At least the cam install seems to have been a success. I has a nice mean little chop to it and I noticed some decent pickup in the mid rpm range when it was running. I should be in the 260-270 rwhp range with over 300rwtq after a good sharp tune. It sucks that I have to wait to get it tuned untill this problem is sorted out.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

I couldn't wait for the adjustable fuel pressure regulator so I just went out and got a stock replacement at autozone. You guys are right, there is absolutely no way this thing can be adjusted at all. I don't know what he could have done to this thing to adjust pressure at all. It's one solid piece of metal. I even asked the tuner how he adjusted fuel pressure and what he set the pressure at. He told me he didn't know exactly what the pressure is because he could only keep tweaking the stock fpr untill my A/F ratio was normal. I even said to him that I didn't think it could be adjusted. Now I'm starting to wonder if replacing this will even help. I'll go out and give it a try and let you guys know what happens.

If you have a stock pressure regulator (check!), there is no good way to adjust the rail pressure. It's not technically adjustable. I've seen some people smash the can, thus adding more preload on the spring, which will increase pressure. This is usually done with a socket over the vacuum port and a hammer. This is a total hack and should never be done. You should be able to tell if someone tried this because there will be a whitness mark. I would suggest calling the shop to ask them exactly how they set the pressure. Could the previous owner have installed an adjustable part? Some adjustables do look similar to the stock regulators.[QUOTE/]

He must have hit this thing with a hammer to compress the spring inside! I can see some marks on it. What a knob! Well replacing it should solve my problem. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[rj95svt]

i hope this helps!

 

[SVTtripleblack]

It's Alive!!! The new fuel pressure regulator did the trick. it wouldn't start at first, but once the pressure was relieved from the system it worked.

I wish I didn't have to say this, but here's where it gets bad again. After I got it running, I decided to take my wife out to Dairy Queen, because it was around 80* here in PA, and I haven't gotten to drive the car with the top down since last year. Anyway, a lady parked in front of me backed up into my car and messed up the fresh paint on my bumper. My wife and I were sitting in the car eating ice cream with the igition off. I even slammed on the horn. She was a real piece of trash. She told me that I should be a man and let it go and that people hit each other with car doors all the time in parking lots and bump cars and it's no big deal. She even went so far as to ask me why I felt like I needed a nice car and asked me what I was doing there with it!!! (Her car by the way was a dented up 96 Plymouth breeze). I told her that she is a waste of a human body and people with class don't do things like that, she is a piece of trash, and she is very ignorrant, (followed by a few F words from me). Then she wouldn't give me her insurance info, so I had to call the police. I wanted the cop to breathalize her because I thought she was either drunk or mentally impaired for talking to me like that. He said he didn't smell alcohol on her and that her pupils weren't dialated, so he didn't test her. If I was a woman, and didn't have a newborn baby at home, I would have smacked her right in her disgusting, ignorrant, mouth. Sorry I just needed to blow off some steam.

So now I can't get my car dynotuned because, the insurance adjuster has to come look at the car next week. To be honest though, the car runs really good now, probably just a little on the lean side. I definately picked up some power from that cam.

Sorry for making this post so long, but you guys truely did help me solve this problem. Nothing but good guys on here. (Nothing like that lady).

 

[DDSTANG94]

good to hear u got things goin

 

[The O.G.]

smash the can....there is no smiley to express my thoughts

 

[SVTtripleblack]

The car won't start again. It ran perfect yesterday, but this morning it wanted to keep stalling out. I got it warmed up and took it out on the highway. The car started losing power, and then regaining it again like it was bucking. I made it out onto the highway and it did the same thing, but this time the check engine light would come on everytime the car lost throttle response and then the light would go off when the car regained power. (By losing power, I mean the car felt like it wasn't getting any fuel and then all of a sudden it would kick in again making the car buck.)

Here's what I know:

1. My plugs aren't fouled. They look brand new and don't smell like unburnt fuel.
2. Once in about 5 tries of starting I can hear my fuel pump buzz twice. (I should only hear it kick on once).
3. The fuel pressure regulator is brand new, and seemed to help the problem for a while.

Does the fuel pump buzzing twice maybe mean either the fuel pump or fuel pump relay is bad? Is it easy to replace the relay if that's what you guys think it is? Could the high fuel pressure that the tuner set the car at make the pump or relay go bad?

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

 

[legalize420]

at this point you should pull the codes to see why the CEL came on and hook up a fuel pressure gauge to give you an idea of what the pump is doing.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

at this point you should pull the codes to see why the CEL came on and hook up a fuel pressure gauge to give you an idea of what the pump is doing.

Will any codes show up if the CEL doesn't stay on? I also unplugged the battery to reset the ECU. Will that erase any codes? The only reason I keep resetting the battery is because that's the only way I can get the car to start. Once it starts I have to keep my foot on the gas a little to keep it from stalling out. I'm just going to take it to the shop, because I don't have any way to pull codes. It seems like a fuel problem, but I can't say for sure. Who knows, I might have bad O2 sensors from the previous ultra rich condition. I have about 72,000 mi on the original ones. Maybe they're shot? My car smells like it's running rich (a little smellier than usuall), but I don't have any black smoke coming out of the exhaust.

 

[Xticee]

You don't need any special tools to pull codes, just get a long piece of wire (I use an old piece of electrical wire from a lamp) and connect one end to the negative side of the battery and the other to the serivce port. There are a ton of write ups and explanation how to do this. I forget what it's called, but I think it's a KOEO test (Key On Engine Off). Do a search for it, it's easy once you get t he hang of it and there's a few sites that list all the codes. It will save you a ton of guess work, time, and give peolpe a better idea of what's going on to help you.

Jay

 

[legalize420]

Will any codes show up if the CEL doesn't stay on? I also unplugged the battery to reset the ECU. Will that erase any codes? The only reason I keep resetting the battery is because that's the only way I can get the car to start. Once it starts I have to keep my foot on the gas a little to keep it from stalling out. I'm just going to take it to the shop, because I don't have any way to pull codes. It seems like a fuel problem, but I can't say for sure. Who knows, I might have bad O2 sensors from the previous ultra rich condition. I have about 72,000 mi on the original ones. Maybe they're shot? My car smells like it's running rich (a little smellier than usuall), but I don't have any black smoke coming out of the exhaust.

the codes would still show up even if the CEL doesnt stay on, but disconnecting the battery would clear them. i ended up buying my code reader for about $20 from the parts store. if you do a search there is also a way to pull the codes using a paper clip if you want to try it yourself. what happens when it starts? does it just shut off immediatly. i know you said you opened the throttle blade a little but i would try a little bit more and if it idles too high just back it down to your desidered rpm.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

the codes would still show up even if the CEL doesnt stay on, but disconnecting the battery would clear them. i ended up buying my code reader for about $20 from the parts store. if you do a search there is also a way to pull the codes using a paper clip if you want to try it yourself. what happens when it starts? does it just shut off immediatly. i know you said you opened the throttle blade a little but i would try a little bit more and if it idles too high just back it down to your desidered rpm.

When the car is running, I got it to idle perfectly around 750 rpms and it doesn't surge at all even with the new cam. I tried adjusting the screw to open the throttle plate a little more and the idle increases to around 1,000rpm and the idle is rough and surges a bit. I think it's set at the perfect spot right now. When I try to start the car, sometimes it just cranks and won't kick over (both holding the gas and not) , sometimes it starts then dies immediately. The only way I can get it to stay running is by unplugging the battery overnight and then starting it the next day. It fires the first time I try to start it when I do this. I give it a little gas just as a safety precaution, and when it warms up a bit, I can take my foot off the gas and it idles perfectly. Today I did this and it idled perfectly for about 10min and then died. I wish I didn't clear those codes, but I really don't want to take the car back out on the road and get stranded. I barely made it home last time and it stalled out in the driveway. Do you think it will be hard to diagnose without any codes if I take it to the shop? I'm fairly mechanicaly inclined for not growing up around motorheads, but I'm getting sick of trying different things here.

 

[legalize420]

how old is the distributor?

 

[rj95svt]

I hate to hear about the stupid lady that backed into your car. Some people have no respect for others.

I'm thinking that diagnosing your new problem will be somewhat difficult without being able to pull the codes. It could be a problem with the distributor but without driving the car long enough to get the check engine light to come on and reading the codes anything you replace is just a stab in the dark.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

how old is the distributor?

It's the original one. I thought about something being wrong with that also. It just seems like it should last longer than 70,000 miles.

Will any codes show up if the check engine light doesn't come on? I did get it to idle for 10 min the other day and then it stalled. Maybe that threw a code?
It's just funny that all of this happened after installing the cam. I don't think the new cam would be any harder on the distributor than the old one. I checked all the connections around the distributor and they all seem to be ok.

 

[rj95svt]

It's the original one. I thought about something being wrong with that also. It just seems like it should last longer than 70,000 miles.

Will any codes show up if the check engine light doesn't come on? I did get it to idle for 10 min the other day and then it stalled. Maybe that threw a code?
It's just funny that all of this happened after installing the cam. I don't think the new cam would be any harder on the distributor than the old one. I checked all the connections around the distributor and they all seem to be ok.

It's possible that it did throw a code. As far as the distributor goes if it's bad it was just a coincedence. The cam doesn't put any more stress on any parts except the valve train (ie valves, valve springs, retainers, and pushrods).

 

[legalize420]

so after the car dies it just cranks and wont fire and it only happens after the car heats up right? maybe the PIP in the distributor is on its way out. when mine when out the car would just die out of nowhere and would not restart until it cooled down a bit. happened to me twice in about a two week period before i ended up going to a remanufactured distributor. then again, i dont recall the CEL coming on so maybe you have a different problem.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

so after the car dies it just cranks and wont fire and it only happens after the car heats up right? maybe the PIP in the distributor is on its way out. when mine when out the car would just die out of nowhere and would not restart until it cooled down a bit. happened to me twice in about a two week period before i ended up going to a remanufactured distributor. then again, i dont recall the CEL coming on so maybe you have a different problem.

Usually the car won't start up a second time after I get it to run for a short while. If it does, it's usually only once more and it dies within seconds. Sometimes the car isn't even warmed up to normal operating temp. The car was starting after I replaced the fpr whether it was warm or cold but it only ran right for one day. Maybe I can have the shop try to drive the thing to see if they can get the CEL to come on. That's if they get it started.

The pain in the butt about this whole situation is that I'm keeping the car at my parents house in the garage untill my house is built. They live about an hour away from my apartment, so I can't just go out and work on it after work during the week. I visit them on the weekend and that's the only time I can work on it. So I have to have them call triple A for me and they are busy with their own things. Then this lady hit my car, so I have to get the car fixed so I can go get an estimate for the repair. The whole thing is a pain in the butt. I just don't have the time to check everything on it.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

Well, I had the car towed to the local Ford dealer. Hopefully they can figure out the problem and it won't cost me an arm and a leg.