Cobra lost power after installing Crane 2031 cam

[StinkinLincoln]

good luck on that lol

besides they wont know what to so w/ aftermarket stuff, it freaks them out lol

i would say its just the cam causing thos problems...my cam gave me problems, and after my plugs got some fuel soaked on it, it wouldnt start, but u replaced them already. try leaning FP and richening it, hard starts after warm are common. only thing that can fix that is a tune.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

good luck on that lol

besides they wont know what to so w/ aftermarket stuff, it freaks them out lol

i would say its just the cam causing thos problems...my cam gave me problems, and after my plugs got some fuel soaked on it, it wouldnt start, but u replaced them already. try leaning FP and richening it, hard starts after warm are common. only thing that can fix that is a tune.

The cam isn't the problem. When the car was running it idled perfectly and gave me no other problems. I really don't think my A/F ratio is all that far off. It seems to be a coincidence that this problem happened around the same time. The tech said I'm not getting any juice at the distributor and they think it's the stator. He couldn't guarentee that this would fix the problem, but I'm getting voltage everywhere else. He did ask me if the PCM was messed around with and I told him that the other shop didn't seem to be carefull with it. I told him I checked it and didn't see any broken wires or bad connections. He said he would check it anyway. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

try leaning FP and richening it, hard starts after warm are common

I really don't think that screwing around with fuel pressure on these cars is a good idea unless you do it through the computer via a custom burnt chip on a dyno. You might be able to get away with that crap on a fox body, but I've heard so many negative things about it for our cars. Besides, I need this thing running to get a dyno tune.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

Well it looks like the stator fixed the no starting/stalling out problem, but now there is yet another problem.

I noticed a few days after I had the cam replaced my car was leaking a good bit of oil. More than usual. I just thought maybe since it's warmer out now that maybe my drain plugs needed to be tightened. The tech at Ford just told me that he's afraid to test drive the car after replacing the stator because it's leaking a lot of oil from the back of the engine. He doesn't know what it is yet, but he has to drop the transmission to look at it. Now I am thoroughly pissed! The stator problem was just a coincedence to the cam swap.

So far since I had this cam installed I had to replace or had problems with:
1. The fuel pressure regulator ----$46
2. Had two decent sized scratches on my hood
3. Now have a serious oil leak

You had better believe that the other shop is going to cover the bill for this. The owner is going to get a big earfull today, along with a bill that's probably going to be more than what he charged me to install the cam.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

The oil leak turned out to be the lower intake manifold gasket which wasn't centered properly.

 

[WhiteCobra95]

I'm glad to hear it's not stalling and finally it's starting better. The stator failing is a pretty bad coincidence. Keep us posted on how you like the cam!

As far as the oil leak, I was going to suggest checking the PCV valve and the intake gaskets. Usually a knowledgable engine builder skips the cork or rubber seal that runs along the china rail at the back of the block, and just uses a 1/4" - 3/8" blob of RTV. The solid gaskets can keep the manifold from sealing up against the cylinder head, and sometimes they slide out which sounds like a possibility in your case. If they didn't get he intake sealed up correctly, the shop should definately cover the cost!

 

[StinkinLincoln]

I bought a reman dizzy, it lasted 3 mins lol
yea i nuts trying to figure that out..replaced my tfi and that didnt fix it so i put the old dizzy in and it fired up, i was mad! lol

i had a rear intake leak i just fixed on mine, i used the cork, but used the black rtv, its sticky stuff so it wont go anywhere im n/a no its not a big issue.

THERE IS NO WAY TO ADJUST FP WITH THE PCM THAT I KNOW OF, there might be, but im not 100% since i havent looked for it lol i got an adj. reg. so i never had a need for that.

 

[SVTtripleblack]

I'm glad to hear it's not stalling and finally it's starting better. The stator failing is a pretty bad coincidence. Keep us posted on how you like the cam!

As far as the oil leak, I was going to suggest checking the PCV valve and the intake gaskets. Usually a knowledgable engine builder skips the cork or rubber seal that runs along the china rail at the back of the block, and just uses a 1/4" - 3/8" blob of RTV. The solid gaskets can keep the manifold from sealing up against the cylinder head, and sometimes they slide out which sounds like a possibility in your case. If they didn't get he intake sealed up correctly, the shop should definately cover the cost!

Thanks I appreciate the good words. It hasn't been the best couple of weeks for me and my car. lol
Yeah it was one heck of a coincedence. I called the other shop about paying for the repair of the gasket and he gave me a ton of hassle about why I didn't call him right away. He said they guarantee all their work and would have towed it up and fixed it. I told him that I wasn't impressed with his shop and I really didn't want them touching the car again. Besides, the stator problem wasn't something they did anyway, but the leaky gasket was. I didn't know how bad it was leaking oil untill I got it into the dealer. I got them to pay for half of it, which is ok with me because I don't to deal with them ever again.

When the car was running, I loved the cam. I was suprised by how good and lumpy the idle sounded for such a mild cam. I also picked up a bunch of midrange and topend power without losing any lowend . I love it. That was even with my car running 12.3 to 1 A/F ratio. After I replaced the FPR it felt even stronger untill the car took a dump on me.

I bought a reman dizzy, it lasted 3 mins lol
yea i nuts trying to figure that out..replaced my tfi and that didnt fix it so i put the old dizzy in and it fired up, i was mad! lol

i had a rear intake leak i just fixed on mine, i used the cork, but used the black rtv, its sticky stuff so it wont go anywhere im n/a no its not a big issue.

THERE IS NO WAY TO ADJUST FP WITH THE PCM THAT I KNOW OF, there might be, but im not 100% since i havent looked for it lol i got an adj. reg. so i never had a need for that.

Yeah, I asked about replacing the entire distributor to see if it would be cheaper, and the dealer said they don't deal with remanufactured ones, and a new one would have been at least $100 more than just replacing the stator. He said the rest of the dizzy seemed to be in great shape.

Hopefully they will use rtv on the intake, but at least if the car leaks oil again, I know it will get fixed for free with no hassle this time.

When I said adjusting pressure, I meant adding more fuel through the pcm, not increasing pressure. That I know can be done.

Thanks for the help again guys. And sorry if this has been a very long, boring post. lol. I should change the title of it to "Cobra lost power after Crane 2031, then gained power, then took a crap on me."