I'm looking for some guidance, as I am new to the 4.6 Mustangs... It might take a good bit of detail to explain my dillema, so please bear with me. I am also new to the forums, so if this is in the wrong spot, or its too long, or anything else is wrong, I apologize! I just dont know what to do, and i really need help! About a year ago, I bought a 1998 Mustang GT. The previous owner had done a good little bit of work to it, including a Vortech supercharger. The car ran great when I bought it, but took a downhill turn shortly after. It started to run very rich, leaving black soot all over the rear bumper. And right after that, the coolant crossover on my intake manifold decided to crack. I replaced the intake with an aftermarket (OEM type) with the aluminum crossover, and integrated o-ring gaskets. Now that was fixed, something else has to go wrong, right? It didn't want to start, and i tried to trouble shoot everything. It ended up that one of the wires to the driverside coil had a bad connection, but during the process of figuring that out, I also learned that my car didn't have the factory computer, and the MAF sensor was labeled for a 96 GT with 36# injectors. I have 42# on my car, so i figured that might be a problem? So I decided what i should do was get a new MAF and get a new tune. I installed a 90mm Lightning MAF sensor, and got my car down the only performance shop around. I know NOTHING about tuning Mustangs, and I assumed the owner of the shop did. I paid about $500 total for a dyno tune, and a little bit of labor that was needed during the process. After that, the car seemed to run GREAT! the numbers werent what i thought they would be (302hp, 360tq i believe). Then the car took another turn downhill. It developed this horrible pinging noise under ANY load in 4th gear! It sounded like it was right under the front seats in both sides of the exhaust. It also started to run rich again, leaving the black soot all over the bumper. my boost gauge wasnt pulling as far on the vac. side as it used to, and wasnt pushing as far into the boost side either. I talked to the guy at the shop, and he said he would take care of me. I brought it up there, left it with him for a few days, and came back when it was done. He told me that "there wasnt much room left to adjust the timing on the computer" so he burned a chip for me to try to counter what the computer was already programmed for. This doesnt sound like the correct method of doing this, but like i said, I took his word for it. So he "retuned" my car and installed a chip, and said he did all he could. Well that left me with a car that still pings in 4th gear, still seems to be running rich, not producing the boost it used to, gets HORRIBLE gas milage, and just doesnt perform like i think it should. That was the last action i could take before deploying to Iraq, where I am currently. That was back in January. I am going to be returning home VERY soon, and I'm REALLY looking forward to driving my Mustang again! And i want to do it at its full potential! What should I do next? The shop I took it to was the only option I had for where i was at the time. When i get back I'll be in FL with more options! Does anyone have any suggestions? any questions? any tips? please help me out with this! What do I do to get my car running right!?... Thanks in advance for your help!
