no throttle response, sporatic idle

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week it was raining, I went to leave my house and my car would barely go. When I give it throttle it falls flat on its face. Having dealt with this on other vehicles I first checked the maf. To do that I just unplugged it from the harness. Runs rich of course(Limp Mode??) but has great throttle response drives fine with it un plugged. Didnt drive much hoping not to wash out my rings. So I bought a new one put it in same thing. Just in case I took it back and got one from a different store but same thing. I can leave it plugged in and take the maf out of line and it runs fine or unplug it and it runs fine. If I understand right, when its not actualy having air flow through it acts as if it isn't there, so same as unplugging it? I pulled the codes and I'm still confused. These are the codes I got.
C 113, 157, 334. R 412, 116 Any clues what to do next? Ive now replaced the ECT and the IAT, as well as almost all vac lines. When I put the car together I did aswap to a T5 when I did I bought a used manual EEC T4MO I think it is. Could this have went bad and caused this?
Its a 94 GT with explorer lower intake, gt40 heads, Trickflow TFS-51402000 cam, and greyhound X-pipe.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


After replacing everything and getting a day off. I had a chance to clear and check codes today. The code I got was C 512. Which reads as EEC battery powered keep alive memory (KAM) test failed. Does this help any to tell me where to look??
 
After replacing everything and getting a day off. I had a chance to clear and check codes today. The code I got was C 512. Which reads as EEC battery powered keep alive memory (KAM) test failed. Does this help any to tell me where to look??

Im stumped as well on your issue, but maybe a wiregoing to the EEC is cut? I would look to see if any critters got in there to make a warm home and messed with anything. You are right though... it doesnt make any sence.
 
I'm throwinga ECT code as well. Its new but not in the stock location because I cant find the fitting for where it should go. the ford dealership says they cant get it either. Ive been told the ECT code might be the real problem?

Also nope cant hardly rev it at all. Ican kinda feather the throttle but cant jusat push it it down andcan only get it to about four grand feathering it. it will sorta drive like that but not really.
 
well i found a big vacuum leak on mine, fixed it, tried to back it up a slight hill to my garage, barely made it to the door and now the thing wont fire. there has to be some kind of bad wiring. i need to know how to pull the codes without the computer...can anyone help me out with that??
 
No the problem is when I got the car. The fitting on top of the tstat housing was ruined and hjad to be replaced. The original had the ect sensor as part of the heater hose fitting. But I can't find one to replace it. The lower intake off the explorer had one just behind the coil below the injectors. I'm thinking that there's not water that runs through that area? I can post pictures later if that would help.
 
No the problem is when I got the car. The fitting on top of the tstat housing was ruined and hjad to be replaced. The original had the ect sensor as part of the heater hose fitting. But I can't find one to replace it. The lower intake off the explorer had one just behind the coil below the injectors. I'm thinking that there's not water that runs through that area? I can post pictures later if that would help.

The ECT just threads into the fitting. The ECT has 3 wires IIRC. The location down behind the coil is the dash gauge sending unit (or should be) and it is a single wire connection. Have you replaced the ECT sensor and/or are you mixing it up with the gauge sending unit? The ECT is located by the bypass hose so it can sense the temperature change as the car warm up. I'm not so certain another location is as effective. This is important as the PCM pulls fuel as the engine warms based on the ECT signal.
 
Actualy my ECT only has 2 wires it was originaly where you stated it to be, the fitting was broken the replacement fitting has no where for the ECT to thread into. The original was T junction this one is not. Im going to rig something at work to replace the original fitting so my ECT will be in the stock location if not the stock fitting since no one can get one for me to replace it. The location where I found a ECT unit was just below and behind the sending unit. Also I found out today the replacement IAT was the wrong one so I will replace it with the correct one. All of my wiring ohms good and appears to be fine.

Also I can believe that the car has not been running correctly due to the ECT not being A. where it should be and B. not sending signal. But the car has been running and driving with it there for months. I'm not sure if that means much but wouldnt I have had this problem sooner if the ECT was the culprit?
 
sounds to me like it is time to reset and start fresh. it's probably air or fuel or spark. i suppose it could be electrical (computer) too, but that would not be the first guess.

and since it seems happier with the MAF disconnected, i'd tend to rule out fuel and spark, leaving air.

it might be something simple like the pcv popping out or the vac hookup to the FPR coming off or something.

i'd start looking for broken or fallen off vacuum tubes by spraying around the intake with a can of carb cleaner while idling. if the idle changes, then you are close.
 
I pulled the upper intake off to replace vac lines. Tommorow morning I will reasemble and try that and see if there is something simple I missed I hope so. weird how it happened ran fine that night didnt the next morning. Ill have the ECT fixed as well tomorrow I was able to rig a fitting here at work that will do just the trick. I do have what looks to be a vac line coming out of the fire wall but can find nothing it connects to. Im not sure the vac lines on the upper intake are correct they somehow look wrong to me. but still them being wrong wouldnt cause a all the sudden problem? So looks like your right time to get some carb cleaner and do some spraying.

This car was a mess when I got it all sorts of none OEM fixes.
 
After replacing everything and getting a day off. I had a chance to clear and check codes today. The code I got was C 512. Which reads as EEC battery powered keep alive memory (KAM) test failed. Does this help any to tell me where to look??

Does the car have a chip. I think that's the code it always throws when you put a chip in there. The ECT is suposed to be in the heater core rail.

Kurt
 
Its not chipped. One of the super awesome fixes it had when I got it had done away with the heater rail I havnt been able to find one. I didnt know the ECT was supposed to be part of it or I woulda looked harder. Mine had the ECT screwed into the side of the hose nipple.
 
If you buy this water outlet, it has a place to screw it in. It's also made of iron, so it never warps.

Buy Factory Air Water Outlet 84884 at Advance Auto Parts

It has to be in a place where there is constant water flow, so the back of the intake won't work. Having it in an adapter can also cause it not to work. It really has to be submerged in the water flow.

Kurt
 
Yup the adapter I made puts its sensor end directly in the flow of water. All I did was add a T to the hose nipple. I didnt mess with it today but will get it installed tomorrow. Im sure Im missing something but where would it screw into that outlet? I'll also be going all over with some carb cleaner to see if I can find whats causing it not to idle or drive