Satan causes intermittent power loss/bucking?

#61
Okay ... I really, really hate declaring a victory early when I'm not 100% sure I've got the upper hand on things, but ... if this hasn't done the trick, then I'm sure that I'm on the right track.

New IAC (warranty swap) and new TFI module are in. Timing's set to 12* with spout out, running 92 octane (at $2.79 a gallon x 10 gallons, that's only $2 more than I'd normally pay. Why not?), and the cone filter's back on. Going to let the setup "settle in" for a couple of days to see if anything arises.

Drove around for an hour, re-started a few times here and there for good measure, stopped at almost every light I could just to test the idle. Idle is rock solid and silky smooth. Motor roars right up the RPM's without a single ping, knock, rattle, burp, hiccup, fart, stutter, or other obscene bodily function. No backfiring, no power loss ... YET. Again, I'm waiting a couple of days before I even dare to claim that this could very well be the miracle solution to my misery.

Totally irrelevant but amusing side-note: My distributor is GAY. No, seriously. It says so right on the label. Some series of E7-something numbers, then "with module," and right underneath in big huge bold letters ... GAY! No wonder the thing's been acting a bit queer. :rlaugh: Oh, I crack myself up. Anyway...

Distributor shaft still doesn't have any wobble to it, and there's still a proper amount of magnetic resistance when you spin it by hand. No arc-over spots, unusual burn marks, or evidence of other suspicious activity to be found. Getting the dist' back in there was a tad trickier for some reason this time, as it took me four stabs to get the bugger to stop going back in one tooth off. When I finally got the rotor aimed back to cylinder #1, I just re-adjusted the dist' with my old marks, cranked her up, and VOILA! Sitting perfectly at 10* again! (That is, of course, 'till I decided to be greedy and go for 12* ... heh).

I will pull codes again in a couple of days to see if I'm still running lean. If nothing new/exciting arises, then this could very well be it. If not ... umm ... welllllll...
 

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#64
K heres a couple more in thinking on it, Incorrectly gapped spark plugs or fouled plugs can cause this problem. Faulty Ignition system. Pink tacos. Spongebobsquarepants. Farfignuugen. Or my favorite....Guy 1."Whats wrong with the car?" Guy 2. "It's the carburator." Guy 1. "Whats wrong with the carburator?" Guy 2. "It needs a new car."
 
#66
ATF level doesn't apply to a T-5 the way it does in an AOD. The clutch is still quite dandy-good; I can stand on it in 4th or 5th and it doesn't slip at all. Also, a bit of re-adjustment at my firewall seems to have fixed the slight slip I had between really hard shifts - I over-dialed it the other day when compensating for stretch of the new clutch cable, so the disc wasn't engaging fully. (Um ... whoops.)

I'm at 30 miles so far on the new TFI module and IAC. No stumbles, stutters, stalls, surges, or anything of the like (yet). Power on hand is phenomenally better than it's ever been as long as I've had the car. It actually feels like a 14-second car SHOULD feel ... or maybe high 13's, if I can get the thing to hook when I hit the track next spring. Again, I don't wanna declare a victory until I'm 100% certain that this is the deal, but if I still don't have any symptoms by the time I'm through this tank of gas, I'd say I've finally got the Devil licked. Um ... not that I licked the Devil, just that ... uh ... oh, all right. I cut a deal and sold my soul in exchange for his eviction from my car's engine bay. :D

Many, many, MANY thanks to all of you for the loads of information, tips, and suggestions! :cheers:
 
#67
i didnt read the 3 pages of this thread so it might be a late post. But I had similar issues in my 85 and it turned out to be the ignition module. It was partially fried! Not all fried. So it would run one time and the next it would sputter and stall. Sucked. So if you havent, check that out. Good Luck
Joe E.
 
#68
The TFI ignition module was the last thing I changed out. It still tests 100% okay on a bench tester, but ever since I swapped out that ancient hunk o' plastic n' silicon, the car's been running great like never before. I dunno. Perhaps the area of Satanic influence is limited to that one little part, as though the TFI is, in itself, the only portion of the vehicle in which the Devil chose to reside. He is, after all, in the details. :D
 
#71
Advance Auto is regionally located from the Missouri side of Kansas City all the way EAST; everything west of that is Checker Auto. Checker usually runs higher in price for stuffs than Autozone, and AZ's got them for something like $21 for OEM fit or $19 for the "I like to cut/splice my harnesses" universal thing.

O2 sensors in my car are already new.

Not sure about that "Air Adjuster" gig. If the MAF in my car is defective to start with, then I could keep adjusting the snot out of it all day long and never get a proper A/F mix on it. Probably oughtta change out the MAF, itself, first before going that out.

Latest list of suspects:

- MAF sensor
- TPS (even though it reads .99 volts)
- EGR vacuum solenoid
- Engine Coolant Temp Sensor (the one for the ECU, not the gauge sender)
 
#74
It's weird. Swapping the TFI actually did make the whole thing go away for almost a full month before it came back yet again. My girlfriend is nagging me to get over my man pride and just take it to a shop, but I dare not, as I'm sure they'll be all, "You need a new motor, tranny, ECM, interior, paintjob, etc." Just tonight, pulling into my driveway today, about 50 feet short of it, she started bucking and snorting (the car, not my girlfriend) with the surge problem as bad as ever, and the idle is crap. I shut it off, restart it ... POOF! Cured.

Much as I hate to, I just may have to swallow my pride and take it to Earnhardt Ford. I still refuse to let them actually SERVICE the car, but if there's ANYTHING I've missed thus far, there just might be a chance they'll find some glaring problem I've been overlooking all along. I just hate to go throwing away fifty bucks or so to have them gimmie the car back and just shrug their shoulders with befuddlement. Heck, if I didn't have to worry about emissions tests, I'd just convert to a friggin' carb setup, strip off every electronic doohickey I can find, and be done with it. Sensors are, like, evil and stuff. :(
 
#75
Darkwriter77 said:
she started bucking and snorting (the car, not my girlfriend) with the surge problem as bad as ever, and the idle is crap. I shut it off, restart it ... POOF! Cured.
Click to expand...

Same exact thing as me, its happened 3 times already but tonight it happened REALLY bad. I could barely drive it because everytime i came to a stop it barely stayed running on its own, it was surgin like it had a HUGE cam in it, but after 20 minutes of being turned off i started her up and she ran awesome.IDK I guess my stangs posessed too crapola . I got 2 big problem codes Map sensor and maf sensor, two times it did that i swapped in an extra stock maf i had laying around and it Fixed it but after like a week it started coming back. Have u pulled ur codes? if not u definitly should and plus doesnt autozone have a scan tool or if not have advance auto do it. If you have access to another maf i would slap it on and see if that might be ur problem. If you figure this out PLEASE let me know what it was and ill do the same.:nice: Later
 
#76
Thus far, the only codes I've gotten have been two of the same: "Running Rich." Haven't pulled codes for about a week now, but since it seemed more severe last night, I'll dump 'em again and see if anything new is showing up.
 
#77
My horsey just died. :(

This morning, got about 1/2 mile away from the house, and it gave just a few serious bucks/surges before it finally just outright shut down. Crank and crank and crank, no go. I keep a spare module and coil in the trunk, so I swapped those out while I'm on the side of the road. Getting plenty of spark, but apparently no gas.

Ran the codes. I got something like:
10
11
31
91 (or was it 92? I forget...)

... or something like that. I dunno. Brain's fried. Twelve hours of work, lots of walking to/from on foot, opening the store TWO HOURS LATE, etc. In a nutshell, the codes were:
- "System okay" (like hell it is!)
- Running LEAN (went from rich to lean?!? WTF?)
- PFE sensor out of range (PFE? Whuzzat? Pretty Funky Electronics?)

The Code 10 isn't even listed in the book, which was really weird. So, being that the ignition system is 100% new now, and I'm now sitting in the driveway ($54 later for a 1-mile tow fee) with a no-start condition. ONE SUSPECT:

F U E L P U M P.

Promptly placed an order for a 155lph Edelbrock through my store. Gonna hook a fuel pressure gauge to the rail to night to see what pressure (if any) I'm getting when I crank it. I can hear the pump prime itself, but it's noticably louder than my Lincoln's pump and it might not be putting out enough "oomph" to get things running anymore. It would certainly explain the surging/power loss I've been having up until this point, if it was starving it for fuel intermittently, but the last time I checked it, it was still getting good pressure to the rails - never got a measurement from it when it was sputtering and idling weird (things never run crappy when you want them to).

I guess the only good news about all this is now I finally have an excuse to change out my nonfunctional fuel level sending unit. :D
 
#79
if this solves yoru problem, it'll be the first thing i do lol - i replaced all the sensors i could when i built my motor on the engine stand - i got a rebuilt computer from a parts store for 97$ giving them my old one as a core - I have been told to check the voltage on the TPS which is located on top of the throttlebody - i'm surprised nobody said anything here- mine is bran new an came w/ my new throttlebody, but DMAN told me that they are way off from PP and you have to adjust it yourself by drilling the screw holes out bigger, so you can turn it and get the right voltage - good luck man - sorry to hear your havin the same problems as I, but i haven't really started trouble shooting - i lose almost 90% of MY power when i shift into second really hard n fast, it just straight up almost stalls the frig out - but if i gun it slowly, it goes fast - but the bucking is there just driving around at cruising speeds, n ppl told me TPS first - check that voltage across the black n green wires
 
#80
Btw, is the fuel pressure while the car's being cranked (but not yet running) supposed to be the same or lower than that of when it's running at idle? Around 40-ish PSI? Ditto for when it primes the fuel rails when you first turn the key but don't yet actuate the starter?
 
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