87 marq with little power

[donaldderby]

ok guys i technically have two problems here first my g/m seems to have no power compared to other g/m and c/v's ive had. meaning i punch it and it dosent so much as chirp the tires. the car is well maintained and low mileage (48000) original. the second is if i touch the brakes while taking a corner the steering wheel will lock to what ever angle it is at, it dosent do this when traking straight though. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks for the time.
Cpl donald e derby
usmc/0331

[1987cp]

Do you know what rear gears you have? They can make a big difference in off-the-line performance. Also, single-exhaust cars are down about 15hp from the factory compared to dual-exhaust cars. Not a huge difference, but enough that you'd feel it if going from a dual car to a single.

I'll have to let someone else have a more serious shot at the steering problem .... sounds like something must be binding up when loaded in a certain way, perhaps tie rods, idler arm, or maybe even the steering box itself? I don't suppose it happens more often when turning in one direction than the other, or is it all the time in both directions? Definitely sounds like a thorough frontend inspection is in order - suddenly losing your steering ability sounds scary!

[gadget73]

Sounds like your brakes are locking up ?? If the car has 48k, I'd pretty much guarantee you're running on original brake hardware that needs attention. Sticking calipers, rusty slide pins, and bad wheel cylinders contrilbute heavily to easy and unexpected lockups. Also, if the engine is nearly stalling when you hit the brakes, that would make the wheel feel like its sort of locked since you'll lose power steering.

Check the timing, if someone set it wrong, the car will have little power. People do it all the time with Fords, since there is a little jumper that needs to be removed in order to set it. Change the fuel filter and do a tune up too, it might be original parts under the hood.

[donaldderby]

thanks all gadget73 i agree with you as i hooked up a tach and sure enough when i hit the brakes hard the engine almost stalls. 1987cp as far as the rear end goes im told they are 3.55s however they are the same as every othe c/vs and g/ms ive driven with the exception of an 89 interceptor with the 5.8. thanks again for the help. also does anyone know of a competiant ford mech around jacksonville, nc?

[1987cp]

Locking brakes should never make the engine stall unless you've swapped to a stick shift.

3.55 rear gears were actually quite uncommon; 2.73 was most common, followed by 3.08 and 3.27, respectively. Early cars sometimes had gears as tall as 2.26:1!

[Heretic]

Unless you are in 3rd or 4th and lock nboth rears up. I have done this on an old Vic when avoiding a deer - slammed them and the rear went a little sideways, check engine light glowing LOL...

[Pesty351]

I though when an engine died when you slammed on your brakes it meant you had a vacuum problem. I don't remember where I heard this.

[gadget73]

it doesn't always mean a vacuum problem, but a bad booster causing a sudden massive leak when you hit the brakes is entirely possible. The motor shouldn't bog down when you hit the brake pedal no matter what gear its in.

[Pesty351]

Thats what I meant by a vacuum problem -a sudden massive leak.

[Heretic]

it doesn't always mean a vacuum problem, but a bad booster causing a sudden massive leak when you hit the brakes is entirely possible. The motor shouldn't bog down when you hit the brake pedal no matter what gear its in.

I think what happened was that, since the trans is locked in 3rd-4th, and I locked up both rears on that instance [The front brakes sucked on that car and did not lock], the sudden stopping was transmitted to the engine. The rear end went sideways from the locked tires, and I had to neutral it and re-start to keep going. It was strange indeed...

[1987cp]

The motor shouldn't bog down when you hit the brake pedal no matter what gear its in.

Oh, right, because it's supposed to automatically downshift, or at the very least automatically unlock the converter clutches so that the converter acts like a converter again.

[85crownHPP]

I work cheap if you feel like coming 2 hours north of the VA border

[Pirate]

Due to the low miles, and old age, this car sat most of the time, compared to a car that's driven daily.

Something I would recommend doing? Getting the fuel injectors professionally cleaned (not the in-tank 'injector cleaner' you get from an auto parts store), via either chemical or ultrasonic means, as the varnish and gunk buildup in the injectors, from sitting may be hideous.

It should be done anyway, regardless of vehicle condition, simply due to the age.

[donaldderby]

I checked for vacumm leaks using the old propane torch method the one discrepency i found was by one of the fuel injectors. Is this a normal spot for a vacum leak and also is it a pita to fix (replace o rings or what ever). Thanks again

[1987cp]

Hadn't thought of injector O-rings, but that's probably within normal parameters for them to need replacing. If you follow Pirate's advice to remove the injectors and have them cleaned, it will be easy to just install new O-rings before reinstalling the injectors.