88' Wagon.... Hot Problem

[88squire]

Alright here's the deal.... I've had my wagon since last December and have done the following.

Replaced transmission- due to TV bushing failure.

New brass freeze plugs in back of heads.

Tune up- plugs, wires, cap and rotor.

New fuel filter.

Drop fuel tank...nice and shiney, clean as a whistle.

New vac lines under plenum.

New TPS.

New TFI module.(duralast)

Found leaky block freeze plug (middle, under motor mount)Cleaned it up the best I could with emery cloth and brake cleaner and mashed it full of stick epoxy.

Two new brass block freeze plugs.(Rear right &left)


First my tranny loses overdrive, then third... found a 91 mustang tranny w/90k. Replaced. New brass TV bushing and freeze plugs while tranny was out.

Next, tune up.... Running better.

Fix vac leaks... Running much better.

Start having idle issues and random stalling at stops.... Replace TPS...seems to fix problem.

About a month ago I parked after about a 40min. trip and when i started the car it idled down and started running at a very low idle like it was running on 4 cylinders or something and the exhaust smelled of fuel. If i touched the gas it would die immediately. I would start it back up and it would barely fire and start running like piss until it would die. It took about 15min. of starting it and letting it idle then die, idle, die...before I could give it any gas to get it moving down the road. Once going I only had to drive it a mile to a friends house. After a couple of hours it started and was back to normal.

So researching around here I come to the conclusion of TFI. Replaced TFI and it seems to be running better but not right still.

Now this is an everyday occurrence. I leave for work in the morning and shes running alright. By the time I'm almost to work it starts bogging, bucking and missing on acceleration. I have to feather the gas and it will stop missing, press the gas, same thing, bogging/missing.

After it sits all day at work, starts up normally. Halfway home... same thing.

When its running it dosen't stall, just runs horribly as aforementioned. If I start it after its hot it will barley idle(blub blub blub) and die if I touch the gas.

Would a clogged PCV screen cause any of this? My valve is fine, I can hear the ball moving inside.

Maybe fuel pressure regulator or weak pump? ECT sensor maybe?

[91waggin]

Something to remember about the TFI: The stuff they give you to smear on the side of it is dilectric grease. This is the wrong stuff. Use thermal paste (like on a computer's cpu) and smear it VERY lightly. Also, get a Motorcraft TFI if you can.

MAP and ECT both control mixture. ECT you can test, but MAP is pretty difficult to test without extensive bench equipment.

ECT would make sense since the problem is temp dependent. Here is the test chart for it.

[88squire]

Will have to do this tomorrow. The ECT only has one wire so I guess it must be a chassis ground? So do I check the resistance between the wire terminal and the brass base?

[91waggin]

What you're looking at that only has a single wire is the sender for the "engine" light. The ECT has two wires; it's on the water neck coming off of the engine block.

[GM_Guy]

The one wire coolant sensor is for the idiot light, it is not the ECT.

ECT is on the left side, in the heater hose pipe, 2 wires.

Alex.