Off idle stumble when cold..

[knucklehead0202]

It all looks factory so I think it's just the dumbass '90 California version fuck-up is what makes the difference here. I've got a couple manuals i'll dig through when I have some spare time. Gotta make lunches and get the girls off to school now. 2 more weeks of 1st grade!

[gadget73]

1990-91 has the same solenoids as the rest do, but they live on the manifold next to the throttle body instead of on the fender. Same crap, just less vacuum lines to leak.

[knucklehead0202]

Thanks gadget, yeah I have a way of buying the weirdest year of ford possible. There's actually like a weird bracket that's contained by the upper intake plaque to hold all this bullshit. Gonna screw that all up when I slap a different intake on it. Already snagged a typhoon intake for not much more than a goddamn HO upper would've cost me. Going to fuck around with the car on Saturday after getting it serviced and going to the pistol range to blow off some steam. Gonna make a day of it, doing shocks on my brother's '02 F-150 Harley-Davidson too, which is a badass truck. Who knows, may find some other trouble to get into.

[knucklehead0202]

So after dicking around chasing vacuum leaks on Saturday, I found one and fixed it. Still had the high idle problem. So after a few beers and some thinking, I yanked off the new IAC I'd put on and stuck the original back on there. Voila! No more high idle. Just fired up the car this afternoon and threw it into gear cold, no surge! I'm a fucking genius! Here's a question though. I capped the bottom-front port on the vacuum tree because the line had broken off. Took me a while to find where the hell it went because it bonered itself up under the cowl when it broke. It's a white plastic line that goes through a grommet in the firewall and somewhere up under the dash. I didn't go to great lengths to find it because I was tired and everything on the car seems to work fine. The vacuum tree is also in a whorish place on these cars, who's dumbass idea was that? Or is it just a 1990 California thing? Wouldn't bloody surprise me...

[gadget73]

white vacuum line sounds like the one to the parking brake release up above the steering column. If yours doesn't hiss, and it doesn't pop the parking brake when you put it in gear, thats what it are. I find this to be a largely useless feature, and haven't had it for years. Caught the car on fire, that line melted off, and I never put it back.

[knucklehead0202]

Ah now that sounds right. Couldn't really see what the letters on the tree said but I thought it looked like P/B. I knew it didn't stand for peanut butter! I dropped the only vacuum cap I had down somewhere that never hit the ground so I just cut the shitty plastic stuff off the end of the old connector and silicone'd a screw in it. Job done and no more weird shit. Now to get the exhaust on and drive it to Palm Springs this weekend. WOO!

[DerekTheGreat]

Knucklehead, your posts are hilarious..

Gadget, your post reminds me; Ashley's car sometimes hisses in OD and always hisses in drive. Higher the engine vacuum, louder the hiss. If you move the shifter around it gets worse or better depending on where you move it.. The cresent shaped thing near the pedals has been replaced already and this sounds like it's coming from behind the HVAC controls. Any ideas?

[sly]

Check the vent actuators behind the ashtray. I once had one of the hoses drop off from poking around under the dash.
Also, check the hoses to that horseshoe valve. If they're loose they hiss.

[DerekTheGreat]

Thanks Sly, I'll do that! ...this weekend lol

[knucklehead0202]

Derek if you look behind the intake on the driver's side firewall you'll see a grommet with 2 hoses going through it. Mine were black and white. The white one had melted/broken about 2 inches from the vacuum tree, although I hear they usually croak in the dash. Of course the parking brake one was the bottom one on the vacuum tree which requires multiple-bendy wrists and little slender hands with long fingers. I have none of these things, hence I dropped the vacuum cap, about 10 times. It came out the bottom 9 of those times but the 10th was a daisy, lol. Anyhow, if you can, cap off the fucker that goes to the parking-brake at the tree so you don't have to worry about it inside. If you still get the hiss, then you'll have to chase it around the HVAC stuff. I love my fords but I still say "fuckin' ford" every time I work on them. Seems no matter how I talk these cars up and try to take good care of them they still kick me in the balls sometimes. Oh well, I had more problems with my 1 chevy than I have with like 8 fords so I'm sticking to my guns. Well, cars I guess, although I'm keeping my guns too ;D

[DerekTheGreat]

Sounds like that's a job for Ashley then haha. I like me Ferds too but as far as the 80's goes I love the way a GM looks underhood, so much more organized than Ford, which they just seem to have stuff everywhere and lines running all over the place. GM's harnesses are nicely loomed, vacuum lines are short and also well groomed, not to mention you can clearly see and get at just about everything without needing to rip other parts off. We just scooped up a one ton GMC with a 454 and an SM465 sticker-shift trans, I actually am looking forward to working on it this weekend. The Ford? Not so much lol.

[DerekTheGreat]

I finally bought a vacuum pump and tested my EGR. Took at least 10 inches of vacuum until I noticed a change but the idle did deteriorate to the point it almost stalled. Gadget, didn't you say it is supposed to open with a max of 8 inches of vacuum? Should I replace it? At least I know the passages aren't all clogged up.

[DerekTheGreat]

Car still has off idle stumble sometimes and doesn't always gradually decrease the idle speed after starting. Perhaps every 1/10 starts it will drop idle smoothly but mostly starts high, runs there for about 15 seconds then Vooom-Voom-Voom-steady idle

[gadget73]

Full open is 8" of vacuum. Sounds like its sticky. If you shine a flashlight in there, you ought to be able to see the thing moving with an inch or two of vacuum, and it should open smoothly as you apply more. If it suddenly bangs open, the valve is probably packed up with shmutz.

[DerekTheGreat]

Shmutz.. lol. So I can see something moving as apply vacuum? I'll try that again and watch the thing. Thanks gadget