I've got a 1985 Thunderbird Turbo coupe that I've just finished putting a couple thousand dollars worth of work on, only to have the engine develop "issues."
The car was a Florida car originally, so there is almost no rust, but the vehicle needs a complete paint job. There are only two small dings in the entire vehicle. Nearly perfect as far as body work goes.
The car was having the engine rebuilt in Michigan, but I had to move to Florida very suddenly and the mechanics up north couldn't finish the job in time (just connecting the clutch cable and a handful of other things. Long story short, my newly rebuilt engine got moisture inside and the mechanics here say it has gotten pretty heavily oxidized inside from sitting for a month or so while I've been busy with work. How easily this could be cleaned up is anybody's guess.
The car is between 75-80k miles on it (I don't have the car here as I'm at work, I'll post the exact number for whoever wants to know.)
The interior is red. I've got replacement parts for almost everything that is plastic in the interior and the parts are near perfect.
The tires on the car have less than 3k miles on them.
Here is a list of a handful of the parts I've replaced in the past year: List of new parts: Gas Tank Fuel Pump Distributor VAM Fuel Pressure Regulator Fuel Injectors Heater Core ECM IAC Coil Pack Starter Solenoid and much more!
I just don't have time to work on an "old" car, and I need to put the money into something newer for my girlfriend.
Asking price $1k, located in Englewood, FL. Taking reasonable offers for the entire car before parting it out. Email rs1sensen (at) yahoo (dot) com for pictures, or I'll post some later. (sorry, at work right now).
I tried checking for codes, but it's not even throwing me a confirmation code or anything, which is odd. But, my connector was pretty gummed up (I did clean it as good as I could) and just about anything wiring is suspect. I used two engine code readers that had previously been used on the car and it has always worked in the past.
I'm not seeing any wiring issues offhand with a quick glance, just saying it's a possibility on this car. So...either it's related, or it's unrelated. I plan on checking the VREF signal a couple places next, as I've had a faulty sensor pull down the computer before (although in that case, the car wouldn't run at all).
I just pulled the IAC Valve and cleaned it out with some sensor-safe cleaner.
Checked the voltage at the TPS .96. I ran through the full motion of the throttle and it was very even throughout.
So here's where I'm at...
Timing is very very close to 10btdc TPS reading .96, shows a steady increase and decrease through range
Idles at almost exactly 1000 RPMs when first started, or if you let it sit for a while.
IAC valve cleaned Throttle Body Cleaned Entirely new fuel system just about everywhere (pump, filter, injectors, tank, and as of a few months ago, pressure regulator.)
I can't find any vacuum leaks, and neither can a shop.
Lol, yes, it has started to act up quite a bit. For example, after driving on the highway and then coming into the city where I have a stop lights, I have to sit at the stoplight revving the engine to keep the car running. If it weren't for that, yeah, I'd just skip neutral!
This problem has plagued my '85 Tbird TC for about a month, and I'm running out of ideas to fix it...
When I put my car in neutral while moving, the RPMs fall significantly below idle and then the engine usually catches itself and after about 5-10 seconds idles normally.
If I do this at high speed (say 40 mph +), the RPMs fall to the point where the engine stalls and dies. If I do it at 25-40 mph, it will go down about 200-500 RPMs and then catch itself. If I do it at 15-20 mph, it will be just barely noticeable, and anything slower than that I can't notice it. It will also do this to some extent when I'm stopped if I rev the engine up really high and let it off, but it is far less noticeable.
This car has had extensive work done to it in the past 6 months. Most recently, I had the fuel injectors replaced, throttle body cleaned, IAC valve cleaned, and the vehicle searched for vacuum leaks. (most of that in search of the solution to this problem as well as to improve the general performance of the vehicle.
A week before that, I also had a new fuel tank, fuel pump, and fuel filter installed.
I've got a very small leak on the back of my ler, no cat, and no other exhaust leaks I can find. I am getting a lot of black carbon out of the exhaust, but I have been running some fuel system cleaner through it. Also, the car sat for like 8 years before I got it, and the original cat became clogged and really gunked stuff up. I had all of the upper engine gaskets replaced, as much as we could get to cleaned internally, and the cat cut off at that point.
Timing is very close to 10btdc. Could be 9.5, but just about right there. I double checked, no vacuum leaks that I could find with a can of carb cleaner.
I tried checking for codes, but it's not even throwing me a confirmation code or anything, which is odd. But, my connector was pretty gummed up (I did clean it as good as I could) and just about anything wiring is suspect. I used two engine code readers that had previously been used on the car.
Other than this, the car has plenty of power and runs fine down the road.
Thanks for the help!
Here's the master list of what I've replaced in the past 6mo: FUEL SYSTEM Fuel Pump (twice) Fuel Pressure Regulator Fuel Tank Fuel Injectors
ASSORTED FILTERS Fuel Filter (twice) Air Filter Oil Filter (several times) Oil Filler Cap PCV Valve
HOSES/COOLANT SYSTEM Nearly every Vacuum Hose Every Coolant Hose Heater Core (twice)
SENSORS AND COMPUTER STUFF Engine Control Module (ECM) Vane Air Meter (VAM) Idle Air Control Valve (IAC) Oxygen Sensor
STARTING SYSTEM/ELECTRIC/Misc. Spark Plugs and Wires (Motorcraft) Starter Solenoid Coil Pack Distributor TFI Module Distributor Cap and Rotor Battery Timing Belt EEC Relay Ignition Switch Tires Front Brakes Brake Master Cylinder (had previously been damaged) Front tie-bars Every gasket from the head up
Got the stereo partially working. Tried another fuse and it came right on. The other fuse looked ok, and I never heard it pop, but it may have been defective from the start.
There is still some sort of a short in the antenna circuit, as the fuse blows out every time I push the power antenna button. That should be a fun one to find...
I believe my '85 Tbird Turbo Coupe had the premium sound package in the factory, as there was an amp in the trunk and the speakers say "Premium Sound" on them. (although there are no speakers in the doors. Not sure if this was normal or if they were removed at some point). The amp has since been removed and a late '90s CD player was installed when I got the car.
While driving, my radio reception wasn't great and I hit the switch to raise the antenna, which I noticed wasn't all the way up. Suddenly, I heard a pop and the antenna and the radio went dead.
I checked the fuse box and the fuse was blown. However, neither the antenna nor the radio work at all anymore. Is there another central point where they share a circuit? Where are the grounds in the system?
The coil wire was just off at that moment. It went back on right after the photo was taken.
I went through and verified that I had the rotor on the distributor right where it should be at TDC. The car really really wants to start now.
I had a hunch I may have worn down the battery trying to start it off and on so many times the past couple days, so I took it to Advanced Auto and had them test it. The CCA was slightly higher than the battery was rated at, but the voltage was low. It's going on a trickle charger for the night to see if the voltage improves, otherwise I'm going to try some more diagnostics with a new battery on Friday.
I recently replaced my distributor on my 1985 Tbird Turbo Coupe, but now can't get the vehicle to run. I've got a hunch I may have somehow switched up my spark plug wires.
Could someone please check my attached picture, and tell me if I have put them in the correct locations. The numbers on the image indicate the number of the spark plug wire.
