The 5.0 in the Bird I was trying to bring home yesterday was getting oil in the throttle body, presumably from a tube hooked to the oil filler on the passenger side valve cover. Even after less than a minute of rough running, there was a significant amount of oil in there. Is that tube even supposed to be there? I thought that was the PCV setup.. but in this exploded view on the Haynes manual, it shows the PCV valve at the back of the lower intake manifold. This tube is running from the oil filler neck up to the throttle body. I don't know if this is the correct setup, because I've never done any work on (or even seen up close, for that matter) a SEFI 5.0. (anything I've ever done has been with carbed or EFI 4s and 6s, and carbed V8s like my old '64 FE 390)
The car would take forever to start. When it did start, it had to be restarted several times. Finally it would run long enough for the previous owner to drive it around the block a few times. It would alternate between bogging down badly and running fine. We should have mostly eliminated its other problem (bad gas) by now, since we put a full tank of premium in it and a can or two of injector cleaner, plus a new fuel filter. (the bad gas in the tank was only about 2 gallons)
I *need* to get this figured out before Friday. I need to get it here Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.. because it's parked on the front yard of the seller's neighbor. We don't want to impose on his goodwill for too long. I may end up having to drive this back from Lauderdale, if I can't make towing arrangements with friends. (I am not comfortable with towing anything myself.. not for 180 miles.. and neither is my fiance, who would likely be my second driver in such a scenario) I'm going to ask a friend with an Explorer he claims has the police package in it if he'd be willing to help me tow it back on Friday. If he can't, then I have to figure out how to drive it back here on the weekend.
If I do end up driving it back, I had planned on picking up a fresh set of plugs plus a spark plug socket (don't have one as of now.. had planned to pick one up when I got plugs for my V6, but I keep putting that off in favor of other things) to take down, along with a PCV valve.
Yes the hose is supposed to be from the oil filler to the TB. Blowing oil out of the oil fill usually means one of two things...
#1 the engine has extremely bad rings(does it smoke out the exaust?).
#2 the oil drains in the heads are plugged up with sludge, and the valve cover is full of oil.
A plugged up pcv system can contribute to blowing oil, especially if either one of the above conditions exist.
The PCV is in the rear of the intake and there is a screen under it that is likely plugged with sludge. We just recently had a discussion about it in another thread.
No, doesn't really smoke.. but later in the day when we were trying one last time to get it running, it smelled pretty bad.
I'm not fond of the thought of this next question, but in light of the situation (working on it 180 miles from home, needing to do everything within a few hours, etc.) it's the only option if we can't secure some towing: Is there a quick fix that would allow us to stop the oil blowing long enough to get it through the 2.5-3 hour drive home?
Now that you mention it, there's a problem with oil coming out the valve cover gaskets on the 5.0.. even with the valve cover bolts very loose on my V6, it didn't put oil out like that. Am I correct in guessing that this is another possible symptom of the plugged oil passages?
Another note: The previous owner told me that one mechanic refused to work on the engine because they noted "internal noises" that they thought indicated something too big for them to fix. They also said something about the #7 cylinder.
Just my opinion, but I think you need to try to trailer that bad boy if at all possible.
Around here you can find trailers for $25-$45 bucks a day.
Yeah, I'd prefer towing at this point.. if I can get a friend who's more comfortable pulling a trailer or car over the interstate than I am. But, it might not happen.. so I have to plan for alternatives.
Yea you probably ought to tow it, limping for 50-60 miles is one thing, but 180 is a long way... I'm really doubting this car can take a 65-70mph jaunt up the interstate. But then if it did, it probably ain't that bad off.
Only solution for plugged drains is to remove the valve cover(s) and dig the sludge out. No engine flush is gonna really help, and if it did the sludge would all be in the oil pan to stop up the pump pick up.
You could try to snug up the bolts on the valve covers(don't go crazy), and make sure it can breathe out of the pcv system in the back of the manifold. Ought to help the oil blowing somewhat. Did you note a noise in the engine?? It could have a cracked piston(forgot to mention that one) or ring and blow oil badly.
I think I'd be checking into one of those two wheel tow dollys. I about rented one in Woodbine GA to tow the daughters Mustang back to VA. She had been told the engine was seized up. When I got down there, found the P/S pump had seized. I bypassed the pump pulley with a short belt and drove it back.
Even if you are a little nervous about pulling a trailer you will be safer pulling the car on a trailer than you would be trying to nurse a sick car that distance.
Besides you get the whole trip down to practice with an empty trailer.
Just slow things down and make your turns wide and you will be fine.
Around here the auto hauler only costs $10 more than the 2 wheel dolly (from U-Haul). Well worth it in my opinion.
Would it be a hideously bad thing to try and plug up that hose between the oil filler and the throttle body, and then do everything else you suggested? (new PCV, tighten valve covers)
No, I didn't notice any unusual engine noises. However, I'm not really familiar with how a 302 SHOULD sound under the hood. Once it ran, it sounded fine to me.. no glaring bad noises.
Around 6:30 or so (in about 45 minutes) I'll be calling up the friend I had in mind to try and tow this back. Let's hope his upcoming days off have a few hours to spare.
OK, that friend COULD tow it if we get a dolly or full trailer. His '96 Explorer has the towing package and a receiver hitch. Problem is, he's not off work until Tuesday and Wednesday, (he now has different days off that I didn't know about) and on Tuesday he's having a root cbuttstuff. Still need to get this done as soon as possible, so as not to abuse the goodwill of the neighbor letting this thing sit on his lawn. Wed. is probably pushing it a little, but I think if I let them know well in advance, they may not be bothered much. We'll see.
I have another friend with connections to a local towing company, and I'm waiting for a call back from him.
Getting back to the possibility of having to drive it: (I have to plan for both possibilities) The friend who could possibly tow it also talked about the possibility of the diesel trick.. putting some diesel in the oil filler and running it carefully *just* before having the oil changed. I've seen lots of polarized opinions on that one.. people swearing by it, and people saying it's the dumbest thing you could possibly do. But IF I were to do such a thing, and then drive it to a quick oil change place, do you think the car SHOULD be alright to drive after that, assuming no other problems? (with fresh oil after the diesel trick, a new set of plugs, and a PCV valve)
We both agreed that it's probably not a good idea to drive it while those passages are blocked.. so if I can't deal with that problem, I'll be forced into the towing option.
The other friend brought up paint thinner instead of diesel. However, he also said that he would be hesitant to use it on a car with 167k miles.. that it might wash away a few deposits that would be better off left alone, say in a possible scratch in a cylinder wall or something like that.
Nothing more on the towing front, except to find out that the towing companies here are really slammed right now, probably still hauling away destroyed vehicles from Charley. Took that friend 2 weeks just to get his relative in the towing business to do a favor for him and tow a vehicle out of town, he was that busy. If we do any towing, it'll have to be through the first friend.. who also mentioned a guy at his work might have a dolly.
I have concerns about towing a RWD car on a dolly, though. My friend said tow it backwards and let the steering wheel lock, but I'd be concerned if it didn't lock on dead center. Oh well.. this friend used to be in the towing business, so I guess I should just put faith in his abilities.
Think I'm gonna be a wreck until this car gets here.. I was for the few days between getting the offer and going down to see it yesterday.
In any case io you were to try to flush the engine, the oil pan and valve covers should be pulled immedatly after flushing. I've never seen any of the flushes, diesel fuel, auto trans fluid, etc. really help much on plugged drain back passages in the heads.
May be Ok to plug it up, but make sure the PCV is open in the back of the intake. At any rate I wouldn't do it unless its still pushing oil out after the PCV is open.
Is there any sort of breather/filter I could put on top of the filler neck in place of the screw-on cap that might also help get it going, if I have to plug up that line and drive it?
Are you advocating replacing the PCV for that, or just pulling it out completely and letting it hang?
I probably couldn't just crack open the valve covers right there on the spot, if it's still over in that guy's yard/parking area. It would make a hell of a mess if oil really is backed up in there.. and if the flush didn't help, as you apparently suspect it wouldn't, the oil would still be in there. (plus the diesel, or whatever is used) I'd have to be REALLY careful if I did it.
Oh, one other thing that seemed to make a difference to at least one friend I talked to: The engine looks to be a bit over-full on oil. A significant amount past the max mark. Not sure that that will change your outlook on the situation, but felt I should throw that in there anyway if I hadn't already.
Well, towing it ourselves got eliminated. We're going to try and see if we can get AAA and/or Allstate Motor Club to assist on this, but some or all of the trip may be driven yet.
I was thinking of asking the seller if he could pull the PCV valve and try it again, just to see what happens.. but I don't know if he is knowledgable enough on the engine to find the PCV valve, even if I tell him where to look. (I haven't even seen it myself on that engine, although I know the diagram says it's in the back) Would running it with the oil filler cap off act similarly to uncorking the PCV?
Also, can I just take that tube off, (the one squirting oil into the TB) or ask him to try it without the tube, or should the throttle body end be blocked off? (or both, for that matter) I would think blocking it off is the way to go, but I just want to make sure.
Assuming he's still willing to try and get it towed to the halfway point, this will be good for me. Crossing Alligator Alley is the biggest concern with the car.. only 2 exits on a 90 mile stretch of road, not including rest areas. Once it's past that, it'll be at least close to civilization if something goes wrong.. if I have to drive it back.
Planning this has been a nightmare. I probably lost a good 2 hours' sleep last night just laying there dreading, err thinking about this.
One other thought: Do you think it would make any difference to do an oil change beforehand and swap to the thinnest possible oil we can get? (like 5W30, or even 5W20 is available)
I ask because I see there are "flushing oils" meant to be used as a prep for switching from normal oils to synthetics. (because synthetics can often dislodge deposits) Those oils are rated from 0W20 to 0W40. 0W20 is too thin to run the engine on at temperature, but 0W40 can handle it. However, using a flushing oil (even for the recommended 20 minutes and changing oil again to a normal one) may remove deposits that shouldn't be removed. So I'm thinking 5W30/5W20 along the same lines as using a blood thinner on someone with clogged arteries.
I'm thinking about this as an alternative to one of these flushing methods, which I really don't feel comfortable with.
I'll still pick up a PCV valve and a set of fresh plugs.. and I'm thinking of picking up a cheap oil breather filter to stick on the spot off the filler neck where that tube runs to the throttle body. (and plugging the TB end of the tube) If the PCV valve replacement doesn't improve the situation, then I'd throw the breather on there. I know it's sort of redundant under normal conditions.. but these aren't normal conditions. :shoothead
Maybe I'll just try to get it across the Alley and then have it towed the rest of the way, if I sign up for Allstate Motor Club or AAA tomorrow.
OK, I'm going so stir-crazy that I decided to go to the Super Wal-Mart at 2 AM (EDT.. heh.. time change *just* happened) and pick up some parts. Got 5 quarts of Valvoline 5W-30 and a cheap filter, (but may still get some 5W-20 pending an answer on the partial-flush thing above) a drain pan, a PCV valve, a filter wrench, a spare funnel, some hose clamps, (ya never know..) etc. Still need to pick up spark plugs, a gapper, and a spark plug socket tomorrow.. since Wal-Mart only had 6 of the proper plugs. But at least I did SOMETHING.. which helps a little bit. (knocking off every sample bottle of liquor in the house just before bed might help, too.. heh)
Our Wal-Mart had the breathers, but I decided to hold off on getting one.. if our Super Wal-Mart has one, then I'm sure another Super Wal-Mart down there will also have one. I'm hoping to be able to skip that with just changing (or removing) the PCV valve.
I need to get this all figured out by about 3 PM today. (Sunday) Going to see if there's a way a friend and I can get down there right around 7 PM, so we're not waking anyone up trying to get this thing running. If not, I'll have to have it taken care of (possibly with a second nearly 400 mile round trip) Monday somehow.
On a side note: Does anyone know if AAA can do monthly billing? Allstate Motor Club said they would.. but they're like $139 a year.. AAA Plus is $90. Plus, with Allstate, you have to pay the tow truck driver up front and file for reimbursp00get. Don't think AAA does the same thing. We used to have Allstate Platinum, but not now.
Yep time changed a while ago. My compute quit keeping time a month or so ago. Says 1:25 PM Wed, guess I should just turn the time off, or I could stick a piece of tap on the right corner to cover it up...LOL
If its over full of oil, I'd at least try to drain it down to the add mark and try it again. Also a oil change couldn't hurt, but I'd put some heavier oil in it (20-50 or straight 30). The heavier oil would help ring seal a little(if thats the problem), a open breather cap could possibly help also. As for the PCV I'd try to leave it in place, but the screen under it needs to be checked as it is likely plugged up(very common). If nothing else you could just poke a screwriver down through it(the screen) to get a opening. I can get a picture in the morning if that would help.
How badly is it blowing oil anyway? You could always put a long hose on the filler neck and stick it into a large jug(antifreeze, gallon oil etc.). Then if it blows oil out, you could pour it back in. Mount it up in front of the radiator....
The AAA just has you sign a form for the driver, then later sends you a bill if you are towed farther than the allotment. Their plus program allows for 100 mile free towing, but I doubt they would honor it if you called for a tow immedetaly after signing up.
The time the daughters Mustang quit, it was in Jacksonville. The EX used her AAA to have it towed up to GA where I picked it up.
Well, after less than 60 seconds of rough running, it had put enough oil in the throttle body to put a line in the bottom of it from the opening to the throttle butterfly itself after I had wiped it clean previously. Yet, it's not bad enough to the point where the car smokes. Go figure. I actually expected it to smoke and it didn't. Yes, I've thought about the long hose thing.. will probably pick up some tomorrow. Any idea what diameter I should pick up for that little connection off the oil filler neck? And what would be the best way to plug the throttle body end of things? A large screw and a hose clamp into a small section of tube, perhaps? I have two small hose clamps in that little assortment I picked up earlier.
Yeah, the heavier oil thing makes sense if it's the ring(s) problem.. but what if it's the clogged oil drainbacks like both you and a local friend also suspected? Wouldn't the lighter oil like the 5W-30 I just picked up (or even the 5W-20, if I either use that as a flush, or baby the engine on the way back) be better for getting through a restriction?
Oh, and yes, a picture would be helpful. Thanks for all the help.. talking this stuff over now is even more help than the actual information. Between this car thing and other real-life stuff denying me sleep, I'm starting to come a little unglued lately. (yeah, more than usual.. ha) I'm not yet to the putting-my-head-through-a-wall phase, but sometimes it seems like I'm getting there.
The intake can be plugged with anything, short piece of hose with a bolt in it would be fine. I believe the line size is prob 3/8" but will double check in the morning. Also I just remembered this.... If it don't smoke like a mofookie when first started after setting over night, then the valve drains probably ain't plugged(oil will seep past the valve stems into the cylinders). Anyway even if they are plugged, oil still gets back to the oil pan through the pushrod openings (after nearly filling the valve cover). I'd still go with the heavier oil.
Wouldn't it be likely to smoke while running if the rings are bad? (thought that was brought up in a much earlier post) I don't know either way on that one. I'll have to ask the seller if it smokes when he fires it up in the morning.
Guess it wouldn't be a problem to pick up some heavier stuff on the way there.
Heres a way that should tell you if the oil drains are plugged. After the oil drains, SLOWLY pour about half pint of new oil into the filler and watch what runs out(leave the oil plug out for this test, also I'd use a empty pan for this). If you get clean oil akmost immedetaly then they are probably OK. If you get mostly dirty oil they are surely plugged(the clean oil will displace the dirty oil in the VC before running out).
We'll try it.
Ok here is the picture of the back of a 5.0 intake(yea thats the top of my foot on the right side LOL). There is a rubber grommet that set in the opening and holds the PCV in place(will pull right out). Under the grommet is a wire mesh screen assembly that gets clogged up with sludge(sorry I don't have one handy). It is the diamater of the hole and approx 1 1/2" thick, you should be able to thread a long sheet metal screw into it and just pull it out. Sometimes they are badly slugded in and you being pressed for time may have to just poke a hole through it with a screwdriver to get it to vent.
The line from the VC to throttlebody is 3/8"....
http://members.pen 15s.net/mr428/PA310156.JPG
EDIT... forgot my 351 Lightning lower still had the complete setup in it...
http://members.pen 15s.net/mr428/PA310157.JPG
A #10x3" wood screw will have to suffice for my screen-puller.. heh.
Time to chug a ton of coffee.. didn't get much sleep again. (other equally annoying reasons)
Awww ..
Going down tonight is a wash. The friend involved has to work late. He won't even get out of work until 7:30, and would need to come back up here (about an hour trip) to take care of some things before going. We wouldn't be able to get down there until close to midnight. I'm not even going to try and work on this car at midnight Sunday with the seller and all his neighbors trying to sleep. This friend is coming over after work tonight so we can sit down and hammer out a final plan for this. We have one new (not thought of before today) option for the possibility of a tow dolly. We're going to follow through on that before trying to drive the car.
One thing to point out about this: We need to be reasonably sure that this car can make it across Alligator Alley if we drive it. Alligator Alley is a toll road, and if the car breaks down and we have to abandon it, they'll tow it immediately and I'll be stuck with over $300 in fines.. (at best) they basically consider it dumping.
Meh.. Sunday's ruined, now Monday's going down the tubes as well.. unless I get a call very shortly here.
Got a tow dolly. The car returns tonight.
Good luck!
What a freakin' nightmare. We almost flipped at least twice, until my friend got it through his head to slow down. So we spent the last 4+ hours driving back. At least it was the perfect time of night for it.
Oh yeah.. the battery also died on it, even though the guy had charged it up earlier in the week. So we had no flashers for the car while it was being towed.
Slow down? What are you, some kind of girly-man???? :p
When towing another car, you
must drive at 85-95 MPH at all times. This keeps the towed car in the "slipstream", increasing overall fuel mileage, as well as creating a pear-shaped bow wave that actually pushes the towed car back into place, should it try to escape into the neighboring lane. It's all very scientific. :cool:
I'm still having bad flashbacks to the arse-end of my friend's SUV starting to jerk from side to side from the tow dolly and T-bird wagging. It came VERY close to breaking loose altogether. I get a sick feeling in my stomach every time I remember it.
Well, if all the hurricanes didn't turn me into an alcoholic, this past week and a half may just finish the job..
Amusing side-note:
As I said, we had no lights back there. Couldn't use trailer lights, (long story) and the battery on the Bird didn't last long, even with most of the rear parking lights removed so just the front ones were active. All we had for a light in the rear (aside from the four-way flashers on the towing vehicle, which were somewhat visible from behind the T-bird, but not directly viewable) was this thing:
(http://img121.exs.cx/img121/5268/head-light.jpg)
It's a LED light you can strap to your forehead.. bought it before hurricane Charley.. it has two white LEDs, and one red LED, and you can switch between the two setups.. and can last easily over 100 hours on one set of AAA batteries. (more like 200 hours) I switched it to the one red LED and stuck it between the windshield and the dash. We drove by several police from multiple counties and never got pulled over once for a pretty obvious equipment violation. (with the trailer and the towed car lights out) I nominate this head-light as one of the handiest things I've ever owned.. heh.
Update time:
Other friend came over tonight to look over the car. We changed the PCV valve, checked out the dizzy, (looks good, maybe cap and rotor are less than a year old, which would fit with the ignition tune-up he did w/ new plugs, wires, etc.) and a few other things.
1) Positive battery cable is toast. It's cracked to the point of showing bare wire. That'll be replaced soon.
2) The coil terminal looks to be almost chewed up.
3) Before we replaced the PCV, the car would crank and sound like it was trying to catch, but stepping on the gas pedal would kill that and it would go back to just cranking. After the PCV valve, stepping on the gas wouldn't change how it cranked.
4) After cranking it for some time, as I mentioned in another thread, you could start to smell raw gas.. but not from the engine compartment. (as in, most likely from the exhaust)
5) We pulled the #1 plug, and aside from it being a little singed brown, it was not fouled.. and looked relatively new. (see also ignition update)
I have the battery charging overnight again on 2 amps.. might look into a new coil and positive battery cable tomorrow.
Meh.
Got the new coil and a new 2-gauge cable between the positive terminal and the solenoid. The car seems to WANT to run, even more so than before the coil change, but still won't stay running. However, there was still oil in the throttle body.. hadn't dealt with that yet. I decided to stuff a rag into the TB after pulling off the air intake hose, and I'll clean that sometime tonight or tomorrow.. there's a lot of oil still in there.
Still have to check the other 7 plugs and see how bad they look.. ran out of daylight, and the mosquitos would carry me away if I tried it now.
As I mentioned in the other post.... check the cataliytic converters. Its common with plugged exaust for a engine to start and die, then not want to restart.
You can remove the EGR valve and try to start it(would be best to plug the intake side but not absoulty necessary, will just idle wayy too fast). If it runs its the converters.
I'll try that tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
The coil probably should've been replaced anyway. There was a significant amount of metal missing from the contact. I'll have to take a picture of it one of these days.
May have to do a hammer job until I can get them replaced with high-flows, around engine swap time.. just to get it running around the yard under its own power.
It's alive.. ALIVE, I tell you, ALIVE!
Pulled the EGR loose and started it.. it ran fine. Couldn't get it into gear or step on the gas, but pulling the EGR off allowed it to idle for some time.
Good thing it was cool enough to suppress the mosquito population long enough for me to crack this open.
Had it running again today.. even long enough for it to warm up. (4 bars up from C on the digi-dash) Oil pressure and charge were also acceptable.
Can't put it under load, though.. and hitting the gas is tricky. Have to do it a little at a time. I got the car moved about 6 feet back onto flatter ground. Do you think, for purposes of moving it to a more suitable work area, I should just try to disconnect the cats from the front and let it all hang?
Well, whatta ya know.. decided to charge it for a couple hours at 6 amps vs. 2, and this time I was able to get it running long enough and well enough to move it into the spot where I usually work on 'em. (backed it in.. don't exactly need to flaunt it to everyone that it doesn't have a tag on it.. heh)
Cool... Bust those cats out, and you'll be out crusing in no time...
Are all three cats?
Well, obviously it's the first two, up near the exhaust manifolds. Just on a whim, I tried to run it with the center cat removed from the rest of the pipe forward, and with the EGR valve reconnected after I cleaned it up a little. (pulled the mid pipe about 1" back from the ) Car ran (or didn't run) just as before.
Is there a relatively easy way to yank those cats? I only have one jack stand, no ramps, and nothing more solid than packed dirt and rock (with the occasional large piece of wood or stepping stone as a base for the jack) to work with here. My place was never very good for working underneath cars. (only thing I have to lay on is a sample of blue carpet that the last owner of the V6 'Bird used as a floormat)
I may have to call in a friend for help on this one. I also get a little bit paranoid any time I work under a car. It was OK tonight, working on bolts that were pretty easily accessible.. but get me under there for anything involved, and I'm going to be staring at that jack stand every 10 seconds.
Oh yeah.. even with the cats dealt with, I still won't be driving it around.. no tag yet. :p
Well first off, you need to invest in a little basic equipment. Places like Northern and Harbor Freight have decent jack stands and the like dirt cheap.. Or maybe a puppies shop may have something.
The cat problem is also why it was blowing oil. The exaust has no where to go, so its blown by the rings into the crankcase. Probably why the valve covers are(were?)leaking.
I've been trying to assemble a set of basic equipment while I go. I didn't even have a set of crescent/box-end wrenches (SAE or metric) before about a month ago. I just have to make do with what I have until I can pick up more tools and what not.
Right now, any money I make (now that the 2nd car is here) has to be saved up for my fiance's trip by train to Chicago to visit family for Thanksgiving. (already has the tickets) Once she's on her way, I can go back to building up my supplies. I should have a bit more reliable income after the first of the year, (long story) and then I can really get to work on my plans. Somewhere along the line, in addition to the tools and parts and all that, I'm hoping I can try to get some sort of solid working surface put in. Not sure if the concrete shortage is still a problem.. but if it isn't, then maybe a somewhat-larger-than-car-sized slab is in my future next year. I'd feel a lot better about using things like jack stands with that in place.
Decided to make my first attempt at reading EEC codes today, using the jumper wire/dash light method. I got the following:
53 53 (long pause) 1 (long pause) 53 87 53 87 (nothing for more than 10 seconds)
Fuel pump primary circuit failure? I just had it running long enough to warm up, and even a brief time over 3000 RPM.
EDIT: I tracked down the breaker in the trunk and pushed it.. (I did hear it click to reset) but haven't re-run the codes to see if that changed. Just ran the car for a couple minutes.. seemed to be a little more difficult to keep it going at first, but it eventually smoothed out and idled fast. (had the EGR pulled again)
OK, eliminated code 87 from the picture. I ran the KOEO once and got the 87s again, cleared the memory, and just got:
53 53 (long pause) 1 (long pause) 53 53 (nothing)
So a TPS is $29.99 at AutoHole.. should I be picking up a new one, or is that TPS-voltage-too-high thing caused elsewhere in the system? (doesn't seem likely, but never hurts to ask, right?)
Also, still won't run with the EGR valve bolted on. I'll have to deal with the whole exhaust thing soon. (took a few days off due to the sleep problem thing)
One more thing: I had my instrument cluster out to check all the bulbs, and now that it's back in, oil pressure reads as the two bottom bars and the two top bars. Bad connection in the plugs? (everything else seems to function properly)
OK, so a friend is loaning me good jack stands and a decent breaker bar to finally get that exhaust off of there.
Decided to clean out the IAB today while I was looking for something to do. Glad I did.. that whole area (inside) was covered in oil.
Ran it with the oil filler cap off for awhile, just to see what would happen. (spitting oil out of there, etc.) Actually ran better, I think.. but quite a bit of smoke was coming out of there. Not exactly pouring out of there, but it was definitely noticeable. Another symptom of bad rings, or just normal? (never ran anything with the oil filler cap off before)
It runs really rough at first, for a minute or two after starting it.. then it abruptly smooths out.
"Ran it with the oil filler cap off for awhile, just to see what would happen. (spitting oil out of there, etc.) Actually ran better, I think.. but quite a bit of smoke was coming out of there. Not exactly pouring out of there, but it was definitely noticeable. Another symptom of bad rings, or just normal?"
could be a sighn of stopped up converters
Most high milage engines have some blow by due to worn rings. Usually the PCV system pulls the vapors back into the engine where they are burned. You likely have a plugged up PCV system, or really bad rings.
Got a couple safety pins and took a KOEO reading of the TPS voltage.. it's reading 5.01v.
(DH3) Service code 53: Attempt to generate service code 63
- Key off, wait 10 seconds.
- Disconnect TP sensor harness at throttle body.
- Rerun KOEO self-test.
- Is code 63 present? (Ignore all other codes at this time)
-- Yes - go to DH4
-- No - go to DH5
(DH4) Check voltage Vref to Signal Return
- Key off, wait 10 seconds.
- Disconnect TP sensor harness at throttle body.
- DVOM on 20-volt scale.
- Key on, engine off.
- Measure voltage between VREF and SIGNAL RETURN at the connector (should be orange/white and black/white).
- Is voltage between 4.0 and 6.0 volt?
-- Yes - Replace TP sensor. Rerun quick test.
-- No - Go to pinpoint test C1
(DH5) Check TP signal for short to ground
- Key off, wait 10 seconds.
- Disconnect TP sensor harness at throttle body.
- DVOM on 20,000 ohm scale.
- Disconnect processor.
- Install breakout box, leave processor disconnected.
- Measure resistance between pin 47 and pins 26 and 57 at the breakout box.
- Are both resistances greater than 10,000 ohms?
-- Yes - Remove breakout box. Replace processor. ($$$) Reconnect TP sensor. Rerun Quick Test.
-- No - Service short circuit. Remove breakout box. Reconnect TP sensor and processor. Rerun Quick Test.
FUN!
Ah well.. at least I have some money coming in this week, and might be able to spare some cash for a new TPS if needed. ($29.99 at AutoHole)
Wow, whatta mess.
Tonight I decided to have a few beers and pull off the upper intake, so I could paint it.. and then paint the valve covers later this week while I had it off. (Ford blue, just 'cause I like those old colors.. Ford blue and Ford red.. although with a car that's someday going to be green, I didn't want a Ford red engine.. too x-massy)
Took FOREVER to get the EGR plate off, because of all the crud stuck around one bolt. But that isn't what I'm commenting on. All 8 intake runners are black and shiny inside, and look to have quite a layer of oil formed on them. (the EGR plate itself is full of crud) I can see the lower is the same way.
Should I do something about this while I have it all apart, or just leave it until I can manage the swap? (undecided now between converting the Windsor to SEFI or using the/a 302)
Got some pics today of the condition of the inside of the intake. Used the lower intake because it was easier to get a light on it.. plus the paint on the outside of the upper intake is still drying. While I was there, I snapped a shot of the inside of the EGR spacer.
as for the oil gauge 2 bars on top 2 on bottom, I believe that means a short. mine did that every so often, I changed the sender, and it did it all the time then. I finally just found the wire that goes to the sender and grounded it, and put in a real gauge