Hello again!
I was driving my T-bird thru the city yesterday. I was lucky to get all the green lights on the crossroads so I was going constant speed of about 40-45mph. Than one light turned to red and I had to stop. When I stopped I noticed the engine is running rough like if it wasn't firing on one cyl. The light turned green and it accelerated without any hesitation. I stopped at the nearest gas station and it was OK. Than it was running well all the way.
Any ideas of what happened?
Do you think it may be a bad spark plug or wire?
Mariusz...
For random misfires like that, I would probably blame it on the ignition sysytem. When was the last time your plus and wires were replaced? You may also want to check your cap and rotor in the distributor. Give those thing a shot, at the very least you will run better after that.
What you mean by "plus"? I think the wires arent that old but I can't tell how old are they. The one going from the coil to the distributor is different. It's new for sure as somebody replaced orginal coil with different type and it needed a new wire.
I think that was a typo. I'm sure he meant spark plugs.
if it has one mismatched wire plug wire you may be on to something.
i would get you a replacement set. and a cap/rotor and a set of plugs and give her a good tune up.
I've just got a set of new spark plugs for my T-bird. I've looked around the engine and it seems to be a #$%%$^# job! Do you have any tips of how to replace spark plugs in 3.8 V6 without messing everything under the hood? Do I need some kind of special wrench?
Driver side isn't that bad, but I barely see the spark plugs on the pass side!
The driver's side is a piece of cake.
A flex-head ratchet and a 1" and 3" extension make the passenger side doable.
I use a 18" extension on my ratchet and gentle move all that outa the way. Use an old spark plug boot to start the threads on the new plug into the head, lots of patience helps too, its a pain but not as bad as it looks
Passenger rear use a 3" extension, same for the passenger middle. Now the Pass. front will need about 18" of extension as greg said and a swivel like jeremy said. if it wasn't for the air pump exhuast line it would be easy. While in there check the plastic air lines for the egr and smog system. I had a broken one on my 3.8.
It seems that my T-bird is running rought from time to time only when the outside temp is around 30F. It's pretty wierd! Almost every time I'm cornering at higher speed and try to accelerate it would run rough and than get back to normal after the same amout of time (about 5 seconds). Any ideas why it mostly happens when cornering?
Today I was driving on the highway and at about 55mph I depressed the gas pedal to accelarate to about 75mph. Suddenly at about 60mph T-bird lost its power and run kinda rough. The Check Engine light started to flash. It got back to normal again after a few seconds and I could accelerate to 80mph easily.
First I thought it may be a water in the gas tank, but it was just a wild guess. Used STP water remover just in case but it still runs rough when the outside temp is around 30F. I've cleaned the EGR valve too, but it didn't change anything.
Maybe it's related with oxygen sensors?
hmm sounds like spark or gas related. YOu have changed the spark plugs right? sounds alot like fuel pump
Yes, I've changed the spark plugs lately. It runs very smooth now except the rough running for a few seconds from time to time. I got a new fuel filter, but it's too cold to replace it now. It's the worst winter ever here!
There is one more thing, it was always doing. When engine is hot and I stop the car for 15 minutes, it sometimes doesn't start at first. Than it starts kinda rough and smooths out in a second or two. It doesn't happen on hot engine or cold engine. Only in "mid-temps".
Why would it run rought while cornering? It's wierd! Does Check Engine light indicate fuel pump failure also?
KOEO
http://aarc.epnet.com/application/8670/8670R04_System_Diagnosis.htm (http://"http://aarc.epnet.com/application/8670/8670R04_System_Diagnosis.htm")
Is it an amber check engine light or the red engine light?
It's an amber light. There isn't any red one.
If the check engine came on it should have stored an error code.
Run the self tests and see what you have.
My 3.8 experience.
1) Sitting at a light years ago sometimes produced a thump from the engine--or so my wife kept reminding me. Later find out that wires to the drivers side bank of plugs were misplaced/misaligned. Believe it or not, there is a protocol on that. Take a close look of the objects on that side--I think there is a large engine bracket near the dip tube (lacking memory at this moment) which can interfere with electrical discharge if the wires are not aligned right through that space. I recall shifting the wires---and the thump (misfire) disappeared and has not reappeared since (that was over 50,000 miles ago...). I am very careful about wire routing for this reason. It is just a experimental/judgment approach (at least in my case).
2) Older wires become susceptible to moisture penetration. If you go out on a damp, moisture laden day and start the engine with old wires, you may find that the engine runs poorly or may not even start due to misfire or lack of spark. Good ignition wires are a must. Ditto for the plugs. In my opinion, watch out for wires over 5 years old plus--especially original ones.
The amazing thing is, plug wires usually are the first thing to need replaced on an engine...
In '02 I put a rather expensive set on my truck (92 F-150-5.0/M5)
and it ran much better, as the originals had been in the truck till then.
This past winter, on a bitterly cold day, I had to replace them again, this time with a cheap set, I figure if they're going to last 3 years at a time, I may as well save some money...
Now, back to topic: I'd change the plugs, wires, and coil if you havn't already, which it appears you have.
Seeing that you have the '87 3.8, I'd also check fuel pressure, and perhaps the timing, as well...no real clue here, just an idea.