88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm October 15, 2005, 11:26:40 AM hi, first time poster. I've got an 88 Cougar with a 3.8, and i'm having pretty serious problems with it when it warms up. When the car's cold/cool (max 15 mins of driving from dead cold start) the engine idles not necessarily rough, but shakes the heck out of the car...course my motor mounts are pretty bad, and this is the least of my problems. What my issue is, once the car is warmed up, it has no power from about half throttle up. I'd guess i can take it up to about 2500rpm's and it'll go like a bat outta hell. Once i cross that line i can feel the engine starting to stumble. If I mash it the car will the majority fall flat on it's face. As soon as i come off it it'll regain it's self and i can take off reasonably slow. I've (starting front to rear) changed cap, rotor, plugs and wires, coil, air filter, oil change, Fuel filter, fuel pump, fuel strainer, fuel tank, had the tfi (ignition module) tested (and it's good) My engine light never comes on through the entire course of this, but does work during bulb check. I disabled the egr while the engine was cold and hence running well and warmed it up and it still did it. I've changed the pcv filter, checked and cleaned the pcv valve (after all this work i'm getting poor and i'm just grabbing at straws) It has me and at least 3 of the local-to-me shops stumpped. For the love of God can someone PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!! thanks in advance Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #1 – October 15, 2005, 11:42:04 AM check your cats, could be getting clogged. Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #2 – October 15, 2005, 01:08:00 PM i've had the whole cat setup off and ran a plumbing snake through them and they look and felt clear Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #3 – October 15, 2005, 10:46:39 PM No check engine light but has it been scanned for codes??? Sounds like its too lean, has the fuel pressure been checked?? Should be 30 psi vaccum line on, 39 disconnected, and should maintain 39 psi under WOT.Another possibly is a bad MAP sensor... Also double check the vac line to the MAP to be sure it isn't collapsed. Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #4 – October 16, 2005, 02:50:45 PM agreed possible map sensor or maybe throttle postion sensor also Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #5 – October 16, 2005, 03:28:23 PM To me it sounds like a fuel problem as well. What hasn't been mentioned is the timing. Maybe it't not advancing the timing like it should. Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #6 – October 16, 2005, 03:50:19 PM cougarse, i've gone over the entire fuel system (pump, strainer, another filter last night, as well as the complete tune up ignition wise i did a few weeks ago). I've noticed that if i gas it, it smells like it's flooding out. As for the timing, i'm still trying to find the timing mark on the motor (seems ford hid it VERY well on the v6. But, the timing seems to be advancing as i pull the jumper out to bring it down to base time and i do hear a difference. I've adjusted the timing up a little bit by ear to no avail. sleeper and turbo, Is there any way to measure resistances on the map and tps, and i've seen alot about adjusting the tps, how would i go about doing that. turbo, yes i borrowed a pressure checker from friend, (his book said it should be between 35-41psi at idle) i came up with 29. I could hear the pump was going, hence i replaced it. Haven't checked the pressure since, though. I got the codes read and it did have map, tps, pfe and engine coolant sensor codes. Although the computer hasn't been cleared in as long as i've owned it (since febuary) I did disconnect the battery last night and just reconnected it this morning to try and clear erronious codes. Probably going to take it up to autozone today and get them read again to see what comes up now Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #7 – October 16, 2005, 04:26:40 PM Pull your plugs. It would not surprise me if one was gas soaked and not firing due to an injector being stuck open. Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #8 – October 16, 2005, 06:50:27 PM paul, i'll try the plugs tomorrow. I just got back from az after driving the car around for a while, no codes in the computer Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #9 – October 16, 2005, 10:30:35 PM I'd verify the fuel pressure was maintaining 38-40psi under WOT. The regulators sometimes stick and cause higher/lower pressures. Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #10 – October 17, 2005, 01:37:35 PM my 86 cougar did the same thing (V-6 ) my cats...not the main one, but the two small ones next to the headers...they would swell up inside ( said the mechanic) once they got hot. therefore you lose all kinds of power....well there gone and i got a new cat and the car is o.k. now...till this happened, i did'nt know my car had those extra cats....they were so small....never knew what they were...lol..hope this helps Quote Selected
88 cougar v6, lacks power when warm Reply #11 – October 17, 2005, 02:14:07 PM I had the same problem and I would go with what Waferman is saying, when the engine gets hotter the fumes of the engine stay inside of it:flip: Quote Selected
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