Big problem developed yesterday!

Deep6

Registered User
Hey guys and gals,

I got a serious problem with the way my car is driving right now. But just to give a little insight here is what I did last week.

I replaced my engine mounts with Solid Rubbers, my trans mount with Solid rubber and my differential bushings with the poly ones. I've yet to get the trans x-member out to replace those bushings, and I was intending to do it today and tommarow.

During the install, I dropped the driver's side downpipe enough to wiggle the mount out. When I went to drop the passenger's side, I broke one of the exhaust manifold studs on the collector. I decided to leave the other bolt alone and now the down pipe is partially attached. At first I didn't hear any noise, but over the next day or so, it got a "chugging" sound to it. Again, I didn't stress or nothing, it was just a little more noise.

On my way back home on sunday, about 40 miles into my trip, I experienced a serious drop in engine power. Right now, my engine feels like it has about as much HP as a briggs+stratton lawnmower engine. Trying to climb hills on the taconic was scary. Try climbing a hill in 1st gear, gas pedal floored and going 15mph! :eek:

Associated with the drop in power was an intermittant "check engine light", and the noise of rushing air coming from the passenger side of the engine. It was loud enough to definatly hear in the cockpit and I almost thought for a second it was the climate control. There was also a huge stink of raw exhaust, but no black smoke.

The engine idles at about 15" Hg when it normally idles around 19-20" Hg. The more I press the accelorator pedel, the less power it seems to give. Some times if I back off the gas a little bit and it isn't in boost mode, it'll give me more power, but not much. Max boost on the gauge is about 8psi but then again I really can't get the RPMs much over 2000.

I've driven the car with out the supercharger belt on before, but this feels like I don't have the belt on and I pulled 4 spark plug wires too!!! :mad:

I'm going to get some carb/throttle body cleaner and spray it around the area that I hear the air rushing and see if that makes a difference. Can a slight exhaust leak at the collector on the passenger side on a 1995 5-speed cause this kind of problem? I noticed that I have my EGR pipe on that side and perhaps it's not getting enough exahust pressure causing the computer to open the EGR valve up too much and perhaps my EGR froze open?

The reason I ask, is I had a Turbo LeBaron do this to me and it caused alot of bucking and kicking and a moderate drop in power. I took it in and they plugged up the vacuum connector to the Faulty EGR and the car ran like a charm!

I don't suspect this of being an ignition problem, but who knows! Could it be a fuel pressure regulator?

Anyone who can help me, please do! I can't have my wings clipped this close to Carlisle. Aww Hell, I'm crazy enough to drive down 6 hours like this just to see my SCCOA buds! When Were down there, I'll bring my tools and we can fix it there! :p
 
Check the big nut on the SC top. Sounds like a massive vacuum leak somewhere.

When you changed the motor mounts did you have to lift the engine. When you did that did you loosen the I/C tubes where they connect to things? If not, you might have wiggled one loose due to the stress of the engine moving but they can't.
 
When I changed mounts...

When I changed the engine mounts, I did not remove any intercooler tubing. The only connection that I had to remove was the rubber air intake hose. Which I know was put back properly and It hasn't changed from it's position last.

What is most interesting, is that after I did the mounts, everything was fine. Now this problem crops up a week later.

Yes, I had to jack the engine up, I made sure to loosen the wiper cowling so it could push up if needed. I don't remember pushing the engine up that high that it would break something or knock something loose.

Does the return plenum to intake manifold gasket blow out alot on these cars? It almost sounds like I'm getting a leak there and NOT by the supercharger top.

I'm going to try spraying some starter fluid around to see if I can find the leak easier.
 
I personally wouldn't use starting fluid. It's highly flammable and if it hits your exhaust manifold you could have a flame thrower there.

Stick with propane.
 
I tried the starting fluid...

I sprayed the starter fluid just about everywhere I could think of. Nothing.

Just to test everything, I removed the boost guage nipple and sprayed the fluid in there and the idle increased. So I really don't think that there is a leak, or I'm just not hitting it with my starter fluid.

Don't worry, I made sure to use the starter fluid on a cold engine and I kept it away from the exhaust manifold. I have a small propane blow torch, would that work?

What I am trying to do now, is get the exahaust manifold stud out, in the hopes of replacing it. By doing that I'll correct the exhaust leak and hopefully will allow me to listen more to pinpoint what the other problem is.

Should I try to get codes from the engine? I've never needed to scan codes on this engine before....

I'm going to drill the center of the exhaust stud and try and get a bolt extractor snugged into into the stud. I'm really soaking the stud with "PB Blaster". It's the best stuff I've used.

Worse comes to worse, I'll try and use a C-Clamp to hold it in place, but that is such a "Red-neck" repair.

But to my ear the whole thing sounds like a air leak. Now let me ask you something, if it was a Vacuum leak, using the starter fluid would get sucked into the engine and increase the idle, right. What if it was a boost leak?
Wouldn't that blow the starter fluid away from the hole? What part of the intake tract is pressurized during idle?
 
Help?

Can anyone give some advice?

I've drilled through the exhaust stud completely, but the extractor is being uncooperative. I'm going to use a "T-handle" and a small butane torch next.
 
the computer is seriously confused

Your allowing fresh air to your O2 sensor. The computer thinks your running lean as hell and probibly hitting 100% duty cycle on the injectors. You need to get that manifold sealed up.

The IC tubes are mounted to the engine. You shouldn't have to remove them unless you plan on getting to the driver side engine mount from the front top of the motor.
 
Just to update everyone...

I couldn't extract the exhuast stud, but I was able to run a very skinny and long machine screw through it along with a small nut on the other side. I made sure to use plenty of washers, but the set-up has allowed me to cinch the passenger side down tube right up to the manifold. There is only a small leak now.

I no longer hear any of the "air rushing" sound. I really do think that the noise was caused by the exhaust. There is still a small leak there, but nothing serious and nothing loud or noisy at all.

But the engine's running condition remains the same. It can be tough to start, If I rev the engine up in neutral it will rev to about 2000rpm and start to sputter and die from there. I actually got it up to 3000rpm and I had to floor it, the boost guage showed about 12psi boost (this is in neutral mind you) and then the engine started to die and I couldn't restart it for about 1/2 an hour.

The "check engine" light is on all the time now.

I also disconnected the vacuum line to the EGR valve and crammed a screw in the hose connector. I was thinking that perhaps there was too much EGR going to the engine, but that dosn't seem to be the case.

At any rate, I need to drive my car back on up to albany to have my buddy at the dealership look at it.

Any ideas of what it could be? One friend of mine told me that it almost seemed like the car wasn't getting enough spark advance.

On a sort of unrelated note, when the car was running good, with the new engine mounts, I got 26mpg. I haven't gotten 26mpg in a long time....
 
Pull the codes to figure out what's wrong.

Oh, and while it doesn't help now, in the future try to locate some left twist drill bits for drilling out broken bolts. A lot of the time the drill bit itself will be able to get the bolt turning back out. If not, it will certainly of helped.
 
Have you tried clearing the computer? In your posts, I do not see where you said you unplugged the battery to reset the computer.

Also, totally seal up the exhaust leak, don't leave it with a little leak cause it will probably get bigger.

Just my 2 cents...
 
Did I mention that I now officially hate my car like the rest of you?

UGGGGHHHH! :mad:

I tried to drive the car up tonight and I left my parents home and got halfway up the road and the car had EVEN LESS power than it did before. In fact it had so little power, that I couldn't even make it over the speed bump!!!! That's sad. :(

So I turned the car back around and parked it at my parents. (My dad had to use a tow rope from his car to my car to get it up his driveway)

I couldn't get the engine to restart.

I told my dad to call for a tow tommarow and to have it towed to a Ford Dealer. Unfourtunatly it is an unfamiliar dealership and I'm sure they will charge me out of my A$$ to fix it.

Every time I was trying to crank it, I was smelling raw fuel.

So I'm thinking:

A. Fuel pressure regulator. And fouled plugs.
B. Another fuel related sensor such as MAF or O2 sensors etc.
C. EGR problem
D. Head Gasket (I figured I'd throw that in, cause you can never be sure when the HG monster will pay his visit to you)
E. Fuel Pump

Speaking of Headgasket, i made sure to check the oil and there was no deposits on the dipstick. Coolant was at the proper level and it was clean. And there was no smoke out the tailpipes.

Speaking of Fuel Pumps, if it does turn out to be a crappy pump, can I replace it with a high performance one? Such as the 255lph Forced Induction one? Do I need to retune the engine to run one?
 
You can run the bigger fuel pumps with the stock regulator. It won't need any adjustment. though that large is likely not necessary with your car. The 195 pumps should be fin.

Pull the codes. Check the harmonic balancer and the crankshaft sensor.
 
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