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Sudden drop in mpg and running like crap


happilymarried

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1984
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Ford
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Manual
Okay, I don't want to be that guy that asks dumb questions, but here we are...I'm hoping someone can give me an idea of how to fix this before I need to test for emissions in February.

The symptoms are as follows...
I drive almost exclusively highway miles and was getting about 20-21mpg for the past 6 months. As the weather cooled down, my 2.8 started running/idling horribly, smoke and obnoxious smell from the pipe, and my mpg dropped to about 16. I was hoping it was just the cold weather, but the smell, follows me 25 miles down the highway. Also, at highway speeds my temp stays just below the normal range, then pops back up into the middle of the gauge when I come to a stop. Is there any chance that this crazy computer controlled carb is richening the fuel mixture 'cause it thinks the engine is cold? The choke does open as the engine warms up, so I'm really just running out of ideas.

On a possibly related note, there is also a pretty bad metallic "clicking" sound from the driver's side of the engine. It sounded like lifters, but the adjustments all checked out, so am I hearing something like a bad rod bearing or something getting ready to break within the crank-case? The sound is a little less noticeable when the engine is fully warmed up, but still there.

Basically, I really only need to keep this thing alive for another few months and I really don't want to put any money into it 'cause it's just not worth anything major and I'm sure the 241K on the engine is pushing the limits of it's life-expectancy. Does anything described up there lead anyone to any conclusions or ideas? Based on the smell of the exhaust, I'm pretty sure the DMV guys are gonna' laugh me out of the emissions testing site come February.

Thanks for your patience with this rambling description!
 


n_grimm

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1988
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Ford
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2.9
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Automatic
The O2 sensor could cause it to run rich if it fails. If you had a non electric carb you could eliminate a lot of possibilities. I don't have the specs on the carbed coolant temp sensor but I suspect it will be similar to the efi cars since the ecm is similar. This chart should give you an idea. Looks like the voltage should be around 1 volt when warm and should go up as high as 3 or 4 volts as the temp drops.
http://fordfuelinjection.com/index.php?p=28
 

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