The 88's got issues

[cavibird2005]

My truck runs great and has all the power it should, when its cold. Once it gets up to temp however it looses its nuts.

Clutch In, if I floor it takes about a sec to get to 3K rpms. And wont go any higher than 3800. Also THUMPS at Idle, like a worn out 235.

If I shut it off let it sit for a 1/2hr or so It'll run just fine again. Its almost like the Valves aren't opening enough.. It does tick. So maybe partially collapsed lifters? I also noticed quite a bit of blow by.

I've never done any top end work on a 2.9. Anything I should know? How bad is a Lifter job?

 

[jhammel85]

How old is the oxy sensor?

 

[mhavoc]

Check fuel pressure while running at cold and at hot. Should be the same... around 35PSI. If it isn't I would suspect the FPR, Fuel Pressure Regulator. Sees that lots of the late 80's ones are having FRP issues lately. Some posts mention looking for gas on the backside vacuum line which is a blatant problem, mine didn't have any gas leaks but was still not working correctly (causing inconsistent pressure)

Pull codes and make sure your timing is good. The timing will change (advance?) when the truck is warm so if your base timing is out, then it may be shifting to a poor place.

What happes if you pull off the computer temp sensor(two wire one, the single wire one is the gauge sender only)? Does it run better again?

 

[Chris102371]

TFI Module maybe.

 

[cavibird2005]

So I went out to the ol' 88 to check out some of the things you all were talking about. My Fuel Pressure was 40lbs cold, I don't have the balls to pull fuel lines over a hot engine. However I ended up with more Q's than answers...

What Ford Motor did this FPR come from? And why is it on my 2.9? Obviously I noticed this when I purchased the truck, It worked so why fix it? The vacuum line smelled of fuel put it is drawing vacuum from the intake..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60850092@N02/5614395539/

There's Your Problem!! I assume this is were the o2 should be?? There is no lead any were near it. But I didn't see any were else a o2 could go. Does the correct sensor have a Long lead on it? Or am I missing some wiring?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60850092@N02/5614975782/

Couldn't get the pics to work right for some reason. So click the links.

 

[Chris102371]

NO 02 is in front of cat converter, and there's only one.

 

[jhammel85]

So I went out to the ol' 88 to check out some of the things you all were talking about. My Fuel Pressure was 40lbs cold, I don't have the balls to pull fuel lines over a hot engine. However I ended up with more Q's than answers...

What Ford Motor did this FPR come from? And why is it on my 2.9? Obviously I noticed this when I purchased the truck, It worked so why fix it? The vacuum line smelled of fuel put it is drawing vacuum from the intake..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60850092@N02/5614395539/

There's Your Problem!! I assume this is were the o2 should be?? There is no lead any were near it. But I didn't see any were else a o2 could go. Does the correct sensor have a Long lead on it? Or am I missing some wiring?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60850092@N02/5614975782/

Couldn't get the pics to work right for some reason. So click the links.

Pic one is the correct FPR. Theres nothing wrong with that at all. Was it 40 PSI with it running or just the Key on? Sounds OK so far.

Pic two is the bolt that Ford installed in the manifold to block where an EGR tube used to be. My 87 has an EGR tube since it came from the factory (since removed btw) The 88's didn't have EGR, therefore no tube

The Oxy Sensor is just before the Cat. Go under the truck and around the Y (or H if you will) pipe area. In the center of the H is your Oxy Sensor.

 

[cavibird2005]

Pic one is the correct FPR. Theres nothing wrong with that at all. Was it 40 PSI with it running or just the Key on? Sounds OK so far.

Pic two is the bolt that Ford installed in the manifold to block where an EGR tube used to be. My 87 has an EGR tube since it came from the factory (since removed btw) The 88's didn't have EGR, therefore no tube

The Oxy Sensor is just before the Cat. Go under the truck and around the Y (or H if you will) pipe area. In the center of the H is your Oxy Sensor.

The FPR has a clear plastic piece of tubing feeding it. So I assumed it wasn't correct. Glad to know that bolt is supposed to be there.

I didn't see the O2 since its on the top side, I just over looked it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it the original Sensor at least it looks old and the plastic on the lead in breaking down.

I'll disconnect it and see if it runs better again if so I'll swap it. However I'm in the middle of moving so I'll have to mess with it next week some time. I'll let you know when I know.

 

[cavibird2005]

Well I got off work early today and decided to play with the truck.

I try'd unplugging the o2 sensor w/ no luck. (Is there a trick to these things?) I didn't want to jack up the truck so I just unplugged the temp sensor.

Took it on a beer run across town, and it still did the same damn thing.

So I'm 99% sure its not a fuel issue. Any other suggestions?

 

[BlackBII]

Here's the deal...

When your truck loses power, it's because of a few reasons.
Lack of Air
Lack of Fuel
Lack of Spark and or timing

Now, because it runs good when cold, we can say that it should be getting enough air, as that variable should not be changing. (Compression and intake tract, but, checking the compression would be a good idea.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,)

The FPR wont be affected by the temp of the engine, so that wont be it. A faulty coolant temp sensor or a faulty O2 sensor could cause this issue because if they give a bad reading to the ECU, as it could cause your truck to run lean and it will suffer in terms of power. Both of these sensors can be tested easily with only a volt meter.

I'm going to bet the culprit is the TFI module on the back of the distributor. These modules are notorious for overheating and when they do, they cause the Spark to be inconsistent.

http://fordfuelinjection.com/

 

[RyanL]

My truck runs great and has all the power it should, when its cold. Once it gets up to temp however it looses its nuts.

Clutch In, if I floor it takes about a sec to get to 3K rpms. And wont go any higher than 3800. Also THUMPS at Idle, like a worn out 235.

If I shut it off let it sit for a 1/2hr or so It'll run just fine again. Its almost like the Valves aren't opening enough.. It does tick. So maybe partially collapsed lifters? I also noticed quite a bit of blow by.

I've never done any top end work on a 2.9. Anything I should know? How bad is a Lifter job?

Ever figure anything out? I have almost the same issues with mine (runs great/ has decent power when it's cold, but looses a bit of power when hot). I just did the TFI relocation, but that didn't do anything for me. I'm about 90% sure that both temperature sensors have been replaced also. Oxygen sensor isn't too old either. I have the worst time trying not to stall it out when it's up to temperature. It will sit there and idle (very horribly), but it's just hard to drive. Not really sure what it could be. I'm kind of under the impression that it's along the lines of bad lifters too. I replaced the heads on that thing with new ones and I did have trouble setting the valve lash; I tried doing it with the engine cold, but that led to nasty tapping so I set the valve lash with the engine fully warmed up and that solved most of the tapping (one of the valves taps a little when it's cold, but goes away once it warms up). Maybe valves not closing fully when warmed up is where I'm loosing all of my power. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[RyanL]

There's another two sensors which can mess things up pretty badly and don't seem to be mentioned much is the MAP sensor and the ambient air temp sensor (located in the center riser of the upper intake). I looked around the web and found the specs for the water temperature sensor and mine checks out fine, but couldn't find details for the ambient air intake sensor or the MAP sensor. Is there anyway to even check the MAP sensor effectively or is it something like an injector which you basically have to replace to find out if it's good (of course you can check the resistance of the coil in the injector, but often they leak which you have no way of telling)? I hate just throwing parts at this thing. There's just so much to go wrong with these 20+ year old trucks with a bunch of miles.

 

[jhammel85]

Ever figure anything out? I have almost the same issues with mine (runs great/ has decent power when it's cold, but looses a bit of power when hot). I just did the TFI relocation, but that didn't do anything for me. I'm about 90% sure that both temperature sensors have been replaced also. Oxygen sensor isn't too old either. I have the worst time trying not to stall it out when it's up to temperature. It will sit there and idle (very horribly), but it's just hard to drive. Not really sure what it could be. I'm kind of under the impression that it's along the lines of bad lifters too. I replaced the heads on that thing with new ones and I did have trouble setting the valve lash; I tried doing it with the engine cold, but that led to nasty tapping so I set the valve lash with the engine fully warmed up and that solved most of the tapping (one of the valves taps a little when it's cold, but goes away once it warms up). Maybe valves not closing fully when warmed up is where I'm loosing all of my power. Anyone have any ideas?

There's another two sensors which can mess things up pretty badly and don't seem to be mentioned much is the MAP sensor and the ambient air temp sensor (located in the center riser of the upper intake). I looked around the web and found the specs for the water temperature sensor and mine checks out fine, but couldn't find details for the ambient air intake sensor or the MAP sensor. Is there anyway to even check the MAP sensor effectively or is it something like an injector which you basically have to replace to find out if it's good (of course you can check the resistance of the coil in the injector, but often they leak which you have no way of telling)? I hate just throwing parts at this thing. There's just so much to go wrong with these 20+ year old trucks with a bunch of miles.

You're jacking someone else's thread...

Check fordfuelinjection.com for the specs you are looking for. Post up your own thread..I'm sure anyone who can help will give you a hand.

 

[RyanL]

You're jacking someone else's thread...

Check fordfuelinjection.com for the specs you are looking for. Post up your own thread..I'm sure anyone who can help will give you a hand.

Yeah I guess you're sort of right, but we do have the exact same symptoms so I figured it couldn't hurt to work it out together. It's not like my suggestions and questions are unrelated in that matter. Plus he didn't post back for a few days and was wondering what he found out, if anything.

Maybe unrelated, but it did help a little; I found that the fuel pressure regulator was leaking a bit (I checked it before for leaks, but I guess I was too impatient - it took a few seconds before it started to drip after disconnecting the vacuum line). Replaced it today for about $80 from Autozone. Going to check into injectors next.

 

[cavibird2005]

Its not my DD. I just parked it for now. With the move and all, moneys tight.. And to be honest the ranger just isn't a priority to me right now.