Not Z, but still for motor, maybe help

[Guest polarity]

I have a 95 ford thunderbird with the 4.6l v8 that seems to have lots of problems. A while back the check engine light came on, and will not go off. I took it to 2 places (payed $70 a pop for it) for them to pull the codes from the computer and they did. Code said it was running rich on the right side (oxygen sensor is my guess)

 

thats only one of my questions hah, here goes more.

 

when the car is cold it is very laggy (if i hit the gas hard instead of the normall pickup it just slowly creeps up doesnt rev hard like its slipping just doesnt go.. any ideas why? the other thing it does is sometimes the idle will drop and the car will idle extremely rough. (around 400rpm and shake bad)

 

anyone know about these cars, am i better off just getting rid of this dang thing.. other than these problems its in great shape, nice interior, nice body, and all the options (except i cant figure out how to turn on/off the firm ride but i can see a spot for it on the cluster)

 

Billy

[Kevin Shasteen]

Dont know about the set up of the 95 but I worked on a 92 Linconln w/the 4.6 that had an Engine Light problem.

 

The owners of the Lincoln (My parents) were told by the dealer all they needed was to simply clean the EGR valve; same problem as you-they paid & the problem still surfaced.

 

What I found was two fold.

 

1) The 1/2" to 3/4" rubber hoses leading up to the side of the AFM had cracks in them

 

2) The EGR pipe going from the passenger side exhaust manifold up to the EGR Valve had cracked in two places.

 

The cracks in the hoses & the pipe were creating a rich condition. Upon pulling the AFM the intake was horribly carboned up from running rich.

 

Replace the rubber hoses and the $50 EGR Pipe and the warning light stopped coming on.

 

Check all your EGR connections & piping-check both the rubber and hard lines leading up to the EGR Valve.

 

Check the simple things first before assuming any of the EFI stuff is bad. When was the last time the spark plugs & wires were rpl(?)...something to think about.

 

Kevin,

(Yea,Still an Inliner)

[denny411]

The first thing that popped into me head as I read your post was, EGR valve or EGR control solenoid. This is not specifically for your car, but a general diagnosis based on my experiences with ALL makes of cars.

[Guest Ian turbo240]

I have a customer with a '94 T-bird 4.6, and the check engine lite has come on on that car also. First of all, those cars are OBDII. That is the On Board Diagnostic system that was placed in effect in 1996. Ford started early on some vehicles, namely ones with the 4.6 liter V8. With OBDII, if the check engine lite comes on, it will not turn off unless turned off by a scanner. This is not true with all OBDII codes, but most of them. So even if you fix the problem, you will have to take it to a shop with an OBDII scanner to turn off the MIL (malfunction indicator lamp). The EGR valve can cause problems, and they are a bitch to get to on the T-bird. Good luck with that. Also, the O2 sensors should be replaced every 100,000 miles. DON'T USE AFTERMARKET O2 SENSORS. Pay the $500 and get the OEM ones from the Ford dealer. There are 4 of them, and they are about $125 each. You should be able to change them yourself as they are easy to access under the car. As for the idling problems. You probably have a coked-up throttle body and IAC. The IAC is the idle control motor. The 5.0's are famous for this. The t/b and IAC get carboned up, and can't work properly. At idle, the throttle plate is almost closed. This small throttle opening is called the minimum idle airflow. If carbon is taking up this gap, the IAC will have a hard time controlling the idle, therefore causing the engine to occasionally die. The easy fix is to get some carb cleaner and a small soft brush and just clean out the inside of the throttle chamber. Make sure to clean it with the throttle open.

 

As for the hesitation, I would start with a tuneup. You may be familiar with the 2 big coils on the front of the engine. I would change the wires and spark plugs. Make sure you do the wires one at a time, so you don't mix up the firing order. If that doesn't work then you could have a bad coolant temp sensor. This is the sensor that tells the computer the engine's temperature. It is mounted on the intake manifold near the thermostat housing (i think). This could also be causing the check engine lite to come on.

 

am i better off just getting rid of this dang thing..

I look at it this way. If you are otherwise happy with the car, then keep it and fix it. The money you spend on fixing it will certainly be less that a monthly car payment on a new car. Even if you spend $1000 a year on it, that's cheaper than a car payment. That T-bird is actually one of Ford's better cars. If it were a 3.8 V6, I'd say get rid of it. If it were a Taurus, I'd say burn it. It's not, so ante up about $1000 and take it somewhere that can truly fix it properly. Good luck!!!

 

Ian

[Mudge]

Well, if the O2 is dead then its dead, and if that be the case it could be staying in open loop on that side, or running extremely rich even beyond 10/11.0:1 which is already pig rich.

 

This could also cause a huge split BLM, again the engine wont like this, since one side is making xx power, and the other is running like a dog, the whole wheelworks will be thrown out of whack.

 

Replace the $35 O2 sensor and see how it works!

[Guest polarity]

I guess I'll try the 02 first and see if it works.. then move on to other things...

 

Forgot to add, when driving at low rpm it will sometimes rattle violently.. but only at low rpm

Billy

[Guest Ian turbo240]

Polarity,

 

If you are going to change only 1 O2 sensor, you are wasting your time. There are 4 sensors, like I posted above. They are not all the same. On OBDII cars, there are upstream and downstream O2 sensors. This is relative to the catalytic convertor. The downstream O2's put out a different signal than the upstream ones, so that I why I recomend replacing all of them with OEM sensors. A single $35 O2 sensor will not fix your problem.

 

Ian

[Guest polarity]

no, dont get me wrong, when i said 02 i meant all of them. haha.. sorry should have been a little more clear

[Mudge]

1995 GM cars aren't OBD II, but if Ford was OBD II in 95 I'll take your word for it

[Pop N Wood]

I want to know so I will bring it back up. I thought GM went OBDII in 95. By law I think they had to be in 96. Anyone know for certain when GM went OBDII? Also isn't that the easy one to reprogram? (LT edit?)

 

Not doubting anyone, just want to know for sure.

[Mudge]

They went OBD II in 1996 (GM), SOME of the California cars had dual cats in 1995, if they were automatics, however they were still OBD I with OBD II diagnostics ports (odd isn't it).

 

OBD I is cheaper to program, and logging programs are free (for GM), I used Tunercat and Freescan to tune my setup, OBD II is alot more money, since Tunercat doesn't yet have a setup, but I was told this spring, if there is no delay. Otherwise LT1 Edit is $550 for OBD II, and the licensing is friendlier with Tunercat.

[Guest polarity]

while i'm still doing this.. forgot to add one more thing.. when the car goes into what i call 'pissed off mode' (when the idle drops and it runs rough) the smell of the exhaust is rather.. strange.. very strong too.. cant really describe it.. very horrid..

 

Billy

[denny411]

That is rotten egg or sulfer smell. That is an indicator of o2 sensor probs.