Texas82GP's Roadmaster

[Texas82GP]

No, you did just fine. That one didn't look all that bad. I was kind of hoping you'd find a big wad of black crud on there and it'd cure your issue.

I was hoping so too. Thanks for the feedback.

I'm not sure if you know this but you can read codes and data thru the climate control screen by holding the off button and temp up I think.i haven't done it in a long time so look it up and you will be surprised what codes and real time data you can see without a scanner. Sorry I don't have a link to the codes but they are easy to find online.

I didn't know that, though I did come across a YouTube video where a guy had the HVAC display showing the coolant temperature. I do have a couple of scanners. They just aren't sophisticated enough to show me which cylinder(s) are misfiring, etc. There are no codes.

Here ya go Jared, your fix is just as close as your nearest Walmart-

View attachment 138865

If the Lucas doesn't work, the Seafoam has you covered!

I put a bottle of the Chevron Techron Fuel System Cleaner in it on Sunday with 19 gallons of fuel. We'll see what happens. My priority now is to get the tank venting situation addressed and I'll take it from there.

You know you are on a forum of car guys when Jared’s thread goes from a tune-up to complete overhaul and no one blinks an eye. Lol
And im only up to page 9. 😆

It's a rolling "restoration." Really I'm just giving it some TLC. It's a nice survivor but for a 23 year old car was very original. Much of what I've done is because of the natural breakdown of rubber parts (control arm bushings, emissions hoses, seals, etc.)

Today makes three days in a row of driving it to work. It was nice not hearing the alternator squeal. Under 48 mph the car drives pretty much flawless. I'll probably put the fuel pressure gauge on it this weekend and see what that shows. It's hard to peg what the issue is since it isn't always there. Normal, moderate, or hard acceleration there is no misfire. High or low speed cruise, no misfire. Only a slight indication of it at idle in park. I can feel it idling in drive letting the car roll slowly while dragging the brakes and I can feel it backing in the driveway. Otherwise I can only feel it with the torque converter locked at low speed/low RPM. We'll get it figured out. I appreciate all the help guys.

 

[DRIVEN]

I hope you'll forgive my laziness of not going back through the whole thread. I kind of recall some mention of injector replacement but don't remember it being done. Did you ever ohm check each injector? You can also take a stethoscope with a rigid probe and place it on the top of each injector. They should all "tick" at the same pitch.

My wagon had an injector that was finicky and had a misfire that came and went. Ohm check was fine but you could definitely hear a difference. Seafoam and fresh gas cleared it up. You can chemically treat a mechanical injector problem but not an electrical one.

I don't want to send you on any goose chases. Just throwing out anything I can remember encountering in the past.

 

[slow 442]

Take a good look at the egr valve and solenoid, sometimes they hang up and let exhaust gas into the intake at the wrong time giving a rough idle and low rpm shake.

 

[Streetbu]

It's hard to peg what the issue is since it isn't always there. Normal, moderate, or hard acceleration there is no misfire. High or low speed cruise, no misfire. Only a slight indication of it at idle in park. I can feel it idling in drive letting the car roll slowly while dragging the brakes and I can feel it backing in the driveway. Otherwise I can only feel it with the torque converter locked at low speed/low RPM. We'll get it figured out. I appreciate all the help guys.

How stretched was the timing chain? Could it just be a little bit of slop causing the cam to vary timing slightly when not under load?

 

[Texas82GP]

I hope you'll forgive my laziness of not going back through the whole thread. I kind of recall some mention of injector replacement but don't remember it being done. Did you ever ohm check each injector? You can also take a stethoscope with a rigid probe and place it on the top of each injector. They should all "tick" at the same pitch.

My wagon had an injector that was finicky and had a misfire that came and went. Ohm check was fine but you could definitely hear a difference. Seafoam and fresh gas cleared it up. You can chemically treat a mechanical injector problem but not an electrical one.

I don't want to send you on any goose chases. Just throwing out anything I can remember encountering in the past.

I thought about new injectors while I had it apart but didn't do it because of cost (I would have only bought OEM). I haven't checked the injectors with an ohm meter. Honestly, I'm ignorant of doing so. I'll have to do some homework on how to do that. I meant to listen to them with my mechanics stethoscope last weekend but didn't get to it. I've treated them to in-tank treatments a few times now and no change. I'm starting to doubt they are my problem. I really just need to get it on a better scanner and quit guessing.

Take a good look at the egr valve and solenoid, sometimes they hang up and let exhaust gas into the intake at the wrong time giving a rough idle and low rpm shake.

The EGR valve is new and looked to be of a reasonable quality. It wasn't a one-size fits most where you have to select the orifice washers and then stake them in with a punch. It is unknown brand. It was put on by the previous owner's mechanic. I wouldn't call the idle rough but there is definitely at least partial misfire at idle. I may have to try the EGR block off that Driven recommended.

How stretched was the timing chain? Could it just be a little bit of slop causing the cam to vary timing slightly when not under load?

I didn't pull the timing cover. I considered it but felt like the chain should be ok at 105k miles and was telling myself "you have to stop somewhere."

Thanks for the ideas and feedback guys. I genuinely appreciate it.

I didn't get much done on the car last weekend. I spent most of Saturday helping a friend with the A/C on his 2002 Mercedes E50. He'd put a compressor, evaporator, condenser and drier on it and we charged it up last summer. It worked well but when the weather turned cold it leaked down. The high pressure liquid hose between the expansion valve and the drier developed a leak at one of the crimps. We charged it up a few weeks ago and put dye in it. He found the leak pretty easily. Saturday he replaced the hose and drier and we evacuated and charge it.

While he was working on it, I washed the spare steel wheel I bought for the car. I pulled the weights and valve stem off of it. I looked at my spare tire and hardware for the first time and while everything is there, it is a compact spare as I suspected. I ordered a tire from Amazon to match the four that are on the car. It's supposed to come in today. I'll get it mounted and balanced tomorrow. Then I'm going to move it from location to location on the car to try to identify the tire that is hammering at highway speed. Once I do, I'll replace that tire but before I do I'll probably have that wheel blasted and powder coated and it will become the full size spare.

I did replace the hose from the fuel tank vent to the nylon line for the EVAP. I no longer smell fuel so that's a win. I wondered if I had moisture in the tank so I put some water remover in there with 10 gallons of fresh fuel but no change.

I also replaced the hood ornament. I purchased a NOS ornament a few months back. It was expensive but I think worth it. Here's what mine looked like....

And here's the new one on the car. It's just beautiful. The picture doesn't even really do it justice....

That's about it for now. I'm still daily driving the car. That's 6.5 work days so far and probably around 400 miles. Other than the driveability issue and the hammering tire, it's basically flawless. I've identified another time you can feel the "misfire". If I'm on the highway and say slow from 70 to 50 due to traffic conditions and then roll back into the throttle, the converter will lock, the engine will miss, the converter will unlock, the car will accelerate slightly, then the converter will lock, then the engine will miss. I think the manuals call the phenomenon "hunting" when the transmission can't decide what it wants to do. I don't at this point think this is a transmission issue. I think the engine isn't making adequate power under those conditions and the trans has to unlock the converter.

I'm going to take the wheel and tire to my little shop tomorrow and see how they are doing. If my guy is around and they are slow, I may discuss the issue with him and get a plan together to have him put the car on his scanner, hopefully while I drive. Otherwise, I'll just end up throwing parts at it, which I don't really want to do.

That's it for now friends. Thanks for the interest.

Jared

 

[fleming442]

So, not getting any codes or a CEL, just acting up? Almost sounds like bad gas or a semi-clogged tank sock.

 

[Texas82GP]

So, not getting any codes or a CEL, just acting up? Almost sounds like bad gas or a semi-clogged tank sock.

No, no codes or light. Fuel supply and spark intensity seem fine because it will pull just fine under hard acceleration.

 

[Texas82GP]

I got the new tire mounted and balanced on the spare wheel this morning. My mechanic wasn't there so we didn't talk about putting the car on his scanner. I put the new tire on the car when I got home tonight. On a hunch, I put it on the right rear....

We'll see how it feels on the ride to work tomorrow. I did some homework on what the fuel pressure should look like so I plan to check it this weekend. I'm entertaining thoughts of buying a coil and control module since I want to have spares in the trunk anyway. I read where a weak coil or low fuel pressure could cause the issue I'm having. We'll see. That's it for now friends. Take care out there.

 

[sportriderOK]

Man, that thing is so clean, Jared! You've motivated me to get back on my 91 Caprice wagon that I was fighting last year. It's had a new fuel pump, filter, oil pressure sender, fuel pump relay and ECM, and still it fires off starting fluid but won't run on its own. I finally pushed it off the lift, out of the shop, and walked away from it. You've shamed me into trying again!

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Sticky engine valvescan cause a misfire, may want to run some MMO in the crankcase and fuel to free them. Anytime a engine sits around unused for awhile it can develop sticky parts. EGR valves can be tricky. Often aftermarket brand replacements are not made to the correct specs. When it comes to EGR valves, you want to go with OEM.