Ok, 4 months later and I need help.
Some back story, I got Phase 1 complete, drove the car around our HOA in Az, lots of thumb’s up from nice neighbors. But, car was running rough, had it at 12 degrees BTDC on the 87 TBird 5l, and no codes.
So, I suspected a vacuum leak and testing confirmed it: these engines had more vacuum lines than you could imagine. So, I build a smoke machine, and lots of time later, I finally tested the smoker on the engine. Had quite a bit at the EGR valve. I knew it was good, so I removed it to find, no gasket. Weird, I did buy one, and I no longer own one, so, who knows. So, two days later, new gasketted EGR valve and no smoke leaks, none.
So, I start it up to recheck the base timing, got it at 14; I bumped it up from 12. I‘m still seeing very low vacuum at 750-800 idle, 10-11 inches. A higher idle, like 100-1200, yields 13-14 inches.
A few other observations
1. It’s running very rich
2. Weirdly, the 1-4 bank exhaust temp, at the rear exit, produces a hot to the touch pipe, the 5-8 side is cold; you can put your hand on it (Dual exhaust with no cross or H pipe).
3. It has a lope at idle, but the PO says no engine work.
My thinking is, next steps:
1. Compression test
2. Cylinder leak down test.
I wanted to ask, if both of those tests come out clean, what would you do/test next. I have replaced the MAP sensor. I was wondering, since I don’t know, if this sounds like a Ox sensor failure. I’m starting to also suspect my EEC-IV tester (I have the INNOVA 3145 Ford Digital OBD1 Code Reader) is not working because it shows no codes when I run it. That rich hydrocarbon odor should show me something.
Ideas, advice, solutions?
For fun, here are two videos I made of today’s testing. First one is the engine running at idle with low vacuum, and second is temperature testing with my hands the exhaust tips:
View attachment IMG_2645.mov
View attachment IMG_2646.mov
