[Shotimes] Valve lash done.....but car seems weaker now.

[John Weidenbenner]

Two items come to mind.

Double check the plug wire positions on the coil pack. The top of the coil
pack has numbers printed. The Chilton's Taurus manual has a misleading wire
location illustration. Maybe the plug wires were damaged during handling or
the plug end is severely oil soaked?

You checked, but check again to see that the secondary runner controls are
hooked up. If not hooked up properly, the secondaries will stay open at <4k
rpm giving lesser performance.

The computer has it's own ground wire next to the battery. It has an inline
connector so you can disconnect. Disconnect and wait 5 to 10 minutes before
reconnect. Start car and let it idle to "reboot itself".

I usually forget to hook up the IAC valve electrical connector when
replacing the manifold. Is idle ok?

A gap in the exhaust connection big enough to stick your finger in would be
really loud!

John W.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Malachuk" <bmalach1@nycap.rr.com>
To: "SHOtimes" <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 2:08 AM
Subject: [Shotimes] Valve lash done.....but car seems weaker now.


> Ok so after winning records for being the slowest mechanic in the world
and
> nearly killing my father with flying shims of anger I got the valve lash
done.
> Everything is in spec now, or tightened up to the low end of the spec.
Most
> were at the high middle to end of the specs.
>
> My valve covers are back on, everything is tq'd to waht the helm's book
says,
> I RTV'd the plug wells, and I fixed my leaking valve cover bolts with some
RTV
> as well. BUT there is just one problem...The car seems weak now, like no
push
> you back into the seat kind of acceleration like it had prior to this
endevor.
> Now I know the secondaries are closing when I start the car, and i'm
fairly
> sure that they ar opening ontime, but something just feels weak. There is
no
> oil in the plugwells now, and the little that was there wasn't even up to
the
> bottom of the sparkplug boot. The wires are the original ones, just cause
I
> don't have the cash for new, but at 73k I really don't NEED to have them
yet.
> Plugs were new 2k ago and I pilled them to check the gap and to see the
> condition of them. My intake was fairly clean but I still used maybe 1/3 a
can
> of berrymans on the runners and the chambers on the heads. Now I know that
4
> of the 6 sets of valves were closed and I had a little b12 on each valve
to
> help breakup the cone of carbon on the back of the valve. but the car
started
> up with minimal sputtering. Oil is flowing like it should and the engine
> sounds normal. I did clean the coil pack and put a little dielectic grease
on
> all the ends, I'm wondering if that might be causing spark problems.
>
> Tomorrow in the rain/sleet/snow I'm gonna reset the comp. Clean any extra
> dielectric greas I can off the coil pack. Make sure the secondaries are
> opening @ 4k by bliping the TB linkage. If none of those things fix it,
I'm
> thinkign I'm gonna have to pull the intake off again and double check the
> plugs. The car dosen't buck, skip or misfire, it just feels like someone
put a
> rubberband around it's nuts. I did notice that there is a sizeable gap in
on
> the rear exhaust manifold where it meats the y-pipe. I can stick my finger
> into it, and there is a plate there rattling around. but I knew there was
a
> leak back there for a while.
>
> Anyhow I need any thoughts, suggestions, whatever as to what I might be
> missing. The engine feels like it runs fine, albeit quieter, but there is
no
> push you into the seat acceleration like before. Is there any way to reset
the
> computer without losing power to the rest of the car? I thought there was
some
> kind of wire that ran from the batt to the comp?
>
> Bruce
> 94 Opal Frost MTX
> 60k 1/2 done @ 73k
> _______________________________________________