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

[Bruce Malachuk]

I used the helms manual for the plug wires, but I'm gonna check them again
just to be sure. My rear head had very very little oil in the plug wells, so
little that it barely made it up to the hole for the plug itself. I also
cleaned them really well, but I'm kinda thinking that perhaps some of the
dielectric grease I put on the ends that plug into the coil might be
hampering the spark? Marc Randolph made mention about that black cannister
on the back of the intake, and I know it is hooked up, and the secondaries
close upon start, but perhaps it died somehow when I removed the intake, or
there is corrosion in the line. That canister is easy pull off and make sure
there isn't any corrosion. Is there a way to test it with a multimeter? I'm
gonna start reading my taurus electrical/vac book in a second, but maybe
someone's seen this before. I nearly forgot the IAC myself this time too,
but the idle is better than it was before the valve lash.

There is 1 of 3 things I'm hoping it could be, that canister, the gap in my
manifold to y-pipe, or the computer/running on loads of berrymans to start
with. But first I need breakfast before I start on this. Any other
suggestions?

Bruce

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Weidenbenner" <johnjweid@earthlink.net>
To: "Bruce Malachuk" <bmalach1@nycap.rr.com>; "SHOtimes"
<shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 8:18 AM
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] Valve lash done.....but car seems weaker now.


> 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
> > _______________________________________________
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