Hey guys, I'm having problems with my stock '89 5.0/5 speed. It is idling kind of rough, and the check engine light comes on intermittently.
This started on a long road trip, in the desert of Nevada (of course). I was driving along, and the car started shaking. At first I thought it was the motor mounts, because they need to be done too. However, this wasn't the case. I then thought it might be a driveline imbalance, but the car would not shake in neutral while moving. So, I limped it 40 miles to the nearest little town, found the local mechanic, who told me he thought it was bad gas that got a few plugs fouled and was missing. Sure enough, two plugs were fouled beyond belief. He changed my fuel filter, but did not have plugs and wires for me at the time. Changing the fuel filter helped a little, but not much. I drove another 40 miles to the next town with a NAPA. The guys there helped me out with new spark plugs and wires. This helped out a lot, most of the shaking was gone. But it still idles a bit rough, and shook a bit for a few months, presumably until all the crap was out of my fuel.
Every few hours during that drive, the shaking would start again, and I would get out and get under the hood, and found my distributor was popping the wires out slightly. This stopped after a while, but I still found it odd. All this time, the check engine light never came on.
Fast forward, a few months, and there is hardly any shake, if any. However, sometimes when starting it for the first time in say, a week, it will idle pretty rough until I start moving and shift into second gear, and it will backfire once before running correctly. Also, when I'm cruising down the highway in 4th or 5th gear, the check engine light comes on, stays on for a few seconds, then turns off. It does that every few miles.
Honestly, I'm not that worried about it. It does not sound any different when the check engine light comes on, so there is a chance some sensor somewhere is failing. However the rough idle (slight) bugs me, and I think it may just be time for a new distributor. I timed it earlier this year, and it is still at the same mark as when I timed it also. Something like 17* of timing. So nothing crazy. Run it on 89 octane fuel all the time. I don't abuse it, I just don't know what is wrong with it, and don't want to spend the money on a new MSD or something and find out that isn't the problem.
Sorry for the long read, but you have to know what I know in order for the help to be good. Also, thank you in advance.:beer:
This started on a long road trip, in the desert of Nevada (of course). I was driving along, and the car started shaking. At first I thought it was the motor mounts, because they need to be done too. However, this wasn't the case. I then thought it might be a driveline imbalance, but the car would not shake in neutral while moving. So, I limped it 40 miles to the nearest little town, found the local mechanic, who told me he thought it was bad gas that got a few plugs fouled and was missing. Sure enough, two plugs were fouled beyond belief. He changed my fuel filter, but did not have plugs and wires for me at the time. Changing the fuel filter helped a little, but not much. I drove another 40 miles to the next town with a NAPA. The guys there helped me out with new spark plugs and wires. This helped out a lot, most of the shaking was gone. But it still idles a bit rough, and shook a bit for a few months, presumably until all the crap was out of my fuel.
Every few hours during that drive, the shaking would start again, and I would get out and get under the hood, and found my distributor was popping the wires out slightly. This stopped after a while, but I still found it odd. All this time, the check engine light never came on.
Fast forward, a few months, and there is hardly any shake, if any. However, sometimes when starting it for the first time in say, a week, it will idle pretty rough until I start moving and shift into second gear, and it will backfire once before running correctly. Also, when I'm cruising down the highway in 4th or 5th gear, the check engine light comes on, stays on for a few seconds, then turns off. It does that every few miles.
Honestly, I'm not that worried about it. It does not sound any different when the check engine light comes on, so there is a chance some sensor somewhere is failing. However the rough idle (slight) bugs me, and I think it may just be time for a new distributor. I timed it earlier this year, and it is still at the same mark as when I timed it also. Something like 17* of timing. So nothing crazy. Run it on 89 octane fuel all the time. I don't abuse it, I just don't know what is wrong with it, and don't want to spend the money on a new MSD or something and find out that isn't the problem.
Sorry for the long read, but you have to know what I know in order for the help to be good. Also, thank you in advance.:beer:
