My Car: 88 TC/AUTO 63k miles w/ 2&1/2" exhaust/Cold air intake/bypassed BC (for now)
Problem: very Often, Random Miss fire/backfire or studders, somtimes stalls, when hot or cold, gets worse when hotter...
Replaced(so far): Plugs, wires, cap/rotor, distributer, PCV, TPS, Fuel filter...
Codes found: 23(tp/fipl), 14(pip)erratic even after all new parts...??
If anyone has any knowledge on this problem whatever it is?? PLEASE HELP ME before i spend money i dont have on the wrong parts, i would rather use the money for race parts instead of stock parts...
-THANK YOU...
What brand wires did you use? A lot of wires (even expensive ones) don't work as well as the straight, stock Motorcraft.
The "gets worse when hotter" symptom is common to the TFI. Has that been replaced with a reliable part, recently? How about the PIP? When my TC had similar symptoms not to long ago, a rebuilt distributor (with new PIP and TFI) solved the problem. Although you can replace the PIP and TFI yourself in your current distributor, I broke the teeth off of the distributor gear trying. The cost difference between parts and a rebuilt unit was less than I expected, so I went that route.
Are you using Motorcraft plugs? Many folks have tried other plugs, such as platinum, but I don't think many of us have had any success with them.
Hope this is helpful, and gets you going in the right direction.
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Mike Walsted - NATO member
1986 5-speed TurboCoupe and
1985 5-speed XR7
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Walsted:
[B]What brand wires did you use? A lot of wires (even expensive ones) don't work as well as the straight, stock Motorcraft.
Every thing i have done has been in the last week, i used motorcraft plugs, borg warner wires, borg warner cap/rotor, Reman. distributer...
I,m gonna try switchin wires to motorcraft but can the brand difference really cause such a harsh problem?...
I'll update the progress on here & THANK YOU for all your advice and input...
Yes, the wires can make that much of a difference. One of the members on the TF board was paying a mechanic a fortune to chase down a problem like you described. It turned out to be the set of new wires the mechanic had installed when the car went in for a tune up. New doesn't always mean "Good".
Hawk
See the article in the Technical Articles on "Idle/TPS adjustment". If you are getting a code 23 after replacing it, it either was not set properly or the new one is defective.
Code 14: This is an intermittent loss of PIP signal. It may be that the PIP is weak. But see Walsted's comment. Some brands of plug wires are thought to interfer with the PIP signal. If you didn't use the Motorcraft stock replacement wires, try that first as they are cheaper and easier to replace than a PIP. If you did using the stock wires, then maybe it's time to replace the PIP. If you do it's recommended that you also replace the TFI module on the distributor.
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NATO Member. it's not a vice, it's an obsession
"The nice thing about each new day is nobody ever used it before" Barnaby Jones
88 TC X 2, 86 SVO, mods list at
http://www.turbotbird.com/showroom/pd_88tc.htm
If you installed a remanufactured distributor then it should have a new PIP in it. However, I did get a reman distributor that had a new dead PIP in it, it can happen.
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NATO Member. it's not a vice, it's an obsession
"The nice thing about each new day is nobody ever used it before" Barnaby Jones
88 TC X 2, 86 SVO, mods list at
http://www.turbotbird.com/showroom/pd_88tc.htm