88 T/C problems

Hey all. Looking for some help with my 88. The car doesn't want to accelerate like it should. It will fall on it's face when you give gas in any gear. The tach bounces from about 2g to redline and at idle it reads over 2g. The engine is idling normal. Also if you give it any gas it spark knocks like crazy, even if it's just idling with no load. The timing is set right. I replaced the coil, ignition control module and did a complete tune-up on it a little over a week ago and everything was fine until today. One other thing, with the engine any electrical load, like putting the windows up etc. causes the tach to bounce. Could I have a computer that's going bad? Oh and no check engine light. TIA for any help.

Could be a cracked hose form the throttle body to the intercooler or intercooler to the turbo. Ty

Check to make sure the cam timing is correct. Also check the EGR. There is some info on EGR in the FAQs.

The tach jumping like crazy indicates an ignition problem, possibly linked to a charging problem. What brand of tune up parts did you use? Motorcraft plugs / wires, etc? Bad plug wires, arcing in the dist cap, etc will make the tach go crazy.

Check batt voltage to be sure the alt is charging correctly.... with motor at 2000 RPM, accessories off, batt should be 14.2 to 14.5 V. With lights / heater blower on high, voltage should drop a little, like 1/2 a volt or so. A dieing alternator can cause electrical noise in the whole system which will mess up the electronics.

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Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 20 psi, forced air intercooler, water injection, bypass valve, Ranger roller cam, subframes, etc., etc.. // 86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP nitrous, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.... // 91 Escort: Bone stock winter car // 02 Taurus Vulcan(wifes car)

Any possibility of a bad distributor? If I disconnect the plug on it(the one that you pull to set the timing)the tach quits acting screwy and the pinging goes away, but it drives like I took about 30 degrees of timing out of it. Absolutely no power. I'll check all the other stuff posted above. I did use bosch plugs (I've been running them for the 3 years I've owned this thing). Dist cap and rotor are sorensen and the plug wires are autolite. Also a sorensen ICM.

If you have bosch platnium plugs, I would suggest replacing them with a conventional plug like an autolite or motorcraft. The platnium plugs will cause goofy things to happen with igniton.

When you reinsert the plug (sprout) after setting the timing, it should add 20* +/- 3* to the timing. This should be fairly steady at low rpm. Check it with a light and vary the rpm enough to make it ping and see how steady the timing is. If it varies a lot, the distributor, or it's gear teeth may be worn.

Is your knock sensor still hooked up?

As far as I know the knock sensor is still hooked up. I replaced the plugs with a non platinum, and got a good cap and rotor. Cleaned out the egr and the idle bypass valve. And replaced the plug wires. The dang post came of the coil when I pulled the wire off to change it, so I'm stuck until I can get a coil tommorrow. I got a granetelli fuel pump for it awhile back and never got around to changing it. I'm gonna go ahead and put it in tommorrow night. Question about the tps. I've got a green, orange and black wire going in to it. I take it the green one is the one I want check for voltage when setting it, question is how do you get the pin for the meter on it? All the ends at the plug and and the tps are sealed. On my 4runner its set by resistance, so you just unplug the connector and measure of the pins on the tps. This one has got me baffled. Thanks for all the help so far. Keep it coming.

Well after a new dist, ign module, cap & rotor, wires, plugs and fuel pump(had it for awhile, finally decided to replace it) the problem seems to have gone away. I appreciate all the input. Glad I found y'all.

Glad the problem appears to be fixed.

On the TPS, I use hat pins or sewing needles to back probe the Green (+) and Black (-) wires. I then use a couple wires with alligator clips on each end to connect to the meter leads. By back probe I mean to run the pins into the connector from the back side until they bottom out. It's kind of hit or miss but you want to do both wires rather than using some other ground due to possible resistance differences.