Fuel issues on my old '86

Long wire from batt pos to the pump is a good way to directly test it. Also check the pump ground to be sure it is intact.

Well I finally got time to change out the pump and all is well. Runs nicely again. Thanks to all for the help! Now I have steam coming out of the exhaust and it is using coolant. Probably a head gasket. I need to pull the plugs to see which cylinder is "steam cleaned" to be sure. Any posibility for the water cooled turbo to leak water into the intake instead of a bad head gasket?

Not likely. You could have a leak at the lower intake gasket though, and coolant being sucked into the #2 or #3 cylinders. Otherwise my vote would be for a bad head gasket, or in the case of my TC, a cracked head that has split into one of the coolant passages (dun-dun-dun).

Not likely. You could have a leak at the lower intake gasket though, and coolant being sucked into the #2 or #3 cylinders. Otherwise my vote would be for a bad head gasket, or in the case of my TC, a cracked head that has split into one of the coolant passages (dun-dun-dun).

+1

Hopefully it is just a gasket, but with that many miles on a stock head it could very well be a big 'ol crack.

-Matt

I suppose a quick check of the spark plugs would show if only one cylinder was affected or two next to each other. If it were two I would also suspect a cracked head but a gasket could have that effect as well.

Update: Checked the plugs and it doesn't look like any of them are "steam cleaned" as I would expect to see due to a head gasket leak or water vapor in a cylinder. The engine still runs very smoothly. There is still some steam and drips of water coming out of the exhaust though. No water is present in the oil that would point to a cracked cylinder wall. I noticed my fan isn't coming on anymore and the water pump just started leaking. Can I safely plug off the coolant to the turbo to see if the leak is from the turbo.

Thanks to all for the advice!

Take a short length of hose and loop the coolant lines going to the IHI together, this bypasses the IHI entirely, and still circulates the coolant normally. If it's still steaming after that, then you know that wasn't the problem. With the mileage on your car being so high, it's likely that you have a cracked head. It's very common with these motors. Pull the head off, check the gasket/mating surfaces on the block and head for flatness, and take the head to a machine shop to have it checked for cracks, only way to know for sure exactly where the problem is.

Thanks turbird77. I think my 1986 turbo unit is a T3 instead of an IHI isn't it? If I need to swap heads will a 2.3 head from an '83 Mustang / Capri be useable?

Oops didn't notice you had a 86, so yea T3. The head from any 2.3 will work, although the N/A 2.3 head will bump your compression ratio up to around 9:1. I'm running an N/A head on mine, and I love it. That head combined with the ranger roller cam, make for a nice low end torque increase over the stock setup.

That's good to know. I have a left over head that is in good shape. I'll probably use the original turbo cam and matching cam followers when I do the swap but a roller Ranger cam would be kinda cool. Are D shape intake ports better or worse for turbo engines?

The factory head has D-shaped intake ports.