Mystery Miss

I was finally able to get the codes pulled this evening. Codes 28 and 63 popped up with the engine off. With the motor running, it pulled up 23, 25, 28, 34, and 73. It was well below 50 degrees, so that takes care of 28. Didn't tap on the motor, so 25 is taken care of. Code 34 is EGR related. That leaves me with TPS issues with 23, 63, and 73. Guess I'll check out the TPS connections whenever it quits snowing out (unless somebody has any new light to shed on the subject).

Bill

Looks like the TPS is a good starting point

The weather has finally cooperated over the last few days so I could work on the car. Changed the ignition switch first. The miss seemed to get a little better but was still there. Next up was the TPS. Got it changed, but I didn't have time to get it adjusted properly. Ran the car and the miss seemed to be a little worse, but it fixed the problem I had with missing boost (I thought my stock BCS was bad, but I guess not). I was able to adjust the TPS today (about .92 volts). The miss was still there, really bad at first. By the time I got around the block (about a 3 mile drive), the car seemed to be running smoother, but the miss was still there. Is my next step checking out the grounds?

As a side note, the cold weather has just about killed the battery. I've had to jump the car off the last two days. At least the alternator is still good (putting out 14.5 volts). I'm hoping that the weather gets better so the battery will hopefully survive a few more months. If not, the Bird gets parked for a while and the Escape becomes the DD.

Bill

Sounds like a similar type of miss as I had early summer, caused the car to jerk/buck in gear, tach bouncing, then would vanish. Only happened when warmed and never at idle. Problem went away after new dist/PIP/TFI.

Sadly I ran great for a couple hundred miles then the engine started dying completely while in gear and crusing along. Maybe I'll check my grounds too, LOL.

One other thing to rule out is that the miss was occurring before the fans came on when I had it out last night.

Martin... that sounds pretty close to what mine is doing, except that it didn't get any better when I put in the new distributor/PIP/TFI.

Bill

FINALLY!!! I'm a little nervous to jump the gun and declare the problem solved, but the car ran perfectly for about a half hour today. The culprit turned out to be the ignition coil. I had almost forgotten how much fun this car can be to drive. I also forgot how disheartening it can be to watch the gas gauge visibly go down when you stand on it repeatedly.

Bill

KY Bird...

Has this problem stayed away since the coil change? My 88 has a sligth miss that seems very similar to yours. I don't seem to have the dying/stalling/ TFI-PIP type of issues, and have no codes set in the EEC, but have a slight stumble/miss at higher engine speeds (above 3500rpm) kind of like it just didn't spark on 1-2 cylinders. Sometimes I feel like there is a slight intermittent stumble in cruise.

It does feel like a missed spark for a very short interval, It does not feel or sound like detonation or miss-timed spark.

The events are probably less than 0.1 or maybe 0.05 seconds, but happen frequently under moderate to hard acceleration.


the car starts immediately, and runs really well except for this nuisance miss. the gas mileage is running about 20mpg in my mostly suburban mixed driving. (not much highway cruising in my mix)


the car has new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and TPS from the last 4000miles. fuel pressure is solid and tracks with vacuum and boost while driving using a gauge, engine vacuum is stable, and the boost is in normal stock 88 range (to 15PSI). Plugs were gapped at .028 last summer when new, ignition parts are all Motorcraft.

I was considering the problem might be a coil age issue as the stumble.

Anyone have any inputs? my symptoms seem similiar to KY Bird.