North American Turbocoupe Organization



overheating/interduction
DavidArthur Offline
Junior Member
#1
Hello everyone, first time joining a car forum and glad to see theres still people active on this website. Getting info off 10-20 year old post has its limits. Anyways this summer my dad gave me his 88 tbird tc with 107k. (I am 22 by the way) I've really gotten into cars the past few years out of highschool and own about 8 different vehicles so ive tinkered around in this mechanic world to a degree. My dad bought the car new so I am the second owner. Sadly in 2008 he lost most of his vision and could no longer drive safely and thats when the car started to sit. The tags ran out in 2012 and got started maybe once or twice since then. Luckily it was parked on a carport so its in fairly decent condition. Since june of this year i have done multiple things to it just to get it running. Fuel pump, fuel tank, all the filters, new tires, brakes, rotors, oil change, spark plugs, new clutch coming this week and so on. I recently tried flushing the cooling system and saw how nasty the radiator was so i ordered a mishimoto aluminum one. Bleeding the cooling system was the first time the car ran for longer than a few minutes and discovered the radiator fans would not run. I read somewhere (been all over the internet recently so can not remember where) that if the main fan (pass side) ran upon engine starting then cuts off that the computer is good? I read that the engine coolant temp sensor (ECT) controls the fan, i believe? Replaced it yesterday and no luck. Did see coolant so so blockage to the sensor. Checked the thermostat today and found it would not open in boiling water. Replaced it today with no luck. I discovered that once up to temp while bleeding the air out I got a check engine light. I read on here how to jump the pigtail and make the engine light flash. i simply took a video of it ~1 minute 50 seconds flashing. From what i see is this:
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

4
1
6
5

4
1
6
5

The space is a delay in the blank. Not sure what any of this means or if I counted the blinks correctly. Possible 41 & 65? system lean & ECt test sensor below test minimum? Also want to add that while waiting for it to reach temp i gave it a few revs and blew what i though was a decent amount of brown water out the exhaust. I seem to be getting over my head but if any of you guys have info or could point me in some direction i would be more than pleased. Sorry for the long post just wanted to share what I believe to know about it.
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DavidArthur Offline
Junior Member
#2
(09-13-2022, 02:12 AM)DavidArthur Wrote: Hello everyone, first time joining a car forum and glad to see theres still people active on this website. Getting info off 10-20 year old post has its limits. Anyways this summer my dad gave me his 88 tbird tc with 107k. (I am 22 by the way) I've really gotten into cars the past few years out of highschool and own about 8 different vehicles so ive tinkered around in this mechanic world to a degree. My dad bought the car new so I am the second owner. Sadly in 2008 he lost most of his vision and could no longer drive safely and thats when the car started to sit. The tags ran out in 2012 and got started maybe once or twice since then. Luckily it was parked on a carport so its in fairly decent condition. Since june of this year i have done multiple things to it just to get it running. Fuel pump, fuel tank, all the filters, new tires, brakes, rotors, oil change, spark plugs, new clutch coming this week and so on. I recently tried flushing the cooling system and saw how nasty the radiator was so i ordered a mishimoto aluminum one. Bleeding the cooling system was the first time the car ran for longer than a few minutes and discovered the radiator fans would not run. I read somewhere (been all over the internet recently so can not remember where) that if the main fan (pass side) ran upon engine starting then cuts off that the computer is good? I read that the engine coolant temp sensor (ECT) controls the fan, i believe? Replaced it yesterday and no luck. Did see coolant so so blockage to the sensor. Checked the thermostat today and found it would not open in boiling water. Replaced it today with no luck. I discovered that once up to temp while bleeding the air out I got a check engine light. I read on here how to jump the pigtail and make the engine light flash. i simply took a video of it ~1 minute 50 seconds flashing. From what i see is this:
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

4
1
6
5

4
1
6
5

The space is a delay in the blank. Not sure what any of this means or if I counted the blinks correctly. Possible 41 & 65? system lean & ECt test sensor below test minimum? Also want to add that while waiting for it to reach temp i gave it a few revs and blew what i though was a decent amount of brown water out the exhaust. I seem to be getting over my head but if any of you guys have info or could point me in some direction i would be more than pleased. Sorry for the long post just wanted to share what I believe to know about it.

Forgot to mention that once it started to overheat after cutting engine off and back on the fan would start and run until operating temp but only got it to do that yesterday. However today while pulling the codes with KOEO the radiator fan ran the whole time even below operating temp. Not sure if this is valuable info or not. Thanks.
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#3
Fans coming on when first started is a good thing, I have found that aftermarket ECT sensors are not as good as a factory Ford part. I got a genuine used Ford ECT from a late 80's Crown Victoria that I use in mine and it works every time, where as the aftermarket one seemed to wait way to long. Also, just because you have coolant under the ECT (located in between the 2-3 fuel injectors on the lower manifold) does not mean there is good coolant flow to it. If you look at the bottom of the lower intake towards the drivers side fenderwell, you will see a small coolant hose. This hose circulates coolant through the lower intake, if this is clog (mine was) the ECT will only see stagnant coolant which heats up differently than flowing coolant. Pull the small hose off and see if there is any coolant flowing from the lower intake. If not try ramming a small screwdriver or scribe in the lower intake to clear out any blockage. Mine was so clogged I had to remove the lower intake and drill out the fitting and scrape out the crud in the coolant passage. There is a list of codes here https://turbotbird.com/thread-eec-codes--35796
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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DavidArthur Offline
Junior Member
#4
Appreciate the info I will check on that hose after work today. Any idea on the running lean code? Maybe an o2 sensor? Perhaps I should try to find an oem ECT sensor also.
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#5
Code 41 = PCM has detected a lean condition. Most common cause are vacuum leaks. LOTS of places for vac leaks on these engines. I have been driving EEC IV and EEC V (OBDII) Fords for 35+ years and never have seen a failing / failed O2 sensor set a lean or rich code. Lean codes were always due to vacuum leaks.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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DavidArthur Offline
Junior Member
#6
(09-13-2022, 01:35 PM)Jeff K Wrote: Code 41 = PCM has detected a lean condition. Most common cause are vacuum leaks. LOTS of places for vac leaks on these engines.  I have been driving EEC IV and EEC V (OBDII) Fords for 35+ years and never have seen a failing / failed O2 sensor set a lean or rich code. Lean codes were always due to vacuum leaks.
I would not be surprised there are vacuum leaks as its been sitting for several years. Does anyone have a vacuum diagram on here and possibly coolant line diagram? Looking to replace what I can for reliability and performance means. Thanks guys.
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Mikey97D Offline
Senior Member
#7
(09-14-2022, 12:37 AM)DavidArthur Wrote:
(09-13-2022, 01:35 PM)Jeff K Wrote: Code 41 = PCM has detected a lean condition. Most common cause are vacuum leaks. LOTS of places for vac leaks on these engines.  I have been driving EEC IV and EEC V (OBDII) Fords for 35+ years and never have seen a failing / failed O2 sensor set a lean or rich code. Lean codes were always due to vacuum leaks.
I would not be surprised there are vacuum leaks as its been sitting for several years. Does anyone have a vacuum diagram on here and possibly coolant line diagram? Looking to replace what I can for reliability and performance means. Thanks guys.

Somewhere on here is the diagram but I can't remember where.  Sorry.  Or maybe I found it on the Stinger website.

Rent or make or buy a smoke machine.  Makes life a whole lot easier finding vacuum leaks on these cars.
1988 TC, 5 spd, Stinger 3" Exhaust, Schneider Roller Cam, -4° Cam Pulley, Cone Filter, Gilles Boost Control Valve set at 17 psi, Walbro 255 lph, CHE Rear Lower and Upper Control Arms, Braided Brake Lines, Hawk HPS 5.0 Front and HPS (F) Rear, CRES Inserts in front calipers, and '93 Cobra Wheels with General 235/50R17 Tires.   
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DavidArthur Offline
Junior Member
#8
Okay guys been a few days, the bird is getting towed to the shop today for the new clutch to be installed next week. I'm cutting it close on time but i did order a new motorcraft coolant sensor #DY-1145. That seems to be the only one motorcraft makes as it comes as a pigtail to cut the connector off and crimp/solder the new pigtail on. As much as I dont want to cut the factory connector off, I am unable to find a used one. I live in a small town in the mountains of VA and the closest junkyard to me is an hour and half away. According to their website they have zero cars with the same sensor, mostly newer cars. However the new sensor is motorcraft so I feel certain it will work. My question for you guys is does it matter which two wires I hook together on the connector? The paper with the sensor has no info about the connection of it and the two wires coming off the sensor are both black. I assume it will work either way? Also removed the coolant hose coming off the intake and was not clogged. Coolant flowed out and even stuck a pick up the bung to make sure which leads me to the sensor from rockauto just doesn't work as OEM does. Anyone have an idea on the wires before I cut them? thanks
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