themachinist

ok, first off, im sure if i had plenty of time to read through this info i could find these answers but im really tired and have tried much of what i know to do. here goes.. bought a 1990 4 cyl n/a automatic w od a few months back and was not impressed w the mpg that i was getting... less than 20 around town... first can anyone give me mpg #s that are reasonable for a good running 2.3l. things ive done... changed oil and filter, plugs (gaped .44), rotor button and cap, not much better mpg. I noticed a rattling in the exhaust and sure enough the pre converter was bad and the other one not much better, new exhaust from just below the manifold, only running 1 cat now and a performance muffler, mpg seemed to actually go down??? seems strange to me since its flowing better now(it was noticeably stuffed before...smothered itself when shutting down) not now. the check engine light flickers accelerating and up hills, the codes i got were KOER 41 21 and KOEO 13 can anyone tell me the most likely causes of these codes- 41 engine running lean -21 coolant temp out of specified range-normal idle not w/in spec. i changed the o2 sensor today thinking that it was the cause of the leaning mix bc it was in that old stuffy exhaust- now the check engine light seems to be flickering more than usual and for the first time it stalled out on me 3x while coming to a stop(consecutive...start up drive forward a bit then stalls) and sputtered while accelerating from a stop. was able to get it home but it feels like the gas pedal is real heavy like something pushing back against it. it has stalled on me in the past when starting up and shifting into reverse( when the tranny engages in reverse it sometimes stalls out (usually only on the morning start up))...any link bt the two? it also uses a bit of tranny fluid(1 qt every other wk or so) but i never see any under the car..zero....can it be hanging out in the bellhousing just building up? when i got the car i did pull the upper intake and tb and curb idle and cleaned w tb cleaner, and soaked the pcv valve, i ran one of those engine gunk remover products right b4 last oil change..less than 100 miles ago but b4 the o2 sensor change

i know that its hard to find the ?s in this but i wanted to give an accurate description of what ive tried...o yeah the tps is set at 1.0 and seems much harder to get to to adjust than my 5.0 mustangs...will this # being a tad high...(+.02-.04) cause much trouble) ill do this if its needed...there a stupid egr pipe or something in the way.

i think the car has 144k miles on it but when i got it the engine was soooo clean that its possible that it was 44 k

basically im looking for help withe the flickering engine light and the disappearing tranny fluid....and the specs on normal mpg for a n/a 4cyl

btw...when i park the car at night i think i smell burnt tranny fluid but again no puddles or drips...and it used to puff a tad bit of white smoke on initial start up after sitting for a couple hrs...not sure if it still does since the new exhaust..ive been more concerned w the other probs

another btw...i can hear a slight miss/roughness in the idle

any help will be greatly appreciated im getting tired of spending money in the wrong areas and am very willing to do tests and checks

if ive left anything out that will be helpfull let me know.

bacon57

Gas milage for your car should be around 20 city 25 highway
The bad idling could be a bad MAP sensor, thats what my old one was
another cause for rough idling could be a coolant temperature sensor, it is on your lower intake manifold.
the transmission problems could be all kinds of things, those a4lds are crap, If I were you I would scrap the auto and get a t-5, it will get better mpg, go faster, and be a lot more reliable

sleeper_inc

I got 21 city, around 30 hwy. Auto, 90k miles. I beat the car daily and gas mileage never changed...

Change your ECT, run a compression, leak down, and vacuum test. Check your timing, get your TPS BETWEEN 0.90-0.98, clean your IAC (cylinder looking think right by your EGR) Clean your EGR, also I have the same transmission issues, drop the pan, put in a new filter and fluid. Check your vacuum lines, if you see fluid check your FPR, if it doesn't smell like fuel (the vacuum line off of it, then its not ruptured, but if you smell fuel, replace) if you see a redish, brownish fluid in the vacuum lines replace your transmission modulator

themachinist

ok, i did find a reddish brown fluid in the vacume line coming from the tranny to the vac tree so ill try the modulator change, ect...is that the coolant temp sensor..(i know prolly dumb ?), i tried checking the timing but im not sure how to read it, there is no pointer just the plastic shroud w the numbers on it, where am i supposed to refrence this at? i did notice that the crank pully has a notch in it that seems stationary when shining the light at it while running but i dont know how to time from this...the gap(on the end of the crank pully) is 5/16 to 7/16, if this is the mark, do i time to the center of the notch, the top or the bottom? also does it matter what angle i hold the light at?...o yeah i cant find/reach the distributor hold down bolt?? where is it...is it really that hard to adjust the timing on one of these 4 bangers?...i cleaned the iac, tps set at .98. i noticed that the vacuum line coming from the tree to the little diaphram/filter looking thing is collapsing while running, does this have to do w the bad modulator? i will replace the hose since it is rubbery, do i need to replace the little filter thing(about a foot from the tree)?

sleeper_inc

themachinist

thanks sleeper inc. u've been very helpful, i actually found a nice post u put up w pics of the engine and the notch on the crank pulley, mine had no color on it so it was very hard to see, i put some white out in the notch and it showed me the way...its timed pretty close to 10 w the little clip thing out (the thing in line w the distributer) so i didnt mess w it...4 now, i did get the ect in and while i was pulling the upper intake..a medium ammount of trans fluid came out of the tb to intake mating surface and when i got the upper off i saw trans fluid in the lower runners...i noticed a sensor in the lower intake in the bottom right runner (if u are on the drivers side fender) what is that? it was gunked so i shot it down w cleaner and a red sensor appeared w/in the outer 3 pronged housing. i now know where the trans fluid was going and suspect that burning trans fluid in w the air fuel mix will cause many of my "probs" w the throttle response and w the lean mix and possible idle... not sure though however...despite my best efforts while removing the old modulator the "tiny" intermediate shaft that joins the modulator and the trans disappeared...literally in front of my eyes... i took the old one out and realized that the new one was not w/in reach so i reinstalled the old for a sec to grab the other one and when i re-pulled the old one the little sob fell down on top of the top side of the pan mounting flange and i spent 2 1/2 hrs fingering around for it w no avail(its not like theres much place for it to go up there just a few square inches, so ima say a gremlin took it...i even saw it fall outa the old modulator on to the flange...from there i have no idea where it went)...im not terribly pleased w the fact that they dont provide a new one of these w a new modulator seeing as how it is so small...easy to loose and important...do you know where one of these could readily be found...im stuck w out it...id rather not crawl under a junkyard car and pull this out( it was pain enough getting to it w the car jacked up 3 ft)

themachinist

the collapsed vac line is a black line that is prob a 3/8 i.d. it runs to the right off the tree just below the brake booster vac line ant it runs into a filter looking thing about a ft away that is white on one side and black on the other( about the size of 3 quarters stacked together)...im pretty sure this goes to the trans bc this is where i found the majority of the brownish red trans fluid.....i did get a length of line and replaced but still cant start the car till i get that little "shaft"

sleeper_inc

That is the air temp sensor in your lower intake. That little shaft is a PITA, but I don't think they make it anymore so... you might be stuck there[&:]

I made a vacuum diagram, but I can't seem to find it anymore[&:]

themachinist

i was able to order and oem replacement from the ford dealer here but it hasnt come yet...they said next day...bs...it always takes them 4 ever...thats why i hate the dealership...they lie to u to keep u coming back...just my opinion...hope to have it tomorrow which would b the 2nd day..and should b able to start her up n c what the prognosis is....I didnt damage the air temp sensor by spraying it down w cleaner did i?

nolysantiago

I have a 92 Mustang lx 4 cylinder engine is running rough at idle and through higher rpm.
What should I check ?