pd411

I have a 1985 Ford Mustang with a 2.3. i just did a tune up ( plugs, wires, cap, and rotor) about a week ago and it didnt take away the rough idle or it being hard to start when cold. The car drives fine when its not at idle, and shifts great. But what could this problem be? Do i maybe have to rebuild the carb? Or replace the timing belt? The car has 106,000 miles on it.

Thanks,
Eric

7_Zero

I don't have much experience with carbs, but have you checked the choke to make sure that it was working properly? It can cause problems with cold starts. As for the bad idle, make sure that the idle adjustment screw is set right. Has the car been sitting for a long period of time? The carb might just be dirty and if it has sat for a while some of the jets might be gummed up, have you run any cleaner through it? Maybe shoot some aerosol carb cleaner in it, or run some Seafoam through it. With that many miles a carb rebuild probably isn't out of the picture, but my guess is that it probably just needs a good cleaning and some fine tuning.

maniac_3_2000

I haven't personaly seen or worked on a carb from a Ford 2.3, but If its anything like most old ford carbs, it might have a spring adjuster that's in a housing, that adjusts itself based on how hot or cold it is outside. It adjusts this way to be able to control the right air flow espeicaly during winter time when its really cold.

When its adjusing it would be adjusting a plate inside the carb itself, changing the rate of airflow it would allow during idle.

Sometimes WD40 on it this spring would clear it up. But that's if this car even has this kind of device.

mlitz69

i had the same prob with my 86 it ended up being that the timing belt was off a couple of teeth on the top end