Hello All... My name is mike, and I am a newb here at mustangforums... I have a question that NO LOCAL mechanic wants to answer!!!

haha

I bought an 89 GT, that has 131,000 on it. I bought the car from a really close friend of mine. He bought the car from the original owner just over 1 year ago... The car is beautiful with new paint , flawless interior, and polished draglites...

That's the good stuff, and here is the bad

When my friend bought the car stock, it ran like a champ. It wasn't a rocket ship by any means, but it ran really smooth, and fired up quick and ran great after every startup... THEN....................

My friend took the car to a local (friend) mechanic, and had these mods done at the same time...

-Off road h-pipe w/ flowdaddys and turndowns (real original right?)
-180 deg. thermostat
-F303 Cam
-Double roller Timing set
-New MAF / TPS / EGR / Coil Pickup (not real sure what a coil pickup is...)
-Centerforce stage 2
-CAI
-zex wet kit with 100 shot... (Supposedly never sprayed...)

Since the car was backed out of the garage, the poor thing takes forever to start, runs like crap pretty much all the time... (surging, falling on it's face, no power)

The car DOES start easier in warmer weather.....

The car DOES run better when it is cold (below 180)

The car has had 3new NAPA mass airs put on (thinkin that was the problem)

WHAT IN THE WORLD DO I NEED TO CHECK FIRST???
timing, head gaskets, sensors, computer, plugs, wires, distributor, ignition???????

Please help....

Thank you very much,
Mike

TheDENTMANEtc.

 

First mistake- NEVER let your friends work on your cars without being there ( I had a motor lock up becasue of that )

Well it sounds like a combo of things. I would just start going down the line of what all has been messed with. but it really sounds like a electric, air/fuel, and timing to me. but I am also not that great with the EFI cars. That is why I stick with the old carb

 

your tps is out of adjustment,


so maybe the idle and timing

 

Ok guys... I got some more info on the car... The timing is set at 26 degrees advanced BEFORE IT WILL EVEN RUN! (holy cow) It's also rumored to not have aftermarket valve springs... This could be a big problem right???

When timin is turned down to 24 degrees advanced, it will not start or run... Did they key the timin gears wrong??? Is the cam too big???

Thanks for any more help guys... I really appreciate it...

Mike

 

big cam+stock valve springs=BAD!

 

coil pickups are for carbed car's, not EFI. remove it.

 

EFI cars do have pick up coils, they are in the distributor. It sounds like maybe the distributor is a tooth off. Even with stock valve springs it should not have these problems.

 

agree, advance the dizzy one tooth, and try it,

 

make sure the o2 sensors are hooked up too
you have adjusted your timing with the snout connector removed ?
if you timing is correct it could be off a tooth on the timing gears
don't think the spring have anything to do with the poor running
but for sure would more then likey float out at lower rpm's with such
a big cam, might be worth the money to take it to someone with a scanner andjust have the system tested to make sure all the sensors are good because guessing will never get it done

 

try moving all of ur plug wires one to the right (clockwise) that **** happened to me when i changed my wires it ran but ran like crap no power lag everything. try that it worked out for me