FastFox

I need a ton of help!

I rebuilt my mustang motor over the summer. It was a simple bottom end rebuild with a Trickflow Top End kit. I have upgraded to 24# injectors and matching MAF. Throttle Body was upgraded to a 70cc as well. Complete MSD ignition package. New Fuel tank with fuel pump. I switched from automatic to a brand new 5-speed. All sensors were replaced in the process. To say the least I have too much money invested in this 5.0 but it was my first car so I thought it deserved the best. All parts were purchased through LMR. I also removed the EGR and all smog pump stuff.

On my initial startup, the new adjustable BBK fuel pressure regulator malfunctioned sending fuel into my engine. I was able to get LMR to replace the BBK unit with an Aeromotive unit. I changed the oil several times to ensure all fuel was removed. I ended up putting the stock fuel pressure regulator and rails back on the car to test and tune for the time being while I waited on the Aeromotive to arrive. The stock unit is still on the car currently.

Fast forward to today and I am still unable to get the car to run correctly. It will idle enough to back the car out of my garage but barely has the power to make it up my driveway which has a small incline. The car bucks, pops, stutters, shimmies and shakes. The idle is all over the place.

Today I ran the codes on the car and this is what I am getting:

With the car on, but not running I only got the codes for the Smog pump. No big deal because the smog pump is gone.

With the car running, I got the following codes: 21, 41, 91, 33, 13. The reader also said it was testing a 4 cylinder engine.

I then ran the codes a second time thinking it glitched since I obviously have an 8 cylinder. This time the following codes came up 26, 41, 91, 33, 18, 13. This time the reader said I had a 6 cylinder engine.

I am completely confused on what to do next. I hate to just start replacing parts and spend even more money. I have my timing set to 12 degrees and the TPS is set to .98 volts. The codes above tell me the car is running lean according to the new oxygen sensors and that the new MAF is malfunctioning. It also says the idle is too low but i set it per the instructions found here on Mustang Forums.

I know this is a long post, but please someone HELP me before I pull all my hair out haha.

wbrockstar

Did you make sure all the vacuum hoses are plugged,that you disconnected from the smog system components?? Did you totally remove the tab/tad solenoids,valves, hoses,crossover pipe & the pipe leading to the hpipe??
Code 41 & 91 can be caused by numerous things.The main two causes are vacuum leaks and a loose/disconnected/corroded hego ground wire.This is the orange wire with a ring terminal thats part of the fuel injector harness.The wire should be mounted by a lower intake (rear) bolt or a crossover pipe bolt on the rear of the driver cylinder head.Its the ground for the o2 sensor heaters.The maf sensor & o2 sensor codes may be related??
Make sure the pcv valve hasnt popped out of the lower intake.This will cause a vacuum leak.
The following link details other possible causes for lean codes.
http://sbftech.com/index.php/topic,29771.0.html

Hook a timing light up,remove the spout plug and start the car,to make sure timing is still sitting at 12°.Then reconnect the spout plug and check timing again.It should be advancing by 4-10°.If its not advancing,
the spout plug may be bad or the spout wire may be open.

Code 33 is present because of a egr issue.You said you deleted the smog pump.Did you also delete the egr valve
or is it still present?? If its still in place and functional,remove the vacuum hose from the egr valve,plug the hose then take the car for a test drive to see if the issues you're having go away.If they do disappear, the egr valve is either sticking open or the evr solenoid is bad.The rubber diaphragm can also tear and create a vacuum leak.

FastFox

Thank you wbrockstar for responding. Your response helps!

I had some time today to work on the car. I bought MAF cleaner and cleaned the MAF element. I also installed new spark plugs with the proper gap (just to be sure they had not fouled)

I checked all the vacuum hoses and they appear fine. I removed the smog components completely but I actually ended up leaving the EGR valve and capped its line. Upon further inspection I realized the EGR diaphragm was totally ripped as you said above. I removed the EGR and installed a plate with gasket and sealer. This helped the car tremendously but it is still struggling. The car pops but not nearly as bad. It still has no throttle response to actually drive it down the road.

Now that the car was idling better I was able to readjust my idle a little higher to get it in the 800 rpm range. The idle still spike on occasion to around 1,200 but usually comes back down to 800ish. I reset the TPS to 0.98 volts.

I am not confident in my brake booster, so I removed the vacuum line and plugged the vac tree on the manifold. This didn't have much difference on driveability but I will leave it this way for now.

I double checked the ground wire for the injection harness. It is bolted to the back of the bellhousing with one of the long bolts that goes to the block. I assume this is okay.

With the car still not running correctly, I decided to put my vacuum gauge on the intake manifold vacuum tree on the back of the manifold. I was only able to read 10 in Hg at best. Shouldn't this be much higher? I am considering pulling my upper intake manifold to retorque the lower intake manifold.

Any other thoughts?

wbrockstar

Did you keep the auto ecm and auto o2 sensor harness or did you swap them to manual parts,when you done the transmission swap??

FastFox

I kept the automatic ECM. I bought brand new automatic o2 sensors through LMR and installed them as well.

I know that keeping the auto ECM will give me some slight issues with idle because I don't have the neutral sensing sensor. My idle is not perfect but I can probably live with it.

FastFox

I ran the code reader again. I am still getting codes for being lean at the O2 sensors. I have an automatic computer with automatic O2 sensors even though I have a T-5 swap. I also noticed the car is acting weird with its timing. As the RPM increase the car is actually retarding the timing instead of advancing. Any clue what this could be caused by?

wbrockstar

I was primarily asking about which ecm you had because the signal return trace (pin 46) can get fried on the circuit board when a manual ecm is used in combination with an auto o2 sensor harness and the clutch safety switch.The fact that you're still using the auto ecm & o2 harness + you don't have any codes present for the sensors that share the signal return (black/white) wire, verifies youre ok on this front. I"ll do some research through my bookmarks to see if theres something easy you can do to rid the idle issue related to the swap.One good thing about the auto ecm is it has slightly more aggressive timing than the manual ecm.From the factory,the auto equipped cars had jumpers inserted into the harness plugs for the clutch safety switch and several other switches.Im not sure if you've removed them then connected the harness plugs into their respective switch or left them alone,etc,etc,but you done something right or else the car wouldn't be starting. Just in case you missed anything related to the swap,the following link may help with those connectors/switches.
http://www.shortlinegarage.com/2007/09/17/aod-to-t5-a-12-step-program/

I believe timing is supposed to remain at a
fixed value,once the spout plug is removed? Therefore,you could have one of numerous things causing it?? The tfi module & pip
sensor should be tested.The harmonic balancer ring could be spinning around the hub portion of the balancer,making the timing marks flucuate vs remaining fixed.
Remove the spout plug then check timing again.Are the fluctuations still present??
If no,the balancer is ok.If yes,inspect the
balancer thoroughly by drawing a line (using Witeout) down the front face of the balancer (so Witeout will get onto the hub and outer ring too),start the engine and
shut it off after a few seconds of runtime.
Are the white lines you made still aligned
with each other?? If no,the balancer ring is
spinning, so you'll have to replace the balancer.I came across a few threads on another site & several people were having the same issue as you.They pinpointed
the cause as loose cam retainer bolts or
a loose cam sprocket bolt.Those bolts should ideally have a dab of Loctite placed on them before install,so this issue doesn't occur again.
When you replaced the new fuel pump,you didn't accidentally forget to install/tighten
the "S" hose clamps did you?? If a clamp
is loose or the hose is torn/split,you'll have enough fuel/pressure for the engine to run,
but it'll oftentimes lose power when accelerating,when putting a load on it or when going wot. Pressure can
also cause the hose to be blown off the fuel pump,if a clamp is loose.