Happy to join this community! Mostly looking for help though...

[sly]

The line going into the car branches back out to the thermal blower lockout. A leak there will look like a large leak inside the dash. I've never had the stuff in the dash seal perfectly though.

True. But having the things not even seated doesn't help either... which was my issue.

[Arquemann]

Looking under the dash, I can see 2 of those metal housings for the vacuum diaphragms, one a little left from the trans tunnel and the other on the very right side of the car.
Both are in such shitty places and the orientation doesnt help either. Oddly enough the rods attached to the flaps and the diaphragms are quite rusty. Everything else under the dash is just fine and clean.

Since I'm running out of holidays, I've scheduled a mechanic next monday to figure out the rest; the EGR, the vacuum leaks, fuel pressure and injectors and whatever else they do to get the dang thing running well.
It mostly just annoys me that I couldn't do everything myself. I need to focus on other stuff too so I can't use up all my free time on this moving on.

[Arquemann]

Update on from the shop:
It's running pig rich, they checked the afr from the tailpipe. Guy said that it's a wonder it runs so well being so rich.
Though, when the smog pump is on, the ratios are quite alright.

They ordered new injectors and a pressure regulator, which is fine by me.

[87GrandMarq]

Is the ego sensor plugged in? How old is the map sensor? When I had my 85 if I unplugged the ego sensor it would run rich but it would run much better than when it was plugged in lol. No rolling idle for me!


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[Arquemann]

Ego sensors were supposedly alright, not the best but in "working condition".
Faulty ego sensors would pop a code probably, right? Still no codes.

Map sensor is probably original, I dunno. I have literally zero service history, I have the latest inspection receipt/whatever, but the pleather mercury -pouch had someones phone number collection and nothing else.

Shop will have the parts in a day or two, and will put it back together asap. I really hope that stuff fixes the issue, along with the vacuum leak fixes.

I cant wait to get the car back so I can park it overly close to my classes' dickhead's bmw, whos always fucking with me about me liking american cars.
No-one in my uni class gives a shit about american cars and a few dipshits have an idiotic need to give me a hard time about my passion which does not align with theirs.
Their tough luck when my "oversized" landyacht is blocking the drivers door and they have to squeeze through a tiny gap or climb over their center consoles. My doors are already a bit dinged up and the paint's faded. Have fun swiping your plastic bumpers against my crooked steel bumper and see which one cracks first. I mean hey its my "underpowered, gas guzzling, archaic and boat-like" chariot of pure awesomeness and classic luxury that has automatic air conditioning and power seats, which your sad little base model 3-series does not have

Damn I love my car

[87gtVIC]

Lol nice.

[gadget73]

The smog pump should not affect the fuel mix. If the oxygen sensor is bad, or if the smog pump is constantly pumping air into the back of the heads it will run very rich. Same if the MAP is bad, or has low vacuum signal.

For what its worth, I've never had a bad oxygen sensor give a code. The only time I get codes is when the engine is legitimately running rich or lean. Last bad CFI O2 sensor I ran into did fail in a way that made it run rich. The car ran absolutely fine, but the fuel economy was horrible.

[Arquemann]

I'll talk with the mechanic about the oxygen sensors, that might be the next step anyways, if clean injectors doesnt help.
As long as I've had the car, it has consistently gotten 15-16 mpg in mixed driving, I dont know how bad that is for these flying bricks.

We'll see, atleast those ego sensors aren't that expensive, if it comes to that.

[gadget73]

There is only one sensor on a CFI model

15-16 is about right but not that many things will explain a really rich fuel mixture and no code. If the engine is rich and the ECM doesn't whine about it, something is wrong. Unless the smog pump is constantly injecting air into the heads and causing the oxygen sensor to have incorrect readings. Pumping air into the heads will look like a lean mixture so the ECM will add fuel.

[knucklehead0202]

Ego sensors were supposedly alright, not the best but in "working condition".
Faulty ego sensors would pop a code probably, right? Still no codes.

Map sensor is probably original, I dunno. I have literally zero service history, I have the latest inspection receipt/whatever, but the pleather mercury -pouch had someones phone number collection and nothing else.

Shop will have the parts in a day or two, and will put it back together asap. I really hope that stuff fixes the issue, along with the vacuum leak fixes.

I cant wait to get the car back so I can park it overly close to my classes' dickhead's bmw, whos always fucking with me about me liking american cars.
No-one in my uni class gives a shit about american cars and a few dipshits have an idiotic need to give me a hard time about my passion which does not align with theirs.
Their tough luck when my "oversized" landyacht is blocking the drivers door and they have to squeeze through a tiny gap or climb over their center consoles. My doors are already a bit dinged up and the paint's faded. Have fun swiping your plastic bumpers against my crooked steel bumper and see which one cracks first. I mean hey its my "underpowered, gas guzzling, archaic and boat-like" chariot of pure awesomeness and classic luxury that has automatic air conditioning and power seats, which your sad little base model 3-series does not have

Damn I love my car

Hell yeah. I take near-constant ribbing about my "old-man" cars, which thus far have proven to be more reliable than pretty much everything these people own. I just chuckle as i explain to them that EVERYTHING on my 30-year-old shitbox works, while their 5-10 year-old cars have spent as much time in the shop as on the road. Who's the real jerk here?

[gadget73]

people act amazed when I tell them all the power and option stuff on my cars work. I guess fixing things is just an out of date concept.

[sly]

people act amazed when I tell them all the power and option stuff on my cars work. I guess fixing things is just an out of date concept.

This. Then they ask how much it costs me to keep it running. I tell them lifetime warranties are great. Hasn't cost me much for the past 6-8 years.

Except for that whole engine swap thing and re-wire and OBD-II hack in that Scott and Thain did.

Edit: along with several others that helped get that car running again.

[Tiggie]

I guess fixing things is just an out of date concept.

Words to live by for most Americans, sadly.

[Arquemann]

Had a talk with the mechanic again, new injectors and fuel pressure regulator installed, no noticeable change, something is still making the thing run really rich.
The oxygen sensor was actually changed to a new one as one of the first things after the rich diagnosis. He forgot to mention that last time.

Apparently the catalytic converters are done, either they have been emptied, or I've burned a hole through them as I've driven ~1200 miles as is since buying it. Great...
If the cats are toast, could that get the ECM to do stupid things?

Also it would seem the misfire / breaking up at low throttle is still an ignition issue, from what the mechanic said. He has a tester of some sort coming in a day, SNEC-4 or something like that.
Time for a new dizzy? From what I've read the TFI modules don't half-work, either work fine or you've got no spark. Plugs and plug wires were also double checked.
Can a wiring issue cause a misfire that happens only on idle/low throttle?

"It ought to be a simple fix, change plug wires and such, it's been sitting for a long time" -my father from the back seat after the test drive. I could've got an '88 MGM and SEFI for 2k more, instead I wanted the pre-facelift front and the brothel-red interior. And along with that, came a wheelbarrow of problems.

I just want my damn car!

[VicCrownVic]

I believe all sensors on these cars are pre-cats, so I don't think the ECM cares if the cats are even there or not.

I had a TFI module cause a misfire at high RPMS before. I was able to narrow it down to the TFI since I had multiple TFI modules and multiple distributors which I swapped around a bit and the problem always followed that TFI module regardless of which distributor it was installed on. So it's possible, even if not common, for a TFI module to do stupid things other than no spark at all.