...and it's making my bank account run poor. Lately I've been getting 12 mpg on the highway. The car sat for a six months or so without being started and with an uncovered motor (no nose on it, I was at boot camp and the cover blew off, and no one put it back on). How could I check to see if the car is running too rich, and what kind of shit might cause it? It's an '88 Town Car, SEFI, 5.0, etc.
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you could pull a spark plug and try to pull the codes, that should tell ya.
5.0s HO and non HO tend to get shitty gas mileage.Give a man a fish and he will be fed for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will promptly forget that he once did not know, and proceed to call anyone who asks, a n00b and flame them on the boards for being stupid. -
Yeah, but I used to get 25 on the highway with the A/C blasting and the trunk loaded down. Now with my accessory belt removed, the mechanical fan replaced for an electric, and a new high-flow exhaust (all of which should help my gas mileage), I'm getting less than half that. Something's wrong here. One of my mufflers isn't on the car currently and when the thing idles oftentimes I can hear pops coming out of the H-pipe, which leads me to believe it's running really rich. That would also partially explain why it doesn't like turning on as easily as it used to also.Last edited by CheeseSteakJim; 01-02-2008, 07:56 PM.Comment
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sounds like a vacuum leak to me......have you replaced the vacuum lines? sitting out in the weather for 6 months will do it's toll..........poor vacuum=shitty fuel economy.
give it a full tune up also.......on an old 302 i change the spark plugs at least every other yr or 12,000 miles......i got a ton of cars, so it's rare that one goes more than 8,000 miles a yr
1986 lincoln towncar signature series. 5.0 HO with thumper performance ported e7 heads, 1.7 roller rockers, warm air intake, 65mm throttle body, 1/2" intake spacer, ported intakes, 3.73 rear with trac lock, 98-02 front brake conversion, 92-97 rear disc conversion, 1" rear swaybar, 1 3/16" front swaybar, 16" wheels and tires, loud ass stereo system, badass cb, best time to date 15.94 at 87 mph. lots of mods in the works 221.8 rwhp 278 rwt
2006 Lincoln Town Car Signature. Stock for now
1989 Ford F-250 4x4 much much more to come, sefi converted so far.
1986 Toyota pickup with LSC wheels and 225/60/16 tires.
2008 Hyundai Elantra future Revcon toad
1987 TriBurner and 1986 Alaska stokers keeping me warm. (and some pesky oil heat)
please be patient, rebuilding an empire!
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I gave it a full tune up before I crashed it about a year and a half ago, and I haven't even put six thousand miles on it since then.
What vacuum lines would put the biggest dents in my fuel mileage? I haven't replaced any... didn't even consider that. I'll gladly replace as many as possible if it means my poor car will run better.
EDIT: How should I go about checking for poor vacuum? I have a gauge, but I don't know which lines to test or what 'healthy' parameters are.Comment
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the biggie would be the map sensor line
any vacuum leak is going to affect fuel economy......should be 18" or better at idle......best spot to hook up is on the front of the intake at the line for the canister purge soleniod......after 18 years the lines under the upper intake turn to rock, and also the hard plastic lines break......my suggestion is to tear the upper off, replace the valve cover gaskets with permadry's while the upper is off, change the pcv screen, gromnet, and valve, all the vac hoses, and put it back together.....should take about 3 hrs
1986 lincoln towncar signature series. 5.0 HO with thumper performance ported e7 heads, 1.7 roller rockers, warm air intake, 65mm throttle body, 1/2" intake spacer, ported intakes, 3.73 rear with trac lock, 98-02 front brake conversion, 92-97 rear disc conversion, 1" rear swaybar, 1 3/16" front swaybar, 16" wheels and tires, loud ass stereo system, badass cb, best time to date 15.94 at 87 mph. lots of mods in the works 221.8 rwhp 278 rwt
2006 Lincoln Town Car Signature. Stock for now
1989 Ford F-250 4x4 much much more to come, sefi converted so far.
1986 Toyota pickup with LSC wheels and 225/60/16 tires.
2008 Hyundai Elantra future Revcon toad
1987 TriBurner and 1986 Alaska stokers keeping me warm. (and some pesky oil heat)
please be patient, rebuilding an empire!
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Agreed, check your vac lines. I'd pull a plug and have a look anyway just to see how they look. You may also want to see if your fuel pressure regulator is burping fuel into the vacuum line. Start it up and unplug the line, if fuel is coming out, the fpr is bad.86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley
91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry
1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal
Originally posted by phayzer5
I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousersComment
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also remember you wont get as good gas mileage in the winter.. the faster your car warms up the better mileage your gonna get so try not to let it sit idleing in the driveway for long periods of time.
dont forget to check your tire pressure
Give a man a fish and he will be fed for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will promptly forget that he once did not know, and proceed to call anyone who asks, a n00b and flame them on the boards for being stupid.Comment
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I like to warm it up for at least a couple of minutes. Mainly because my oil is like syrup when it's in the 20'sOriginally posted by cld783 View Postalso remember you wont get as good gas mileage in the winter.. the faster your car warms up the better mileage your gonna get so try not to let it sit idleing in the driveway for long periods of time.
dont forget to check your tire pressure
1989 mercury grand marquis gs / 2014 ford focus s daily driver
302 lopo with ho upper/ aod with trans go shift kit
k code 3:55 posi rear/big brake swap tow package car
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I'd also change the fuel filter a couple times...sitting is hard on them.Builder/Owner of Badass Panther Wagons
Busy maintaining a fleet of FordsComment
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i myself have a warm up gauge, its called cold engine knock.. once it goes away off i goOriginally posted by gabegt90 View Post
Give a man a fish and he will be fed for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will promptly forget that he once did not know, and proceed to call anyone who asks, a n00b and flame them on the boards for being stupid.Comment
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Manual choke FTW, I can fire up and 30 seconds later I'm good to go - kinda sluggish in the beginning, but it moves!Originally posted by cld783 View Posti myself have a warm up gauge, its called cold engine knock.. once it goes away off i goComment
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Where are the MAP sensor and canister purge solenoid? The only line I found near the intake was the one that goes from the oil fill tube to the top of the throttle body. I tested that one and it read about 5 PSI.Comment
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map is on the firewall, very near the heater core connections. black thing, playing card sized. its mounted so its sort of under the cowl, you'll see the connector and vacuum line sticking towards the front of the car.
canp solenoid is the metal doodad hanging in the vacuum line between the ac compressor and the battery.
if you're getting 5" of vacuum on the line to the oil fill, then your air intake must be seriously congested. That tube from the throttle body to the oil fill is to let the crankcase draw fresh air from the air intake.86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley
91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry
1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal
Originally posted by phayzer5
I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousersComment
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Update:
The MAP is right behind and to the passenger side of the upper intake manifold, correct? Is the car supposed to stall out as soon as I pull that? Because it did...
I also finally got around to timing the engine and found that it was ~5 degrees advanced, which explained the high (~950rpm) idle. I brought it back to ~11 BTDC and now it's idling at ~750, which is very nice.
I also pulled the #7 plug (because that was the most convenient to get to at the time) and it looked pretty darn decent to me.Comment
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