Rough Idle, Accelleration Bucking

[gadget73]

friend of mine had one go on a 2.3 Mustang, smoked, chugged, ran horrible, no codes. Unhooked the vacuum from the MAP, and it idled normally.

[sxcpotatoes]

crap, plugged the EGR vaccuum line, it's still screwed up. New fuel filter didn't solve anything, and there's no heat, one dude at the dealership said I could have a slightly blown head gasket is why there's no heat.

The temperature gauge barely goes up to the N in N-O-R-M-A-L and eventually it'll pop up to the middle of Normal, throw a little heat, then drop immediately back to really cold low side of normal and blow cold air, I was told to check the impeller on the water pump, any other suggestions guys?

[packman]

It almost sounds like an ignition problem. How do your wires look and when was the last time you changed the plugs? I had a similar problem with my Malibu because the valve seal went bad on the no. 7 cylinder. Every few months I would have those symptoms and would have to change the spark plug out.



Packman

[351m]

Replace the thermostat and flush the cooling system, check the water pump, or since the system is drained for the T-stat, get a new water pump. If you have a bad head gasket you will get either exhaust or oil in the rad or water in the oil pan.

[Freshmeat]

x2 on the thermostat- sounds like you have a stupid low temp thermostat, which would cause the engine to run rich trying to get it up to temp. In some conditions the coolant won't have enough time in the radiator so it'll start to overheat, but typically it'll just always run cool. I had that problem- my dad installed a 160* stat, not realizing the sensitivity of the ECM, and that wagon bucked and chugged and everything. Swapped to a 195* thermostat and it ran great again.

I'd swap your thermostat before you do anything else. All you need is a new stat, gasket, flathead screwdriver, 10mm wrench, and a shit load of patience.

[sxcpotatoes]

The plugs and wires AND distributor are new, it had this problem before the new ones were put in. It's been through three thermostats, my totally awesome mechanic basically gave me the car back saying it was seriously pissing him off.

I dunno, it may be time to give up on this and just swap in a 460 and C6 (dude has a pair for sale in the next town over for $300 on craigslist), or save up and do the Explorer/Mountaineer motor build/swap.

[351m]

I would throw a set of mechanical gauges into that car and unhook that factory temp gauge, hook an oil pressure gauge up as well. At least you can verify the actual temp and keep better track of the engine.