1990 2.3L Mustang idle and power problems!

PotentPony · 03-29-2008

Hopefully someone can help me with a problem I have with the car. The car won't idle very smooth and will die most the time..even with it warmed up. It also lacks alot of power and have to keep it mashed to get anywhere. The car also spark knocks like crazy but it gets better as the car warms up.The car has set for a couple of years and I have ran about 4 tanks of gas with injector cleaner in every tank.

I have replaced the fuel filter , spark plugs, plug wires, MAP sensor , O2 sensor, TP sensore and had it adjusted to 1.0 V. I cleaned the AIC out and reinstalled. I also modified the air silencer to get more air. The air filter looked clean but didnt replace it.

The thing I have noticed is that the old TP sensor had a gasket and the new one didnt come with one and I installed without it. the seems to run worse since that was installed. Is there anything I have missed cause Autozone ran the computer and no codes besides the old TP sensor came up.Is there two O2 sensors? Help me please

93stangfutr5.0 · 03-30-2008

sounds like it might not be getting enough air or enough fuel.

PotentPony · 03-30-2008

I went ahead and put a new air filter in the car cause the other one was a little dirty.I noticed on a quick spin that I took that when I got about 40-45mph..the car was pretty smooth. When I got to 55..the car just spark knocks bad. The car spark knocked when you gave it alot of gas but this was consistant at 55 when feathering it. On my way home..the car just pours smoke out of it badly.
the smoke came from what it looked like the EGR valve where the pipe goes into that diaphram. I took the breather pipe that connects to the throttle body off and found a lil oil in there.
could the PCV valve be stuck letting in oil or do you think I burned a hole in my piston? Anyone have a related matter or a suggestion?

PotentPony · 04-24-2008

Problem found! It was a blown head gasket between #1 and #2 cylinders. It was also blown in #1 where a water jacket is causing it to water knock.

jeffy67 · 04-26-2008

haha i was just going to say, head gasket haha but glad you found the problem!