[flyboygeo]

Hello all,

I have been reading this great mustang site for some time now and have finally registered

Well I have a big problem that I do not know where to go with next! Here it is:

A few weeks ago, I noticed my '84 LX 5.0 4BBL was not warming up, it continued to run cold and never made it anywhere in the normal temperature range on the H20 gauge. So thinking maybe it was the thermostat and asking a few local people, today I changed it and still have the same problem. The car will not warm up causing the car to run like total crap and burn lots of gas! The car idols like crap, and I am getting 70 miles on a tank of gas. Just 3 weeks ago I got 275 miles on a full tank.

Also carburetor experts ---> do you think maybe the carb is burning ultra rich, burning lots of gas and keeping the engine cool?

Thanks for you help

[Dark Knight]

is the engine itself hot? guage could be bad, water level low.. etc..
stock carb? the idle mixture screws work in reverse of standard holleys.. turning them in richens the mixture..

idlle high? is the choke kicking off?

[flyboygeo]

Dark Knight, cool to see you have an '84 also.

The engine is definately hot, the only thing really saying its not is the temp gauge and the roughness in the engine. I did check the water level and i filled it 50/50 mix up to about 4 inches from the cap filler hole.

The carb is stock with no mods done on it. It was idling high, soI adjusted the idle speed with the screw on the drivers side, right between the solonoid and throttle cable. No other screws turned. However where are the idle mixture screws located, I could try leaning them some.

This is very weird considering the car only has 48,300 miles and has never given me any problems in the past, this just happened all of a sudden

[meangreen92]

The mixture screws are on the carb base like a two-barrel. If they've never
been adjusted, there are supposed to be plugs that need to be removed
before you can turn them. They require an allen wrench rather than a screw
driver. The primaries are in front, while the secondaries are in back. The sec-
ondaries are obscured by the heat shield. I have an '84 also, and it had a Ford
reman carb on it, the tamper-proof plugs were gone. These carbs came from
the factory jetted lean due to emissions concerns. These carbs are screwy.
The Holley model number is 4180. Mine requires that the engine be cranked
for a really really long time when starting it the first time of the day. It doesn't
matter what I do with the throttle, what the outside temp is (winter or
summer), or what position the choke is in. It's like the bowls are empty, but
they're not. I tried rebuilding it but it still does this. I've never figured this
problem out. Oh, and 4180's are way expensive!!! You could probably get
a Barry Grant or a Demon cheaper. Good luck.

[89stanger]

ok fly, first thinkg i would do if i were you, is find out just what is happening with your water temp, go get an autometer gauge set or a similar set and install them, even if only temporarly or if only the water gauge, but find out what is going on that way, then let us know what is happening, just sorta to fix one problem at a time, this is what i have noticed works best, isolate the problem, fix what you know, and green, here's what i would do if i were you, it sounds like you just don't have the pressure in your fuel line, either sell it and get an injected one, like my 89 sorry had to, or take out the diaphram pump, i think they use them on your car, just put a cover plate over it, and buy a high effency racing fuel pump, and just set it up on a seperate switch u flick when you get in because i am about 99% sure your "cold" start probilem is a fuel problem, and that would ensure that, or the other thing you could do, is when you wake up tomorrow pop your hood and open up your float level screws so that you can just double check there is fuel in there, unless you alreity have done that, did this happen at all with the stock carb? if it did, try this, check your compression first thing in the morning, it almost sounds like you have serious ring damage so there is no compression, untill the oil lubes them up, you know how to tell if rings are gone with putting oil in the cylinder right? try that

[meangreen92]

Yeah, the guage thing almost sounds like the insrument panal voltage regulator.
Does it take as much to fill 'er up now that you're doing it more often? Although
the oil pressure guage would be affected. I've witnessed this on my 84 and on
my old 82. Maybe check the Ported Vacuum Switches - the orange thing and
the green thing on the driver side rear of the intake. They open or close vacuum
circuits depending on the coolant temp. Check thr EGR valve first though.
Check vacuum also. Thank for the info, 89, when I was driving the 84, and
when I had the 82, I would read about the injection stuff in my Haynes manual
and think; "thank goodness I don't have to mess with that stuff", but now that
I have my 92, I'm quite happy with it. The 84 does have an autozone fuel pump
on it come to think of it. The oil down the spark plug holes will temporarily restore
compression, right? That car has 205,000+ miles on it, so everthing you mentioned
is probably on target. It had the reman (from Ford) 4180 on it when I got it back
in 99. Once she's started, she runs good and doesn't smoke. And I tried to fix
my line length issues in this post, and only made things worse

[89stanger]

i hear what your saying about the oil presure gauge, unless the problem is between the regulator and the accual gauge or between the gauge and the ground, and it is possible that only half of the regulator is fried, either way, 2 gauges can't both be wrong and showing the same thing if they are completely independent, and green, u werte talking about not smoking, try this, take your oil cap off and hit the throttle, open wide up while running and close it, just like reving it with the pedal do this with your hand over the oil filler hole, if u feel pressure at all, it is most likely your rings gone, i know in my 89 with 220 000 KM on it it burns oil like a grease fire, i put about a liter, or a quart, regular sized oil container, in per tank, or up to, depends on the driving, any who, check that, it is a higher mileage engine so that could possibly be it, and the oil in the cylinder will restore it for the first 4 or 5 cycles of the cam, however long it takes for the oil to seep back down or be burnt

[89stanger]

and i just thought of this, i just got a job @ mr lube, i don't know if u have them where u live, it's just a drive through oil change place, they do all types of fluids, that's why were the fluid experts, ne who, i noticed in the training thing, that we do tranny pan heaters or oil pan heaters, heats the oil/tranny fluid, this may be a good idea for ur cold start problem, or even a block heater if u have one, plug your car in over night, it will keep your engine somewhat warm, should help the next morning, and with the oil heater, it will help keep the inside of the engine that much warmer, i don't know if it is like a battery blanket or anything like that, where u plug it into a 110 outlet or if it just goes to ur battery and runs off of 12V's and they put it as a ko thing or a switch u flip like 20 min b4 u wanna go somewhere

[meangreen92]

Are we hijacking Fly's thread or what? Any progress Fly? Anyway I don't
drive the 84 anymore, it's a rusty T-top bubbleback Capri RS. It has many
"issues". I'm stripping the paint and I'm gonna fill the holes and paint it and
let it sit. Most sane people would crush it today, but in twenty years, it
might be (if preserved in its current state) a restoration candidate. I can't
bring myself to crush it. So I plan to make it look presentable so I can keep
it just about anywhere. But I still suspect that it's the carb causing this, as
I tried putting my 8 year old out of the box Holley 600 (4160 vacuum sec-
ondary) carb on it, and it fired right up cold or warm. And it produced much
cleaner results than the 92 on the emission test. I agree that keeping heat
in the motor would help. I'm just thankful for lifetime warrenties on starters.
One day I'll have a garage and a welder, and be able to fix it right.

[flyboygeo]

Hey guys, I have been out of town for some time, so here is an update:

Well believe it or not I was doing some more troubleshooting and found a small washer stuck in my primary air inlet on the carb. I have NO idea how it could have gotten stuck in there. So i think that was screwing with the airflow at idle. Plus i found a fuel leak on the primary side of the carb, that was dripping out pretty good right on the intake manifold. (Why couldn't I see this the first time I checked) Next I took off the carb, replaced the gaskets on the bowls and other parts, and cleaned the heck out of everything. Now she idles great and warms up! I just need to fine tune the idle and troubleshoot the temperature gauge problem. It is still reading extremely cold, even after letting the car idle for 15-20 minutes. Weird!

Thats the news for right now.

[meangreen92]

Good to hears she's running good again. On your temp guage, the
first thing I would do would be to pull the wire off of the sending unit.
(Driver side front of intake). Ground the lead to the car and turn the
key to run. The guage should be pegged on the hot side, if SO, try
a new sender. If NOT, I would pull the guage cluster and clean the
contacts on that guage (copper nut to printed circuit "board"). This
fixed the temp guage on my 82 which would peg hot at the first signs
of warmup. But first, what's the temp rating of your new 'stat?