[tls02htstcl]

Hi to all, name's Terry, I'm a Denver firefighter. I own 2 1966 coupes
1 1987 convertible 4cyl/auto and just purchased a 1986 convertible with a 3.8 V6 Auto. transmission. I see by mustang history books this motor was only in about 3 years of cars. It has the throttle body injection. Initially it wouldn't start, firing order on the dist. cap appears to be 180 deg. from service manual. Factory firing order is 1-4-2-5-3-6 but this was set up as 180 deg off 4-1-2-5-3-6. It will start but run poorly, missing badly until quitting. If the timing is set to factory specs. it won't fire at all. I've moved the wires everywhere thinking different cam, different firing order, but I don't see anyone modding these V6s with cams. I did manage to get it to run almost normal and it died after about 2 minutes. Now it acts like the old ballast resistors used to when bad. (only runs when the key is turned on, stops as soon as key is released) The body and interior are immaculate otherwise I'd probably scrap the whole idea by now. I was told by previous owner (who only owned it 3 months) it ran perfect when he got it and then started to do the Gremlin thing about 2 weeks ago, prompting him to sell it to me. Thanks for any help. Maybe I should swap to a new 3.8 version (1993-1999)? There's about 6 different motors available locally, just don't know if that kind of swap is even possible. Thanks Terry

[jim293]

Terry welcome to the site. Lets try your question in here.

[nigel]

Welcome to the site.

[shinerstang]

If the timing chain was replaced with the cam being 180* off, it will have to be done that way. It sounds like a bad distributor to me. Take off your cap, and see if the rotor is stripped.....

[tls02htstcl]

Originally Posted by shinerstang

If the timing chain was replaced with the cam being 180* off, it will have to be done that way. It sounds like a bad distributor to me. Take off your cap, and see if the rotor is stripped.....

I thought about that also, but there doesn't seem to be any excess play in the shaft. I suppose some of the electrical insides may be shorting out, but I don't know what tests have to be done to check that. It definitely crossed my mind because once I found the firing order that had it running almost normal, it degraded almost immediately without me moving a thing. I suppose I can try one and hope. No returns on electrical makes it an expensive attempt if that doesn't cure the problem. Thanks for the advise, we're definitely on the same wave length. Terry