1988 Ford Thunderbird Hesitating - Engine

Question: The car is a Turbo Coup. When the engine warms up to a certain temperature- maybe 100 or 120 degrees or so- it misfires for about 2 minutes wheather driving or parked. If accelerating, it is undrivable and I must pull off the road till it warms up a little more. Then it is good until the engine completely cools down again. I replaced the TFI module and oxygen sensor but there was no change. I took it to a Ford dealer and they said it would stall during the diagnostic test and that they wouldn't do any more before replacing all parts that didn't say FORD on them including the TFI, coil and stator assembly. Looking through the old receipts from the former owner, I found that the same dealer had replaced all of these parts for the same complaint in Nov. 1999. This seems to be a common problem because I see ads for cheap Turbo Coupes with the same problem.

Here's How To Get Guaranteed Solutions In Minutes

Technican: Sounds like the turbo may be gone or going. The turbo works off the heat of your exhaust. If the inner bearings are starting to freeze(cold start) and the vehicle runs well at a normal operating temperature, I would have to suspect this as the problem. Paul

Owner: The hesitation starts to happen after the engine is warmed up for a short while. It starts and runs fine until then. The turbo is new.

Technican: In my years working for a Ford dealership, I seem to recall seeing a technical service bulletin regarding this matter. I don't recall the specifics and can't access the proper channels to obtain. Your local dealership should be able to pull up any recalls or TSB's that pertain to this vehicle. I don't quite understand why they would refuse to continue work on your vehicle without replacing parts with FoMoCo. I never would have refused it in my shop, but than again, if the part needed to be replaced so that diagnostics could continue, that would be the case. Some techs have a tendency to start at the top of a flow chart and work down, throwing parts at the vehicle all the while. I tend to start from the bottom of the chart up in most cases to try and minimize unnessary parts needed. If your local dealership won't help you out, take it to a reputible independant garage that has computer control diagnostics. In a vauge sense, I recall the TSB that Ford put out on this vehicle had something to do with the control module. Paul

Here's How To Get Guaranteed Solutions In Minutes

More Thunderbird Answers

Home

Ford Answers

Aerostar
Aspire
Bronco
Bronco II
Club Wagon
Contour
Country Squire
Crown Victoria
E 150
E 250
E 350
Econoline
Escort
Expedition
Explorer
F 100 Pick up
F 150 Pick up
F 250 Pick up
F 350 Pick up
Falcon
Festiva
Fiesta
Focus
Granada
LTD
Lightning Pick up
Mustang
Mustang Convertible
Mustang GT
Mustang Mach I
Mustang Notchback
Mustang Sedan
Probe
Ranger
Ranger Pick up
Sedan
Taurus
Tempo
Thunderbird
Touring
Windstar
ZX2
a_old

Home

template