[daR4V3N]

First of all, I must say.. I have been using this site as a reference for quite some time, as I recently acquired this new pony with bad head gasketry.

Thanks for all the insightful information. You guys = A+

I have registered out of respect

Altho, I now require some assistance, and are kind of lost...

Head gasket repair and other repairs / upgrades went off without a hitch. Drove the car all day today. Fixed some minor issues with the car in the upper intake area, and some hosing issues.. The car now produces a fog of fuel that is not burnt properly out the tailpipes, and idles like total garbage. Appears to be strong on not firing correctly. Most of the time, it does not stay running for long. (handfull of seconds).

I'm at a loss, and I have to return to work on monday.

Heres what I know:

-All vaccum lines = good. I just replacd and repaired all of them. And as the car was running with more zest than ever today, I don't think this is it.
-Coil. Coils in great shape. was playing with the distrubitor cap to see what was up. Got a nice good jolt between me and the drivers side fender.

Any suggestions? And one more time, THANK YOU for all the discreet assistance

[ChrisJ]

Check your MAF...My notchback did the same thing...Take the MAF out and clean it...See if that helps...If it does I would just go get a new MAF sensor...

[daR4V3N]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Currently, the car is MAF-less. The conversion has not been done yet.

Originally Posted by ChrisJ Check your MAF...My notchback did the same thing...Take the MAF out and clean it...See if that helps...If it does I would just go get a new MAF sensor...

[ChrisJ]

Originally Posted by daR4V3N Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Currently, the car is MAF-less. The conversion has not been done yet. Originally Posted by ChrisJ Check your MAF...My notchback did the same thing...Take the MAF out and clean it...See if that helps...If it does I would just go get a new MAF sensor...

You got me on that one...I forgot that the 87's were not a MAF car...My bad...

Check your sparkplug wires...Make sure they are plugged in correctly...Hopefully one of the 5.0 guys will step up and give you the perfect fix...

[daR4V3N]

*nods* Thank you. I'll hop on out there and double check that.

Originally Posted by ChrisJ Originally Posted by daR4V3N Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Currently, the car is MAF-less. The conversion has not been done yet. Originally Posted by ChrisJ Check your MAF...My notchback did the same thing...Take the MAF out and clean it...See if that helps...If it does I would just go get a new MAF sensor... You got me on that one...I forgot that the 87's were not a MAF car...My bad... Check your sparkplug wires...Make sure they are plugged in correctly...Hopefully one of the 5.0 guys will step up and give you the perfect fix...

[DaveT]

Originally Posted by ChrisJ Originally Posted by daR4V3N Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Currently, the car is MAF-less. The conversion has not been done yet. Originally Posted by ChrisJ Check your MAF...My notchback did the same thing...Take the MAF out and clean it...See if that helps...If it does I would just go get a new MAF sensor... You got me on that one...I forgot that the 87's were not a MAF car...My bad... Check your sparkplug wires...Make sure they are plugged in correctly...Hopefully one of the 5.0 guys will step up and give you the perfect fix...

I was gonna say maf too damn speed density....anyway also check to make sure all sesors are properly plugged in.

[daR4V3N]

Sensors connected. Tripple checked.

Originally Posted by DaveT Originally Posted by ChrisJ Originally Posted by daR4V3N Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Currently, the car is MAF-less. The conversion has not been done yet. Originally Posted by ChrisJ Check your MAF...My notchback did the same thing...Take the MAF out and clean it...See if that helps...If it does I would just go get a new MAF sensor... You got me on that one...I forgot that the 87's were not a MAF car...My bad... Check your sparkplug wires...Make sure they are plugged in correctly...Hopefully one of the 5.0 guys will step up and give you the perfect fix... I was gonna say maf too damn speed density....anyway also check to make sure all sesors are properly plugged in.

[daR4V3N]

Bear in mind, this car was riding fine yesterday. It started acting a little strange in the evening. And then I got it home, it sat in it's garage for a bout 2 hours. Went to start it back up to do some additional inspections. And now we have what its doing now. Also went out and double checked distributor position and tightness.

I'll post more info as it becomes available to me.
Thanks for all your help so far!

[daR4V3N]

I'm going to head outside, to strip the upper intake of both sensors except the TPS, bring them inside and clean on them. Don't know if that will make a difference in this situation or not....

Also, the new heads that I put on the car, came with the smog equipment connections pre-deleted, so i removed smog parts from the car. Left some smog related sensors connected. Dunno if this has ANYTHING to do with what is going on tho. Just making a side note of it, to provide as much info as possible.

And, as reflections.. Could this have something to do with fouled fuel pressure regulator or injectors? Dirt / debris entering parts of the fuel system that far up is a possibility from the recent (less than 1 day) events of the upper engine rebuild.

[mdvaldosta]

Yes, could be fuel related. I'd suggest before you go any further to check compression, fuel pressure, and make sure all cylinders are firing. It'd be a good start. Set engine to TDC and make sure the timing pointer is accurate that your checking timing with.

There are lots of things that could cause this type of problem, hard to diagnose without seeing it. I'd also try pulling codes to see if anything is stored, may give some insight as well.

[daR4V3N]

Heres more info:

My friend Ryan came by, we played around with it. Ruled that the head gaskets are still A#1.

All sensors and bits and peices from the upper intake were removed, checked, cleaned, checked, and re-installed.

How do I pull codes for this car? Looked around for the 87 year model, no nothing.

In addition, I'm now leaning towards fuel pressure regulator, or EFI module directly. Slim chance the coil is to blame... But NOT ruling it out at this time...

[daR4V3N]

Heres a quick photo:

Link To Garage Pic

This is the cloud of straight gas thats coming out the tail pipes. You cant see it the best here. But, it indeed is straight gas. It's like sticking your hand into a container of gasoline. And your clothes too!

[ChrisJ]

Did you say the fuel pressure regulator was bad?

[daR4V3N]

I have no idea yet. Trying to figure out how to get there without replacing everything electronic and sensor related in the engine....

Originally Posted by ChrisJ Did you say the fuel pressure regulator was bad?

[daR4V3N]

Also, after I cleaned everything, it has started to idle between 700 and 500rpm. Barily.

[daR4V3N]

On a stroke of thought, im going to adjust on the distributor... I'll return with my findings.

[daR4V3N]

Adjusted on the distributor. No luck. Dissassembled the upper intake (again). Cleaned everything one more time. Fixed a sloppy job i did on the drivers side valve cover. Replaced valve cover gasket with new.

Turned engine over.

Still out of whack.

Any ideas out there at all?

[daR4V3N]

Removed all 8 spark plugs. Examined same. Heavy heavy heavy deposits of nothing but carbon. In addition. They all reeked like fuel.

Did various other tuning, poking and prodding. Still no luck. But, a severe issue has been found relating to vehicle grounding. (I.E. Negative) This may be part of the problem...

[daR4V3N]

Now going over the timing.

[daR4V3N]

Well. Fixed timing. Adjusted many many things. Replaced the battery. Replaced the Fuel Pressure Regulator. It is still running super rich. 5 pm rolls around in about 18 hours. I think I am screwed.