disco192

Ok so my car all the sudden decided that it wanted to be more like a civic. The power is GONE!! It backfires all the time and will barely idle; varies betweem 400-800 rpm. If I turn the AC on (i live in TX) then it will almost always die when its idling. I tried unplugging the MAF and it died right away.

It is making some nasty hissing sound when i let off the throttle, im not sure what it could be. It also sounds like most of the nasty noise is comming from the driver's side.

When i accelerate it will lag, backfire, "hiss", and jerk.

My 1st thought was an intake leak or possible worse (internal).

BTW: oil pressure and temp are normal, but the gas guage is going crazy. When i filled up with gas, there was ALOT of pressure in the tank.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Stu

Kryckter

Start the car up and spray some carb cleaner or TB cleaner aroudn the intake where it meets the head. Also spray it around the tb. You will hear the RPM's raise if it is leaking. Other things to check for would be low fuel pressure. Make sure you have around 40-45 psi. MAybe opti is going south on ya? Just start checking the basics.

Johnny-Z-Man

It's a good idea to invest in a scanner to pull the trouble code's. I invested in an Auto-X-Ray 3000, and it quickly payed for itself.

disco192

Its OBD1. Im thinking about investing in a cable to read the sensor data. That is much more inportant than the stupid trouble codes.

Johnny-Z-Man

Yes, t's OBD1. The X-Ray 3000 reads live data.

ford

Maybe our cars are twins? Mines doing the same thing. Though i have a tear in my intake elbow. Im pretty sure its just the opti taking a dump on me because its getting progressively worse.

disco192

Well i just went outside and checked it out in the day and the 3rg header bolt on the drivers side was stripped. It isnt broken, but it will not twist in any farther before it "pops" and keeps turning.

Could a bad header leak cause this?

Johnny-Z-Man

Not from the way you orgionally described it, but anything is possible.

disco192

See, it sounds kinda extreme for a header leak, but before it started running like crap it was running really rich.

Then the header leak got worse and is fouling out my plugs and o2 sensors because of all the excess gas.

Any thoughts, shoebox? injuneer?

Johnny-Z-Man

You need to scan that OBD1.

disco192

So I got an extra header bolt today and tightened down the bolt that was stripped (got a longer bolt to catch groves) and it is still running bad. I noticed smoke of some sort comming from the header where i put the bolt in. It went away after the car heated up.

My 1st thought was a blown header gasket. Could a blown header gasket with fouled o2s and plugs cause my car to run this bad?

My 2nd though was an intake leak, but it kinda seems out of the picture with this whole exhaust leak thing.

My 3rd though was an opti goin south.

What do you guys think?

disco192

Common guys

Can a blown header gasket, bad o2s, and fouled plugs cause all this?

Or is it my opti, replaced in November? (then a delteq is on the way)

ford

Without scanning it, the only way to go is start with the cheapest first.

If you know you have an intake leak for sure then definently start there. Same with the header gaskets.


Like they said above, scanning it is the only way to be sure.

Kryckter

I seriously doubt a header leak would cause that kind of problems. You may want to start looking somewhere else.