All - I'm writing on behalf of another member who started having car problems today. Has '92 Roadmaster Wagon. Car started running horribly today. Pings; Runs like on 4-cylinders; Stalls; Blows smokescreen on hills; Almost has to step to floor on accelerator pedal to make the car move; & Running very rich. Found and fixed a Vacuum Leak (Front right of throttle body to a T, then back towards the distributor, and forward to a line across the valve cover to what looks like a heater valve. Plastic line broke right behind the T). Fixing the vacuum leak had no effect on making the car run any better. Has anybody experienced this before or have a clue where to begin to look to fix this? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.
OldsVistaCruiser likes this post
Fred Kiehl
Posts : 7290 Join date : 2009-11-13 Age : 76 Location : Largo, FL 33774
How do you know it is running rich? Did you read the codes?
It could be a clogged cat. It could also be the connector hose between the fuel pump and the sender line. I would also check the ground at the thermostat housing. None of these will throw a code. The ground is the first thing I would check. You should make sure you have a good ground there because it is the ground for the computer, and the O2 sensor.
The last place I would look is the ignition module on the distributor. I would not change the module until I explored the other three possibilities.
A common culprit for full rich is the MAP sensor or hose to it. If it sees no vacuum it can think it is wide open throttle and go rich, unless they are doing a comparison to the TPS.
If it is MAP, it would be both banks, can you tell if that is the case?
oldsbattlecruiser
Posts : 28 Join date : 2019-02-24 Location : Wackyfornia
The code shows you where to look. A faulty ground at the thermostat housing will cause a rich mixture, poor idle, and poor running. If not fixed quickly, it will cause the cat to get clogged.
oldsbattlecruiser
Posts : 28 Join date : 2019-02-24 Location : Wackyfornia
More notes from owner of sputtering '92 Roadmaster: Found another vacuum line disconnected and the passenger side fuel injector not spraying. Neither injector leaking. Suspect broken feed wire.
goldwolfnhn
Posts : 328 Join date : 2019-07-11 Location : Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Update: Possibly diagnosed: Bad passenger side fuel injector. Reversed the leads to the injectors for the driver's side lead to feed the passenger side and vice versa. Driver's side injector kept working.