1997 developed intermittent miss | Ford Thunderbird club group 1955-2005 T-Bird models

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1997 developed intermittent miss

M

missinglinc

Bronze Member
Reaction score
3
Thunderbird Year
1989
My 97 Thunderbird 4.6 was running great for well over a year, but has recently started missing periodically. I have changed the coils and fuel filter, it seemed to be better for a day or so, then back to the odd miss. I took out the MAF and gave it a good cleaning, was surprised at how much detritus had accumulated since I last cleaned it, again, seemed to run better for a short time, then back to the periodic misfire. I have put my code reader on, but it has no DTCs stored.
Last fall I installed a new intake manifold due to a coolant leak and had no trouble following that. It seems to run ok when the ambient temperature is cooler, like in the morning on the way to work it usually runs ok, but in the heat of the afternoon it starts to misfire again. I've had the car for about 3 years now, it didn't run when I got it, I replaced the PCM, plugs, wires, coils, fuel pump, and probably a few other things that I can't remember now.

I've read some other member's posts about replacing a canister purge valve, or some bad vacuum lines connected to the purge valve, but not sure what the symptoms of these issues are. I'm moving in a couple of weeks and would like to get this resolved before if I can, any help/advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated. I have also noticed that it will seem like there is more "drag" when I'm coasting at a steady speed.

Thanks

Randy

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First off you said that there's no codes, this is assuming that you have not had the battery un-plugged recently, pcm will not give a code until it's through a "drive cycle" which on my '95 4.6 is about 20-50 miles of normal driving.......
IT does sound like you are describing a faulty mass-air sensor, you say that you cleaned it out, BUT, how old is it ? consider swapping it out with a brand-new piece of crap from rock auto, that new cheap piece of crap will work better than a 30 y/o motorcraft that's been cleaned six times, and cost on cheapest mass-air from rock is'nt that much, And if your planning on keeping this Bird for a while, I'd consider swapping out the a.i.t. sensor that's screwed/twisted into the air filter box.........My o.e.m mass-air went out when the car was about 20 years old BUT was doing as you described, like a complete dead miss always at cruise..........
On the purge valve, on mine the vac line rotted out right where it connects to the purge valve AND all I ever got from that was a low idle nothing more......
 
Try running Top Tier gas and also add Royal Purple Max clean to it.

I've seen recent tests about gasoline and the difference between some of the cheap gas versus top tier gas is alarming, especially with recent pressures on oil supply.

The cheapest place you can get top tier fuel is Costco.
 
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