2004 poor throttle response | Ford Thunderbird club group 1955-2005 T-Bird models

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2004 poor throttle response

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paladin
  • Start date Start date
Paladin

Paladin

Gold Member
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9
Thunderbird Year
2004
I have added a cold air intake, replaced the tps and maf, and still the throttle response is way off, if I increase throttle gradually, it's fine, if I floor it, it's fine, but if I want to go from say 1/4 throttle to 1/2 throttle, it does not do so immediately, it either sneaks up on it, or it's like it has a discussion about what I mean, and then decides, (to put human qualities on a mechanical malfunction?) I can force a down shift by depressing the throttle further, but there in lies my problem, any ideas? Thank you.

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Is it a transmission issue? Hook up a good OBO code reader that pulls all the codes and see if anything is logged.
 
did, no codes, it just feels like it kinda bogs, unless I am expecting too much response out of a "fly by wire" set up? also, had the transmission fully serviced, but that wasn't it either?

it tries to respond, it's just not crisp? like a cable set up on a carb would be
are there possible suspects, as in sensors for the shifter on the trans, that would affect throttle response?

do you know of a throttle pedal control device that works with the tbird?
 
Paladin said:
did, no codes, it just feels like it kinda bogs, unless I am expecting too much response out of a "fly by wire" set up? also, had the transmission fully serviced, but that wasn't it either?

it tries to respond, it's just not crisp? like a cable set up on a carb would be
are there possible suspects, as in sensors for the shifter on the trans, that would affect throttle response?

do you know of a throttle pedal control device that works with the tbird?
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It's perfectly fine. The powertrain is just garbage for response. The 3.9 is built to run at high speeds and very high RPM, and only performs well when it does. Get out of pump gas, as well. It'll eat cheap octane but you'll rattle and gum up your valvetrain, that's almost certainly choked to hell by 20 years of gunk. Seafoam/etc won't do it, either, btw. The only time I find the motor awake is at 120mph +. The rest of the time it's just asleep trying to lug around 4300lbs. The vehicle itself performs like a magic carpet at high speeds and handles exceptionally well. At about 100 the weight melts away and even the stock suspension performs pretty well. The rest of the time you're driving a cinderblock.

Highly suggest ditching the motor for something fresh, or stripping your 3.9 down and cleaning it out. There's not much to do with the 3.9, otherwise.
 
Tnargrant said:
It's perfectly fine. The powertrain is just garbage for response. The 3.9 is built to run at high speeds and very high RPM, and only performs well when it does. Get out of pump gas, as well. It'll eat cheap octane but you'll rattle and gum up your valvetrain, that's almost certainly choked to hell by 20 years of gunk. Seafoam/etc won't do it, either, btw. The only time I find the motor awake is at 120mph +. The rest of the time it's just asleep trying to lug around 4300lbs. The vehicle itself performs like a magic carpet at high speeds and handles exceptionally well. At about 100 the weight melts away and even the stock suspension performs pretty well. The rest of the time you're driving a cinderblock.

Highly suggest ditching the motor for something fresh, or stripping your 3.9 down and cleaning it out. There's not much to do with the 3.9, otherwise.
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I agree, once I got the alignment dialed in to neutral, and lost the oversteer, it handles like a dream over a bill, what are you referencing when you say strip it down? I like the motor, and trans, just not the sloppy throttle response. I run 93 octanes, best I can get here.
 
Paladin said:
I agree, once I got the alignment dialed in to neutral, and lost the oversteer, it handles like a dream over a bill, what are you referencing when you say strip it down? I like the motor, and trans, just not the sloppy throttle response. I run 93 octanes, best I can get here.
Click to expand...
Take the heads apart and clean it all out. The rockers, lifters, and valve springs get really gunked up from 20 years of Ford fudds crawling the Tbirds around. It's a real nightmare to get down into it, but once it's all sorted the motor is pretty sharp. If you've got a local track, I'd suggest running the hell out of it once a year or so, just to help keep the crap out of it. Also, you can fix faulty O2 sensors and some odd fuel related sensors if you just run it out for a while. Ford should have just stuck a regular 5.0 in it instead of this little Jag V8.
 
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