I've got a problem! Big one given the time of year.

Since I got my car back from the tranny shop (if that is what you want to call it it! ) I have slowly noticed a lack of power, slight stumble, and big decrease in gas mileage. I also noticed what sounded like a vaccum leak from the driverside while driving.

Now here is what I have found out this morning...

I pulled the Bank 1 downstream o2 sensor and found that it was covered in sute. I checked these about two months ago and they where all a nice gray, as they should be. I have also recently changed the Bank 2 downstream o2 sensor because of a P0420, but it has persisted! I know that the only thing left is the bank 2 precats and that is on the to do list after the holidays. I know right now is the perfect time to do them since I have the extra time off and I might have time to do it Thursday and Friday.

The stumble is at two different times. The first is when I stabe the gas. I know that this is the MAF sensor and I have cleaned it twice. After the first time, it seemed to help a little, but the second and third times... nothing. Ok! So it is time to get the MAF. Add that to the to buy list! As well as that darn security torx. But there is yet another stumble. When driving along at any speed, the car will seem to surge at different times. I will not increase the throttle or let off. It will just give a little surge and then die down, run fine for a good while and then surge again. No real pattern to it that I can find.

The plugs and wire have about 12 thousand on them and I just regapped them about 4 thousand ago. They are Autolight p's, no not the pp's... I bought these before I started coming to the site. I am planning on putting on a set of the Ford 9mm wires after the New Year and a set of Autolite App's. I am sure that if the o2 sensor's look the way they do, the plugs are coated really good.

the vaccum leak... I don't know where to start! I pulled the hood and started listening around. I could not hear anything from the diverside, where all the vaccum lines are. I could hear a good deal of air coming from the around the powersteering pump area! I could not find any leaks as far as fluid and the steering is smooth as silk with no noise.

Something is causeing me to run very rich and I cannot find out why. I had all the codes pulled yesterday and there was the Torque Convertor Clutch (P0743) and the persistant P0420. Can someone give me some pointers as to where to go from here?

Besides the shop! Everyone knows that no one is open now.

I pulled my plugs and everything seems ok. Very nice even gray burn. No black build up!

Come on, someone throw me a bone here!

All it takes is a little 1/8" line off, of cracked to throw fuel injection off. Make sure tranny shop reattached the lines to the EGR and all those little vacuum driven things behind the intake manifold. I had a car that would surge when going up hills. Finally found a vacuum line that was bumping the firewall with a slit in it. Did you try running it with the MAF unplugged? The EEC will use an internal table to determine the numbers. If yours is bad, it may run better. You should have seen the stuff the stupid Ford dealer left off/loose Tour II, intake manifold bellows was just hanging on by a lick. Took 4 turns of the screw to tighten up.

my car did the same after i had my tranny rebuilt

it was just the egr being unhooked.

i got a cel after driving for a while.

check all the hoses/fittings - they probly missed or pinched one or more.

Alright I will go back and recheck the hoses again. It is so hard to see them completely back there behind the intake manifold!

I feel so stupid! I remember reading about unplugging the MAF and letting it run. I will try that out!

I will let everyone know what I find tomorrow!

I went and got the vaccum diagram for the 98-2000 2.5L from the FCO site and follow everything best I could. Well I found everything anyway! Everything looks good. I was able to carfully run my hand down most of the lines and could not feel any crack or abrasions. So am about as sure as I can be that I do not have any vaccum leaks. So what the hell is that sound I am hearing? I might actually try taking my laptop out with me and do some recordings of it.

As for the MAF sensor. I unplugged it and let her warm up. It ran horrible! Actually felt like I had a few wires crossed. I ran down the road about a mile and pulled over, turn the car off, pluged the MAF back in and everything seemed ok. After about a mile or so more, I slowly rolled the throttle to almost WOT and not a single stumble or surge. I was only able to hold it there for a short time, so I couldn't say where or not it would not surge. I only ran it for maybe 50 yards under these conditions. After reaching the middle of the left hand turn, I stabed the throttle and she locked up sweeter then... well you know!

I am starting to think that they might have shorted out the PCM at some point in the repair of the tranny this last time because of all this (confusing the PCM with the unpluging and repluging of the MAF w/o reseting). The P0743 also mentions a "short to PCM" in it's definition. Then again, it would run worse than this wouldn't it?

I have had a good chance to put the car through it's paces and found that when really driving hard, the car performs great! If I am slowly driving through town, I seem to have more noticable problems. When crusing at lower RPM's it will surge slightly.

Hell I don't know! I am getting an aligment, hopefully tomorrow, and then just get the plugs and wires next month.

The PCM has a self test - would have thrown a flag, unless the designer did a piss poor job of it. Plug in the laptop and see if the IAC, ignition, or fuel system is causing the surge. My AutoXray displays injector PW, IAC, etc.

Originally posted by 2X95SEs:

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The PCM has a self test - would have thrown a flag, unless the designer did a piss poor job of it.

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I thought about that.

Originally posted by 2X95SEs:

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Plug in the laptop and see if the IAC, ignition, or fuel system is causing the surge. My AutoXray displays injector PW, IAC, etc.

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I wish I had one of those! I found the website for the AutoXray that you mentioned and it really seems like a nice tool. I tell you, scanning software has really come a long way since I last used on of those. I would like to have something for my laptop, but I don't.

**UPDATE**

This weekend I replaced my AP764's with APP764's and put on some new wires. I couldn't get the Ford 9mm's that I wanted, so I had to get some Autolite Proffesional's. The change to decent wires and the APP's has made all the difference in the world. My car will actually bark the tires and it has never been able to do that! As for my gas mileage... I am now getting roughly 26 mpg! That is a good mix of city and highway.

Thanks for all your help!!

Check all hoses and plugs like the other posts sugest, then disconnect the battery to reset the pcm/ecu and drive 10-15 miles at 40-50mph to let the pcm re-learn it's settings. This gained me 4mpg on a 95 V6.

I changed the pluged and wires as stated in my update post above... that took care of most of my problems, but the surge in lower RPM's (below 2000) has returned. It has a noticable rough idle (well I notice it anyway, I took it to a mechanic friend of mine and he said that he thought the idle was fine) and if you raise the RPM's to 1000 it is very noticable. Above 1000 it is smooth as silk!

I was plaining on cleaning my TB again today, figure that it is due since it has been about 8k since I did it the first time, but it has rained off and on all day so that will have to wait.

I must have a vaccum leak somewhere back there, I just can't find the rotten thing! I have done everything I know. Even went so far as to try spraying carb cleaner on the lines to see if the idle changed. I will most likley be replacing my UIM gasket soon anyway because I do notice what looks like oil seeping out of the UIM to LIM area. I replace my PCV valve too!

I don't know! I will let you know what I do the fix even it is means taking it to a shop!

Well this morning, yeah I took off work to work on my car, I think I found my problem!!! The bank 2 downstream o2 sensor was trashed big time!! The houseing, on the sensor side, was melted and there was a large chunk missing... I will have to take pictures one day!!

I replaced it with another, reset the `puter and BOOM!!!

I can fully say that the hesitation that I am feeling is coming from the Torque Converter Clutch. I have had a p0743 code since geting the car out of the tranny shop. And no, I am not taking it back. I have another plan...