Hey guys im new to this forum. Im 18 I love mustangs but for now all i can afford is my 88 lx :angry: hehe its been unreliable thusfar in the half a dozen months ive owned it.. But at the moment its running fine..with the exception of the ongoing problem it seems to have... Im wondering if anyone has an ideas on what it might be.

Whenever the car is idling (just turned on idling or when i come to a stop).. about 1 out of every 10 times the car starts to shake back and forth and the RPM going up and down and the dash and headlights flash.. but the radio keeps on playin. If i dont do anything quick the car will stall. If i give it a bit of gas the problem usually goes away..until the next time.

Its an 88 stang 248,000km, auto, 2.3litre, 4 banger.

About 3 months ago i put in fuel treatment that wasnt just for injectors it did the whole thing, and it worked pretty well, after a few tanks of gas went through the car the problem went away.. for about a month. So i bought sum more and put it in and it hasnt made a bit of difference and its been about a month since then.
Any suggestions on what it might be?

I dont mind it but i would rather catch it before sumthing bad happens and i get stuck sumwhere, and id like to stop it from damaging itself.

Thanks a lot
Justin

 

The dash and headlights flickering are most likely because the idle is erratic and getting close to stalling. As far as the idle problem goes, have you ever cleaned the throttle body? I suggest getting come carb cleaner and cleaning the throttle body and the idle air bypass valve (requires removal to clean). A haynes manual should have details in it.

Hope this helps.

 

ya ill have to give that ashot.. guess ill have to go out and buy the manual cuz im not sure what that is. Just so i know. is it under the car or in the hood or wut? Just wonderin if im gonna be needin to jack it up or not.

thx
Justin

 

no just open up the hood and away you go. Its pretty simple, got to learn somehow.

 

oh one thing.. I thought my car wasnt throttle body tho cuz its only the 2.3litre. I thought it was port sumthing? I cant remember thats what my buddy was telling me, but maybe hes wrong? thanks

Justin

 

Get a manual, and get the codes from the computer. The manual will tell you haw to do this. If you're having surging probs you're gonna have a couple of trouble codes in there. If the car runs OK mechanically its prob something simple like the TPS or EGR valve or just a really dirty TB.

 

Port injected and throttle body injected cars each have throttle bodies, the throttle body controls the air flow to the engine. The difference is where the fuel is injected, into the port area near the intake valve (one injector per cylinder) or throttle body area (only need one or two injectors).

The idle circuit others talked about allows air to bypass the throttle body when throttle blade is closed (at idle) if this circuit is dirty it will not let enough air through for proper idle.