88 TR bad running issues....Need Help

And that's the key. You only need to look at and verify three things, fuel, air and ignition.

It sounds like you have a dead bank.

The process of elimination. DON'T GUESS, VERIFY.

Start with ignition. It can be as easy as pulling a spark plug from each back and having someone turn the engine over to see if there is spark to both banks.

A simple tester can be used to check coil output as well.

 

Sounds exactly what happened to my TR. it was the connections on the left bank coil and ignition modual. Unplugged and cleaned all the terminals and has ran great ever since. The left bank apparently sends a signal to the right bank ...so when the left bank coil/ ignition modual is Bad the right side gets a bad signal too.
Good luck and report back.

 

I concur.. before running all sorts of tests it is very easy to check the plugs on the bottom of the 7-12 ignition coil.. Make sure they are nice and clean and check your grounds as well.. Give them a nice cleaning and re-seat plugs.. Don't use any grease it may make things worse.. It is a simple and easy step to try first.. It may not be the solution but at least you know you checked that area. It sucks when you do all sorts of diag work to realize at the end it was a simple plug being dirty or a loose connection.

R

 

And if is still persists the next step ought to be to (carefully) check the exhaust temp on both banks. A truly dead bank will be so "cold" that you can put your hand on the exhaust manifold.

 

When I had the RHS bank go down recently due to an electrical gremlin the RHS exhaust was definitely cooler than the left but it did not go cold despite running for about an hour with the problem.

 

Swap the ignition modules on top of the coils. If it won't run at all then you have a dead module. If it still runs on 6 then that's not the issue and you need to look further.

 

While your running in rough idle take your hand and jiggle those plugs a bit to see if she smoothes out.. sometimes the female part of the plug is bad.. which set up do you have.. two plugs (red wires and yellow wire plugs or one 4 terminal plug as we seen on some cars) then I would swap those modules and see what happens.. If your still no good from there.. your gonna start cooking with bacon... Steve's knowledge in diagnosing this type of issue to incredible, plus we are all here to support and add as well.. No worries we will find the bugger..

R

 

+1
Also you might push in/wiggle the two cables of wires just under the coolant tank. Very easy for them to back out a bit.

 

It is rare that both pumps go at the same time.. Had my car out all day today and was running great. then about 6 miles from my house while on route 80 4th gear about 60 mph and laying into the throttle the same thing happened to me.. Felt like I lost a bank then got to the exit and came to a red light, she was rough at idle.. proceeding on green (approx. 250 feet) and it felt like the other bank kicked in.. then she was running fine till I got home.. Thought I fixed this bugger gremlin a long time ago.. It surfaced again today.. It was gone for about for a while.. 6 months actually. My gas gauge was reading a tad less than a quarter.. I am thinking maybe I was running out of gas in one of the tanks or there was less gas in one and the pump was not getting any.. Is this even possible? Maybe a fuel shift while I was laying on the gas. It was such a great day... I hate this type of issue.. I rather it just stop running and leave me stranded vs. having a bugger happen and then correct while I am nursing the car home.. No smell of gas or fuel coming out the tail pipe. Any ideas folks..?

R

 

Hmmm...since we are discussing these intermittent issues, I have one to add to the pot. My car has been having a "cutting out" issue at times. We went for a 120 mile drive the other day, and the car would suddenly quit running...couldn't tell if it totally died or only half died. The issue would happen only....and I mean only....when we were going down hill and it a bump just right. The tach would go to zero and the car would go nearly silent for about 1 second...then everything would come back on line again. This happened 3 times during the trip. I've checked all the cables and connections and all looked good. I'm still poking around the car looking for something - but nothing found so far...

 

flywheel sensors?

 

I probably put 120 - 140 miles on the car today.. Did alot of driving.. was using the car for everything today.. I was actually on my way back home.. This is getting interesting.. No loss of electrical power on my end.. RPM gauage never dropped to zero.. just felt like she lost a bank.. I wanna say the 7-12 side, by the way she felt.. It just felt like the right side of the engine was on vs. both.. With open exhaust and always driving with the windows open since I own the car, you get very used to the sound especially the exhaust when your laying into the gas at around 2800-3000 rpm to take her to the higher rpm range.. The engine opens up and you get that beautiful sound exiting the pipes.. I instantly knew something was wrong..

Any ideas?

R

 

Here is something else that may be related to this or not.. When I opened the door today I noticed the interior light and the red door lamp were not illuminating.. Went for a drive anyway and went on the majority of the trip with no issues at all. I returned home later on and decided to remove the switch located on the hinge post and clean her up. I noticed when I was removing the screw that I saw a spark when the screw touched the body with switch plugged in and screw still inside the switch You know when your trying to remove the switch and you realize you need to unscrew a little more then you removed the switch from the post and I had not removed screw from the switch and it touched the body before I was able to unplug the switch and that is when I saw the spark... I cleaned the switch and plug with electrical cleaner re-assembled and when I went to thread the screw (when screw touched the hinge post) it sparked again.. The switch was not working until I really got the screw tightened to the pillar.. then interior light and door lamp were working when door was opened and turned off when closed... Went for another drive and then when on my way home from that drive is when I had the problem.. Does the screw ground the switch or can this be the little f*cker that is causing this grief.. Any ideas as to where these wires run and where they take power from..? or is this a normal thing to occur when removing & installing (R&I) the door switch..

R

 

Went into garage today and checked over a few things.. I removed the two fly wheel sensors and found them to be very very dirty.. totally covered in soot.. Looks like they havent been cleaned in decades.. I used some electronic spary cleaner with a wire brush and gently cleaned the sensor and sensor head.. The head was very dirty.. got her all cleaned up and just checked over wires, wires under the coils, plugs under the coolant tank, vacumm hose going to ignition ecu etc.. everything looked good but these flywheel sensors would not effect just one bank.. So that was just some much needed clean up.. .. I blew the top radiator hose a while back.. Could it be that some hot antifreeze got into the water temp sensor and damaged it casusing this once is a while issue.. wouldn't that effect one bank? time to start driving around with my AAA card just in case I need a tow.. Gonna take her for a spin today to get some gas and see where that leaves me.. I would love to change those fuel tank hoses and clean out the fuel tanks.. Maybe some debris is in there causing this intermittent issue..

R

 

Is your fuel level below a quarter tank by chance?

 

yes

 

Maybe fuel filters? When the tank is low if one of the filters is restricted perhaps the delta p reaches critical for the KE

 

Here is my idea with electrics: as i was told by an experienced electricien, clean wire terminals and try pull the wire at the wire block. The harness (insulation) will break easily at the terminal clamping if corrosion from inside is present. This is by all means not a negative approach but mandatory because of the climate where I live. It is raining at times. Also storing the car under a cover is not a wise thing to do.

 

Michael, any news by the end of this week ?

 

This sounds expensive............