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Old 02-06-2011, 01:40 AM   #31
enslow
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

It's possible you still have a vacuum leak there, or elsewhere in the system. Don't forget that the first few seconds or minutes the car runs at a higher idle, and perhaps open loop for the computer. Because of this, in the first minute or so electronic faults or small vacuum leaks may be masked by the higher idle. One trick some people use is to spray a can of carb cleaner onto the suspected vacuum leak areas. If the idle changes just after you spray a certain area, you have a leak there.

What I used to do with my 92 Grand Marquis was to measure the vacuum with all vacuum lines connected. Then I'd disconnect and plug all vacuum lines at the throttle body and remeasure the vacuum. If the vacuum increased, I'd suspect a vacuum leak somewhere.
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Old 02-15-2011, 05:28 PM   #32
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

Well, I surrendered. I took my car to the repair shop. They said the spark plug wires were not getting the spark to the spark plugs. I had them replace the 6 wires. I could do the front 3, but the back 3 can only be accessed by coming up from underneath the car, or my rotating the engine with a pry bar (as recommended by the manual - no thanks on that one).
The repair shop also said my catalytic converter was clogged. So they replaced that one too.
It cost me $400, but now the engine runs much better, back to how it should be. The repair shop also said I need new ignition coils, because the resistance isn't between 8 and 11.5 kohms. I didn't have them do that - I'm thinking I should be able to do that myself, as the coils are easily accessible. So ends the saga, at least for now. I haven't taken the car out on the highway yet, that should be the true test if the engine is really better. I wasted a lot of time and money trying to fix parts that weren't causing the problem. I'm a dumbass. I should have taken it to a shop from the beginning. My reason for not doing it was I'm new in Austin and I didn't know or trust any repair shops here. But in the course of buying parts on many trips at the local Autozone, I asked one of the clerks there if he knew any good repair shops. And he recommended Youniversal Auto Care. And I went over there on my bike and talked to them first before taking the car over. I felt like they were straightforward and knew what they were doing. So hopefully I found a good repair shop out of this whole mess. Anyway, I appreciate everyone's help, especially enslow. I'll take a crack at replacing the coils myself, you were right - that was one of the problems. Is there any trick to detaching the spark plug wires from the coils - do you just twist and pull?
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Old 02-15-2011, 10:42 PM   #33
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

I thought you said you put in new plugs 10k ago? Anyway, please describe the work done more accurately so others can help you. One of us would probably have suggested you do those rear plugs first but we thought they were done. Of course, those 3 rear ones on the Regal are nasty to get at. I guess I'm glad I have a Lesabre instead. Lots of room!
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Old 02-16-2011, 10:58 AM   #34
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

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Originally Posted by enslow View Post
I thought you said you put in new plugs 10k ago? Anyway, please describe the work done more accurately so others can help you. One of us would probably have suggested you do those rear plugs first but we thought they were done. Of course, those 3 rear ones on the Regal are nasty to get at. I guess I'm glad I have a Lesabre instead. Lots of room!
Yeah, I had new plugs put in 10k ago, but the wires weren't replaced at that time. I guess I should have had new wires put in with the new plugs. Would have saved me some hassle.
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Old 02-16-2011, 11:02 AM   #35
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

Sorry it it was confusing what I wrote before - but they only replaced the spark plug wires, they didn't replace the spark plugs. And they replaced the catalytic converter. Those two repairs fixed the problem (as far as I can tell right now). The car did drive much better on the way home from the repair shop. I'll take it out for a highway trip this weekend.
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Old 02-16-2011, 05:32 PM   #36
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

I'm glad it's fixed anyway.

Right now I'd think about why the cats became plugged in the first place. It is possible that it's been missing for a long time and the raw gas overworked the cat and plugged it up. A catalytic converter can last a very long time. My 92 Grand Marquis has 350000km with the original catalytic converter and it still passes emissions testing with flying colours.

It may be worth getting yourself an OBDII scanner if you can afford it and check the fuel trims to make sure it's not running too rich or lean. However, you could probably assume that the cats were plugged up by a previous condition that has since been solved. Good luck and enjoy your Regal!
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Old 02-17-2011, 08:33 AM   #37
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

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Originally Posted by david95 View Post
Sorry it it was confusing what I wrote before - but they only replaced the spark plug wires, they didn't replace the spark plugs. And they replaced the catalytic converter. Those two repairs fixed the problem (as far as I can tell right now). The car did drive much better on the way home from the repair shop. I'll take it out for a highway trip this weekend.

Actually, I'm sorry! I misread your posts. I thought for a moment that the shop had changed the plugs, and I'd forgotten you never did get around to doing plug wires. Enjoy!
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Old 07-16-2014, 05:37 PM   #38
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Save yourself lots of money replace the crank sensor they are a real pain in the butt to adjust air gap on mine is a 92 with 3800 I replace so many things then spent over 700 bucks at a reputable shop I had replaced the sensor before and did not have adjustment right did not think it was bad as I had just replaced not long ago thought I had a new problem after spending so much on parts and at the shop a mechanic friend of mine said replace the crank sensor I said I just did little while ago he said maybe its a bad one ran out of options have more in it than car is worth. Changed sensor could see bad spots on removed sensor because it was out if adjustment it worked fine for a little bit then started the rough idle stutter on take off miss pulling hills new sensor properly adjusted this time finally all back to normal what makes this even worse is that I'm a heavy truck and equipment mechanic that now has a lot less hair than I did before this all started change the crank sensor and happy motoring
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Old 07-16-2014, 10:11 PM   #39
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Re: shuddering regal, rough idle

Tink, check the date of the posting.....
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