This eagle not flying very far

Hello!
This is a great site, and thanks for all the faq's, I have learned alot. Here is my problem:The car barely goes, and when it does, it is accompanied with a brrrbbbrrrrbbbrrrrr sound, and violent shaking. I bought the car off ebay 2 months ago, and took it to pep boys, like the article said. I paid the $35 bucks, and he said,"Other than the timing belt, no problems that I can see." So I took it in, and replaced the timing belt. No problems for 7 weeks. Yesterday, when I made the right into my development, the car just died. No sputtering, no popping, no loud banging-just died. I walked to my house, changed into outside clothes and went back to the car. To my surprise the car started right up with no problems. The car has a new coil pack,(500 miles) a new timing belt,(1200 miles) new plugs and wires.(500 miles) Now when I start the car, it idles so rough that the oil light flickers on and off like it is going to shut off, the car shakes real bad, and upon acceleration the car sounds like a 18-wheeler trying to stop real fast w/o abs.(the brrbbbbrrbrbbrbrrrr sound.) The fuel economy has gone to crap, and performance is even worse when I turn the air conditioning on. This is a 1990 DOHC auto trans w/130k miles on it. Any help is appreciated, because I have taken the car to two mechanics, and all they said was,"Sounds like you need a new timing belt, or a head gasket." I do not believe them in this matter, because my main car is a 1996 420A turbo neon, and I have had three head gaskets replaced in that thing; I see no oil seepage, no coolent leaking, no watery oil nor do I see any oily coolent. If I am to be looking for something else in this car please let me know!!!!
Thank you in advance!

Welcome to AF!

It sounds like you have quite a few problems on your hands.....

I would say check the oil level. Make sure your spark plugs are gapped correctly. Sorry I can't help much but your problem is way too complicated for me. Good luck. I'm sure somebody on here will be able to help you out.

When you say,"check your oil level," what do you mean? Right now the oil level is where it is supposed to be, right below the 2d notch on the dipstick. Also, when i turn the a/c on, it seems as though the shaking of the car is much worse; could it be a belt that I am missing somewhere? I am basing my experiences on the haynes manual troubleshooting guide, so please help me if I have overlooked something insignificant!

Your oil level should be right under the "full" mark on the dipstick. Check to make sure that all your belts are nice and tight and actually there. Based on your description with the A/C making the car run rougher, I would say check the alternator also. It could be that it is not working or not producing enough power to run everything correctly on your car. Do your lights dim badly at night if you turn the A/C on? Do you have an aftermarket stereo with an amp?

When I turn on my a/c, the car shacks badly too. The rpm rises. Since I have the plastic engine mounts, the range where it falls is where the engine shakes the most. You could need new mounts (causing the vibration)

Also, check your O2 sensor. A bad o2 on the DP will cause terrible performance, and make it feel like the car is going to die, and/or kill it. Is your CEL on? COuld be a knock sensor problem. Try better grade gas. Premium ALWAYS makes my car run smoother and cleaner. Use octane booster that is designed to clean the FIs and the whole fuel system. My car again ran alot better after doing that twice.

Check for vac leaks it would have to be a pretty bad leak to cause so much trouble. As eclipse said it could also be a bad alternator. Good luck.

Ok, I have checked all the belts, and they seem to be all there and taut. I did notice alot of squeeking from a belt last night, but when I got out of the car to check it, the squeek went away. Then when I was going again the squeek came back. Also, say I am going forward, then have to stop to back up(making a 3-point turn) the car just dies. Whenever I make a real fast u-turn, the car shakes real bad, the check engine light comes on, and that rattling sound is very apparant. I am a noob when it comes to terms, so what is,"O2 on the dp?" Also, what is a CEL? I also thought it may have been bad gas, so I did the injector cleaner, and put in 4 gallons of 100 octane racing gas.(thanks nascar fanatics!) Still no improvement on the brbrbrbrrrbrbrrr noise. When you said check for vacuum leaks, I have a question....It seems to me that there should be some type of cover on the side of the air filter case. On mine, there is a sideways square hole on the left side of the air filter. Could this be the culprit? I say this because the little orange light next to the tac(that looks like a filter) comes on when I first turn the car on, but then goes away after driving. To answer the other question, I do have a aftermarket cd player, but no amps or speakers hooked up. The guy before me had all that stuff, but I do not. The wires are still there too. I also noticed that the battery is real small, almost like a riding lawnmower battery. Is this the right size?

o2 = oxygen sensor
CEL = Check Engine Light

Find out what the light is on your dash. Your manual should give a list of what it is for. I am not familiar with the '90 motors, but is your a turbo? Once you find out what the light is for, let us know and maybe we can help you more.

A picture of the air filter would be good. I don't understand when you say it has a hole on the side of the filter.....is there an actual hole in the filter itself, a hole in the pipe, etc.

Try and find out exactly what battery is in your car, then go to Autozone or somewhere similar and look up the correct battery and compare. If the batter is as small as you say, that could be one of your many problems.

ok, i took the car to autozone, and the battery is fine. the alternator was only putting out 61.3 amps peak though. that may be the problem. i do not have a digital camera, so no pics,sorry! the whole is right on the left side of the cone, and the auto zone guy said that there should be a hose that goes from the side all the way to this tube that suck up cooler air from the bottom of the inside of the engine compartment.

ok, i took the car to autozone, and the battery is fine. the alternator was only putting out 61.3 amps peak though. that may be the problem. i do not have a digital camera, so no pics,sorry! the whole is right on the left side of the cone, and the auto zone guy said that there should be a hose that goes from the side all the way to this tube that suck up cooler air from the bottom of the inside of the engine compartment.



Coil is weak i would say

I had a couple of cars that did that. It was the coils on them.The oil also came on, just when the R.P.M. dropped to low Below 500

the car shakes real bad, the check engine light comes on, and that rattling sound is very apparant.


Before you go throwing parts at the car, have the code for the check engine pulled.

ok, changed the alternator, and the car was fine for about a day. now it is like an every other start thing; when i say this, i mean that one start up and everything is fine, but another start and it rumbles and shakes alll the way through first and second gear. the car does fine once it gets into third. the coil pack is new- that was the first thing my mechanic friend thought of when the car just stopped the other day. i am at a loss here. anything else it could be? when i go to autozone, the c.e.l. goes off, and does not come back on. it is like the car knows what i am trying to do!!

You can still have the code read. It stays in the computer even if the cel light goes off.

I just went through a very similar problem with my car, 1992 talon non turbo. The alternator went bad, squeeking belt and making noise. Changed alternator and the car started bucking and shaking in 1st and 2nd gear. I pulled the ecu and pulled the cover. Looks like someone lit a firecracker in it. The car still runs though. My ecu should be in today or tomorrow.

I would check to make sure your BISS screw is still in there. It's the highest screw on top of the throttle body. If it is, twist it out a bit to bring your idle up, and if it isn't, then you've found your problem.

Guys, I posed a question on Saturday that I called "Talon ESi drivability issues", my description was a bit different but after reading this thread the problem sounds much the same.

My friend said she found the problem went away in 3rd gear, but that must have been how she drove it as I find it the same in everything, even 4th if you lug it.

One thing that no one mentioned yet, however, is that the problem on the car I am working through is much worse when it's hot/humid. That was pointing me to the MAF sensor, based on experience with other cars.

I read elsewhere tho that if you have these symptoms and it IS the CPU that's going out, that pulling codes won't tell you anything. Is that an overstatement?

I guess right now our choice it to take it to a specialist, or maybe go for broke and try swapping in used CPU and/or MAF?

Thanks

Steve
One sick '97 ESi in the driveway

When my ecu went bad it gave a code that the o2 sensor was bad. The book tells me if the ecu was bad the code pins would read 12v all the time, not flashing. Not true since the ecu is obviously bad. Could be maf but is there a check you could do before replacing it?