New Member, need some help for my boss

[Rim Job]

Hey guys (and gals), my boss has a 89 Festy auto w/125k and recently the transmission has been acting....weird. Drive around cold for about 10-15 minutes and it shifts and accelerates fine. Once it warms up, every now a then when it shifts it loses almost all power when accelerating (like shifting into 3rd @ 1k rpms). I have to floor it to get it to downshift to almost make the car wake up and remember how to go (I floor it all the time, pizza delivery car). When the check engine light comes on, a brief blip of throttle will make it go out.

Brought it to his mechanic today and the only check engine codes he could pull were for the o2 sensor and the computer. Hoping it's the sensor or something relatively cheap and easy....any advice that I can give him?

[georgeb]

Sounds like the sensor to me. Supposedly the Denso brand is the best.

[htchbck]

I really doubt the O2 sensor is causing all that. I suppose it could be, but mostly it will just mess with fuel mixture and have you running rich and wasting gas. Sounds like a loose wiring connection somewhere, and I'd bet that when you blip the throttle it wiggles the wire and the connection is restored.

If it is the O2 sensor then yes, Denso is best, you want part number 234-1000. Its about $15 at AutoZone here. DO NOT let them talk you into buying part number 234-1010, it is the exact same sensor but with the plug already on the wire, and costs 2 or 3 times as much. Unless you don't know how to work a pair of wire strippers pliers just get the 234-1000 and splice the old plug on, it comes with a wire crimp and heat shrink wrap to splice it with.

Good luck!

(might help to put your location in your profile someone nearby might be able to help out)

[Rim Job]

I really doubt the O2 sensor is causing all that. I suppose it could be, but mostly it will just mess with fuel mixture and have you running rich and wasting gas. Sounds like a loose wiring connection somewhere, and I'd bet that when you blip the throttle it wiggles the wire and the connection is restored.

It's not so much of a hard blip of the throttle, it's more like 'hey the light is on' slight application of gas and no more light'. I'm leaning towards o2 sensor if getting an average of 30mpg is a major symptom (getting that since we got it with 110k miles)

[bhazard]

30mpg in an auto with hard driving like delivery is normal.

Unplug the oxygen sensor if you suspect it. If it runs better then its bad.

[htchbck]

Yeah, if you're getting 30MPG out of an auto delivering pizza then there's not much to complain about there. Even my freshly rebuilt '93 auto was only averaging 32mpg running pizza. Who do you deliver for? PJs here, 3 or 4 nights a week (1 night a week once I finish building my shop though )

[Rim Job]

Yeah, if you're getting 30MPG out of an auto delivering pizza then there's not much to complain about there. Even my freshly rebuilt '93 auto was only averaging 32mpg running pizza. Who do you deliver for? PJs here, 3 or 4 nights a week (1 night a week once I finish building my shop though )

Just a small local place. Been there forever, mostly because I've found a boss who isn't a slave driver, and will put up with the occasional (ok, a lot) shenanigans. Also helps that he provides the cars, maintenance , and insurance (all we pay for is gas).

And I can complain about the mpg. He has a spare 91 manual at his house that was another delivery car before it was squashed front and back. Got almost 42 delivering. He's having me keep a lookout for a donor car

[htchbck]

I started at Dominos about 5 years ago. Then PJs, then a different PJs a little farther from home then moved to the opposite side of the county so I went back to my old PJs. I love it, we don't get provided cars but they do give us $1.50 for every order, so if I leave out of the store with 4 orders I've already got $6 whether I get tipped or not More than pays for gas in the festers

P.S. "I'm gonna pistolwhip the next person who says 'shenanigans' " lol

[Rim Job]

P.S. "I'm gonna pistolwhip the next person who says 'shenanigans' " lol

(sorry to go off topic)

[MasterTec]

And I can complain about the mpg. He has a spare 91 manual at his house that was another delivery car before it was squashed front and back. Got almost 42 delivering. He's having me keep a lookout for a donor car

That's the key right there. Manual. The festies with auto can't even come close to the same fuel economy.

Should have yanked the transmission out of that and put it in the auto! hah

[FestYboy]

the auto trans is FULLY mechanical, there are NO electronics controling the shifting of the trans. look at your vac line to the governor and pull the governor and inspect the diaphram for cracking.