My car is driving me crazy

[88FestivaLX]

88 LX. 5 Speed. Carb'd. I just put a fuel pump, PCV valve, plugs, wires, cap and rotor on my car. Was running great for a day. Now, when moving slow in traffic, it jumps around and acts all stupid. Normally under partial throttle. Seems to go away if I floor it. It will do the same thing at highway speeds when giving it partial throttle. What could be the problem? Could crappy motor/tranny mounts make it do this?

[jaketlong11]

have you checked the plugs they could be malfunctioning

[Spike]

Since you have an LX, you have a tach. Do the RPMs jump around, too, or just the car itself? Whenever I've had vacuum leaks, the car and RPM will buck a bit with mild throttle.

[bravekozak]

88, if you have a stock ECU and spaghetti vacuum lines, you should give serious consideration to buying an adapter from Rocketman and changing to a non-feedback Escort carb.
My son and I were on a dead end country road doing test burns to see how much rubber we could lay down with twin carbs. Fun. The cattle didn't seem to notice. They will after I install my bull horn.

[WmWatt]

"jumps around and acts all stupid" Could you provide details, please? How was it running before the parts were replaced? Bucking can be caused by misfiring - timing or spark. Reving the engine may increase voltage giving a stronger spark - if so possibly a weak ignition coil? Maybe one of your ignition wires is bad? I'd start by wiping off all the ignition components and makign sure the wires on are on tight.

[htchbck]

Not the trans mounts. Sounds like WmWatt is on the right track, electrical, probably ignition related.

[88FestivaLX]

Everything is new and on tight. And I cleaned up everything in the area good before I put the new stuff on. I was looking at the tach and it didn't seem to change any. I'm trying to think of how to describe it. It bucks around like what happens when you're coming to a stop, say in 3rd gear, and you leave it in gear all the way down to idle before pushing the clutch in. Does that description make sense? I don't remember if I ever put a coil on it. I do have a suspicion that the mounts aren't very good on it. How many does this thing have? 2 engine and a tranny mount? As far as vacuum stuff, should I just get a bunch of new vacuum line and just go around and replace lines as I take them off? Thanks everybody!

[88FestivaLX]

Oh, it was running about the same before I did everything. I had the one day after doing everything where it ran fine. Did the fuel pump bc it was leaking and the ignition stuff just bc it had been a while.

[zoe60]

The Festy feedback carb needs a good o2 sensor for the ECU to adjust the mixture properly. Way back when I still had the feedback carb, when I first got the car, mine did the same thing. Fall flat on it's face at partial throttle, especially in 2nd gear. Took me forever to figure it out. Try a new Denso o2 sensor. People used to ask about this a lot years ago. That's what fixed mine. Sure love my Escort carb though. Bravekozak is right on about that!

[bravekozak]

Cleaning an O2 sensor.

Narrow band test.

[88FestivaLX]

Thanks! Is it ok to use the universal one for my car? It's a lot cheaper.

[zoe60]

Probably, I sure hope it helps. Feedback carbs can be a real pain!

[htchbck]

Denso 234-1010 is the one you want. Don't get the Bosch. The direct replacement Denso # is 234-1019, it includes the plug at the end of the wire, but will run you ~$30-$50. The 234-1010 is the same sensor, but instead of a plug it has a crimp fitting and some heat shrink tubing with which you splice in your old plug (one wire). It costs $10-$15.

[drddan]

Before you do ANYTHING else ....Do this!

Read and do what it says on post #5 of this thread. All carbed Festivas will do this when the line described is old. This has saved a few people a lot of trouble!

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...hort+fuel+line

[88FestivaLX]

I will definitely check that out! I had to replace the line from the pump to the carb bc it was old and bubbly looking. Also, when I was changing the oil in it yesterday, I noticed the O2 sensor wire had come loose from where it sits (not the connector, the spot where the zip tie holds it out of the way) and was partially on the exhaust manifold! The outer layer wasn't melted or anything, but I'm sure the extra heat didn't help anything. I moved it up put of the way and when I drove it this morning it seemed like it was running a little bit better. Maybe it's just in my mind, but that works too, haha. Checking the fuel line this evening!