Rough idle and power loss 88 bronco ii

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

mistyk

New member
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hey there! I've had my bronco for 4 years now and its never quite ran right. Its a 2.9L v6 4x4 with a 5 speed transmission. When I start her up the idle sounds rough, possibly like its not running on all cylinders. Also when I press the gas pedal (in all gears but usually 2nd or 3rd while im trying to get up to speed) it acts like its not getting the gas and bogs out then it will get all the fuel at once and speed up really fast and kind of goes back and forth. If I push in the clutch and give it more gas when I release it it works for a bit then starts to sputter again. This happens every time I drive it but usually starts working a lot better when its warm. I thought it was one of the fuel pumps so I replaced both (including the one in the gas tank) and found it had no fuel filter! So I put a new one on and gave it a gas treatment for the fuel injectors. And it still runs exactly the same. Another thing I noticed is that there is a bad smell coming from the engine, which leads me to believe its the catalytic converter or an O2 sensor. Looking underneath it it looks like the converter is more than likely stock or at least pretty old. And i dont have an exhaust pipe at all, just about 3 inches of pipe coming off the muffler. Also thinking it could be a temperature sensor or even just a spark plug or spark plug wire needing replacing. My funds are limited so any advice would be greatly appreciated so I dont spend all my money fixing parts that aren't broken! Thanks!

 

Seabronc

New member
Joined
May 22, 2004
Messages
7,315
Reaction score
35
Location
North of NYC
Welcome to the Zone!!   :D/

If the smell is like rotten eggs, (sulfur), that would lead me to believe the Cat is clogged. The only way to prove or disprove that it is caused by the catalytic converter is to remove the Cat and put in a temporary test pipe in it's place.  O2 sensors are rarely the problem, they usually just report a problem.  Take it to a place like AutoZone who will read you codes for free.

:)>-

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Members online

No members online now.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
22,509
Messages
135,880
Members
25,108
Latest member
Utahstroke
Top