1991 Ford Tempo 91 Ford Tempo Fuel Problem

MLISZ

MEMBER
1991 FORD TEMPO
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
78,000 MILES

I have a '91 Ford Tempo GL with 78,000 miles on it. I believe it is having an issue with the fuel. When accelerating the car will hestitate, jerk, and then drive. This happens the most after taking off from a complete stop. However, it will act up intermittently when accelerating to maintain speed. When it is coasting or idling, there are no issues.

I have had the fuel pump replaced 2 days ago, and it seems to have helped a little bit, but not much. I put fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank, but that did no good. The spark plugs, fuel filter, and air filter were all replaced this past May.

I'm not sure if the exhaust could play a roll in this, but the catalytic converter had a hole in it, so that was removed and replaced with straight pipe. I don't think the clamps were tightened all the way, so there is a lot of vibration. There is also a hole near the end of the exhaust before the muffler.

To top it off, I found air bubbles in the transmission fluid. When the problem first started, the fluid was full and there were no bubbles. But after checking the fluid again, there are bubbles and it seems to be overfull.

I'm wondering if the the issue could possibly be the transmission? I have doubts, but I don't want to overlook possibilities. The transmission will shift hard at times, but my guess is that could be a result of the car not getting fuel regulated correctly?

Your thoughts?

Thank you

2 Replies

FIXITMR

MECHANIC
9,990 POSTS

Hi. Your car may have more miles than you stated due to the fact that at 99k it starts over again. And you should have came here first? The first suspect is the TPS (throttle postion sensor) it's a pretty cheap item! When bad, it causes hesitate/jerky driving! You should only check trans fluid in park with engine running. If overfull, this can cause bubbles appear. The dipstick probably says "do not overfill"? Foaming fluid can cause erratic performance. Funny thing is, there is no drain plug for trans. Go figure.
Another possibility is bad spark. Tempos and fords in general are known for bad coil wires. Which eventually can make coil short out. When was last time for distributor cap, rotor, and spark wires changeover?

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Wednesday, November 10th, 2010 AT 9:41 PM

MLISZ

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Yes, I agree that it could definitely have more miles than what I believe. However, the car did sit FOREVER. And you can definitely tell. The body is in rough shape, but the engine runs pretty good - minus what's going on now. The car had two previous owners before my mom got the car. Two old ladies had it. There is even record of maintenance in the handbook until about 10 years ago. Then, at the 50,000 mile mark (or 150,000, my dad go the car for free because it had been sitting for so long. Then I bought the car from my mom.

Anywho, enough about the history. I will definitely check into the TPS. I don't know when the distributor cap and all of that was last replaced. I just know what's been replaced since my dad and I have owned the car.

And, yes, I did check the tranny fluid when the car was in idle and in park. :) So basically there's no way to drain the fluid unless the filer and tray are removed (a guess of mine)? It is an old car, so I'm wondering if things are even worth being replaced.

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Friday, November 12th, 2010 AT 12:52 AM