1989 Ford Thunderbird loss of power and idle off

CURFEW

MEMBER
1989 FORD THUNDERBIRD
6 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
73,000 MILES

I bought 89 ford t-bird off a older gal about a year ago for a few hundered bucks. Seemed a good deal. Low miles and I just liked the look of the vehicle. Anyways she told me it had radiator problems and I suspect it may have been over heated. I took it to a shop and got a whole new cooling system installed and a diagnostic on it. The mechanic said everything was okay with the car and all the diag ran good. After a few months I was having one problem after another. Never anything major. Just alot of little things needing replacement. The powersteering pump got replaced and all was okay for a bit. Now it sat for a bit and when I try to start her up she idels very rough and dies and when I put into gear and move out it may run normal for just a second and then massive power loss and hesitation.I replaced the fuel filter with no luck. Light smoke may come out from time to tome jus a bit of it though. No weird sounds or smells. Could this be the T P S or a friend suggested rich gas. Im stuck. Please give me some new starting points

jake

1 Reply

LACIENEGA

MEMBER
4 POSTS

Do you have the regular or supercharged engine?
I have the regular V6 and had some problems after start up, the car would stall and almost stop until the engine was warm. After I checked a lot of things I found out that the dipstick from the transmission wasn't all the way down (a mechanic from eazy-lube aparently didn't pull it all the way back). After I put it back, everything was OK. Little things make big difference. I have some white smoke coming from the exhaust too from time to time. Doesn't seem to be problem, I have 125000 Miles on it though. I also had the idle controler replaced one time, I heard it's a problem on this model.