my 88 thunderbird turbo coupe, 2.3 liter turbocharged engine seems to be lacking mid to upper rpm power. it runs great up to about 3,000-3,500 rpms. after that it seems to loose its power. it will still get to 6,000 rpms, it just takes a while. i have checked for trouble codes and there are none. i did both the koeo and the koer tests. the timming is exactly where it should be. 10 degrees before tdc. i use only premium fuel. all of the following parts are new. spark plugs, cap, rotor, wires, throttle position sensor, all new high flow exhaust, air filter, fuel filter. i have checked the following. fuel pressure, timming, computer scan. the turbo is clean and doesnt use any oil. i have an after market boost controll valve which is set at 17 psi. the turbo makes a solid 17 psi. the car doesnt have a miss or anything like that, it just doesnt have quite the upper rpm range power that it should. i took the intercooler off and sprayed some brake cleaner into the throttle body to clean it out. maybe about a 1/8th of a can or so. i put it back together and drove it. the car ran awsome. this lasted for about 15 or so minutes and then it was back to feeling slugish. everytime i spray brake cleaner into the throttle body it runs great for about 15 minutes. why??? could the brake cleaner be fooling a senor? if so which one? or maybe its something eles. i am stumped. understand that the car runs good, just not not to its full potental. kinda like something is holding it back a bit after 3,500 rpms. i would be greatfull for any advice. thanks.
Re: 88 t-bird 2.3 liter turbo. lacks upper end power.
Ahhh has it done this since exhuast has been fitted??? The maybe a restrictive muffler etc..Turbo engines don't like baffled mufflers...Maybe spark is blowing out??? If leads etc are o/k then try gapping plugs alittle closer?? Say .030..
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Re: 88 t-bird 2.3 liter turbo. lacks upper end power.
no, this problem has been there since i got the car about 6 months ago. i put the new exhaust on because i thought that the old exhaust may have been restricted. as for the new exhaust i had a single 2 1/2 inch pipe ran into a high flow cat and then into a flowmaster 2 chamber with a turndown behind the muffler. i just put new motorcraft plugs in. i gapped them to the factory specs. 0.34. the car only acts up after 3,000 rpms. if im on the freeway it will run up to 145 mph with no problem, but when i really get on it in 2nd & 3rd gear it just flattens out. it starts rite up every time. it makes a solid 17 psi where i have it set at. the rpms just take too long to rev up. its hard to get it to turn 6,000 rpms unless you really stay on the gas. i will try closing the gap a little bit like you said. 0.30. i checked for codes again today and i got one. NO SIGNAL FROM KNOCK SENSOR. would this matter? i have read that you can totally unplug the knock sensor as long as you run premium gas and listen for detonation. thanks for the advice.
Re: 88 t-bird 2.3 liter turbo. lacks upper end power.
i checked the fuel pressure and its good, at least at idle and at 3,000 rpms. but still its not under a load. i dont hear any knocking or pinging so i dont think its runnig lean.
Re: 88 t-bird 2.3 liter turbo. lacks upper end power.
was wandering if you solved your upper end power shortage, I have an 88 2.3 turbo coupe and when I connected a vaccum line to my map sensor the car didnt run right but it runs great without it. im not sure if this is supposed to work this way does yours have the line or not ? wayne
Re: 88 t-bird 2.3 liter turbo. lacks upper end power.
Hook a multi meter up to your O2 and you'll see if it's running lean. Because the proba goes away with the brake cleaner it has to be a prob with the TB what is in the TB just the butterfly plate and vac/boost ports? sounds to me like your TB isn't opening fully for what ever reason and the brake clean is freeing it up for a while.... I'd start by replacing the TB.
Cheers
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88 t-bird 2.3 liter turbo. lacks upper end power.
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