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Engine bogs down shortly after starting- causes?

7K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  zookroo1 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I got the car from the mechanic today with the new clutch kit installed. Mine is the one from the thread with the bent up O2 sensors. Anyway, I got to drive it for the first time today and I'm pretty pleased with it. Nice and smooth ride and pretty quick acceleration. As far as I know it doesn't have a short throw shifter installed, but I can't imagine it being much shorter. Definitely the shortest throw I've ever driven, which is cool. Everything seems to work well, but...

One Problem- Shortly after I picked it up and then again after it sat for about 2 hours, the engine bogged down for about 10 seconds less than a mile into driving it. Both times I though I'd have to pull off the road, but then after maybe 10 seconds or so the engine picks back up. The first time I was at 55mph and the engine got down to about 30mph before picking back up. The second time I got on the highway and as so as I got to 70mph the engine started slowing down and got below 50mph before waking up and accelerating again. It doesn't matter if I downshift or try to accelerate or decelerate, the engine doesn't respond. Then it just wakes up and that's it. It's fine after that.

It doesn't seem related to the header thing, which is supposedly stable, since the car is fine after it happens one time. I would think it would continue to be a problem if there was some kind of leak. I'm a little nervous driving it until I figure out what the deal is. I don't want to pull onto a busy street and have the engine die on me with traffic coming at me or something.

What should I look at first? The car runs great after a couple minutes driving, so hopefully it's something I do take are of easily. Thanks for the words of wisdom, they are greatly appreciated!

Brian
 
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#2 ·
OK, so I drove it home tonight after the car had sat for about 3 hours. This time was a little bit worse. The engine bogged down 30 seconds after I got on the street. It woke up but then did it again once I got on the highway a minute later, probably for about 20 seconds before it cleared up. After that it was fine. Luckily there wasn't much traffic around.
 
#3 ·
Usually I let the car warm up for a bit before I drive.

It may be the SVT being an SVT, or it may be another problem. I suppose checking plugs & wires would be a good place to start.

But I've experienced bogging/semi-powerloss as well on cold startup, as have others.
 
#4 ·
X2 On Checking the plugs. Since your o2's were goofed the car may have been getting a really weird fuel mixture and could have fouled up the plugs. Talk to Steve From Tousley Ford. His name on the forum is FORDSVTPARTS. He'll hook you up with the proper plugs since the proper ones are hard to come by in your average parts outlet.
 
#5 ·
Ok, I'm in the process of selling a car so I can get the SVT registered and on my insurance, so I haven't really been able to drive it yet. I did take it out this morning up and down some local streets to see how it's driving. I cleaned the MAF sensor, all the fluids are at optimal levels, etc.

It starts up fine and starts driving. Shortly into the drive down the road the engine starts losing power as if I took my foot off the accelerator. It happened in all gears 1-4 (that's as high as I got in the neighborhood, but it previously did it in 5th and 6th last time I drove it also.) At lower speeds you can hear the exhaust start to sputter like it's dying. The engine doesn't stall if put into neutral. After about 4 minutes or so the engine wakes up and runs great. Put it in neutral and the RPMs drop right to 800 and sit there perfectly.

This isn't a case of just a little bit of hesitation or slow response. I can't drive the car in a traffic situation like this. Maybe if I let the car run for 5 minutes before I drove it every time it would be ok, but that would be ridiculous.

If the plugs were fouled up, wouldn't the car run badly all the time? It runs great after the initial problems. Could it have something to do with the injectors? I don't think I'm in danger of doing any major damage if it's driven, but I'm not sure. I'm going to go the the auto parts store so they can check for codes. There's no engine light on, but who knows. I guess after that I'll have to take it back in to the mechanic if I can't figure it out.

Thanks for any words of wisdom. Have a great weekend!

Brian
 
#7 ·
After having a local custom exhaust shop take a look, I ended up buying a new header and O2 sensors. The shop installed those and welded some leaks around the areas the cat was bent and got that fixed up. On the drive home it was still running like a weed wacker with the choke in. I unhooked the battery for an hour and when I hooked it back up it seems to be running correctly. I took it out today and everything still checked out, so I think I should be in the clear...
I kinda wish I would have tried the battery thing first, just out of curiosity. I don't know if the money spent on the header turned out to be necessary, since we looked at the new an old one together and there wasn't much difference. The old was was a little bent, but I think it would be workable if needed. The cat and surrounding area was was seemed to be the most bent and you could feel air leakage from a few spots.
So that $500 pretty much cleans me out of any cash I could have used for anything I would have liked to do...oh well. At least I can drive it now!
 
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