Hello,

I often find myself lurking in these forums however I figured I would just state that I am new here and apologize if this should be two seperate threads and or is in the wrong forum. If it is please let me know what the appropriate way to post next time would be.

Down to the problems I will start with the 86 mustang as it is a smaller problem.

I bought this car to get the cougar off the road because I like the cougar's body style better than fox mustangs for some reason.

Anyways, I noticed immediately there was a problem with the coolant temp gauge and the brakes. On the cougar the brakes leaked vacuum at the cruise control switch, so I plugged this at the manifold and got vacuum and immediately blew a brake line. Brakes work great after smashing the broken brake line but brake warning light is still on and the pedal feels really hard. My buddy had suspected the brake booster was bad from the guy he bought it from, it would feel fine before you started the car but suck to the floor when started. Now its just really hard but stops great. Can't even tell the passenger brake isn't there (replacing this Thursday).

The smog pump is missing, the air tube for it is closed and vacuum is pulled from txv looking part of air system. Plugged, I ran codes at O'Reilly's and got low EVP voltage, would this have to do with why the mustang smells strong of gas from the hood or would I want to suspect injectors / FPR? Cant see gas leaking just smells very strong of gas, the EGR is still there.

Now to the Cougar. I cant pull codes, PO blew tire on drivers side and tore the harness, for the OBDI port. Basically I've changed plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, coil, timing is at 14 and I run premium religiously. Car wants to bum bum bum when it starts and tries to stall unless you give it gas. When you start it for the first time in a while it's very slow to start. I have changed fuel filter. This week the gauge start floating hardcore after I sprayed intake cleaner and blew a bunch of black smoke. Exhaust doesn't feel plugged, going to change exhaust soon anyways. The car runs like **** it also started getting intermittent lights dim at night, it used to get up and go pretty nice but now it tries to but makes a weird sound like something is sticking or clogged. I'm goin to try to clean EGR and change the oil but it has been changed often since I bought it i currently have Wix XP filter and Mobil 1 full synthetic 5w30 in it. I add a can of restore at every oil change. I can see a lot of oil around the very bottom of the engine, I know for sure the valve gaskets and oil pan gaskets need to be changed. It feels like it shifts like **** but the AOD kick down cable is still attached and the plastic grommet looks great.

For the first time i have blackened spark plugs. I think this is from the deep clean I did, i changed original spark plugs and they looked great and were verified by a mechanic as great. I changed with AC Delco at first and then switched to motor craft because **** Chevy and AC Delco. I'm running omni spark plug wires but want to upgrade to the cheaper Ford preformance wires I saw i think they were motorcraft as well.

The Delcos didn't seem worn but all had different gaps. I have the motor crafts all at .54.

If anyone is local to metro Detroit and is very knowledgeable and wants to pass on some knowledge I'll pay it forward for sure.

Anyone have experience with either of these cars that can help me troubleshoot? I'm learning a lot but need help.


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