2007 Ford Mustang GT 4.6 V8 3v running lean

[Juice]

Where is the damage/repair? Not seeing any straightened metal.
The piece of wood is odd, but the impact bar looks fine. Am I missing something?

 

[Beerus]

Yeah, stock '05-'09 GT engines were rated at 300hp & 320lbft at the crank but I reckon the '06+ versions made a little more since the hydrocarbon trap inside the airbox lid was deleted in late '05.
Your torque curve below 3200rpm doesn't look right since it starts higher from 1800rpm when it should be lower. A true torque peak of ~303rwtq at 4500-4600rpm makes a lot more sense and since the HP number is higher, this makes me wonder if the engine has aftermarket camshafts (the popular Hot Rod cams maybe?). Perhaps that's why the ECU was remapped.

The front bumper reinforcement was certainly bodged up but it shouldn't be too difficult to put right. Once you get rid of all that surface rust and repaint everything, it'll look a ton better.

Your coolant expansion reservoir looks a nasty rusty colour. I wonder if a previous owner might have put tap water into the cooling system or used the wrong coolant. Ford recommends Motorcraft Gold concentrate with deionised water. If you can't find it in the UK, any green coolant that's compatible with aluminium engines will do fine. Never use tap water 'cause the limescale will clog up the radiator and the cooling passages inside the heads/block, eventually resulting in a blown head gasket. Remember the Triumph Stag 3.0L V8 engines that were renowned for this?

at the cars low end it flys like a rocket especially at a roll, if you did a roll at 40 it would just fly to 100 no questions asked, slows downs abit at 120 then after 135 it slows right down, top end isn't its strong suite, only had 168mph out of it wouldn't go anymore at the time, but0 no0 idea whats been done to this car,

yeah thats because last owner put red anti freeze in it and it discoloured it, i used ready use green as i was told by some people it was best for my car just after the engine swap

 

[MrBhp]

front end smack with a lorry, but here a kicker for you, the guy who bought it in the UK bought it broken, bodged it to be road legal, only did 2000 miles in 4 years then sold it to me, when we took off the front bumper i was shocked because the front bumper was reinforced with wood.....no joke, even got a picture will leave below, if i ever got into an accident, that engine would be in the cabbin with us....couldn't believe it,

Proof that red-necks exist in every country.

 

[Beerus]

Where is the damage/repair? Not seeing any straightened metal.
The piece of wood is odd, but the impact bar looks fine. Am I missing something?

i have marked where the damage was, all that wasn't very straight and looked like it had hit behind of a lorry and went under it, my hood didn't line up very well with the passenger side wing either because it was bent a little bit where i circled on the picture, the wood was not only on the bumper bar but was also all over the bumper as well i never took photos of the bumper because the guy already prepped and stripped it for painting, but it was all reinforced with wood, all has been corrected now by straighten and welding and reinforced everything and has bumper foam on the bumper bar now.

 

[MrBhp]

Looks like they got after it with a torch and hammer. We normally, or always, replace that part. But living in Europe makes it difficult to get parts, yes? Seems like they could at least get crash parts. Maybe it was one of those late night, backyard, hammer to fit, paint to match, occurrences. The guy probably ran down some cabinet member who was trying to sell state secrets to the Russians. Sounds plausible.

 

[Beerus]

Looks like they got after it with a torch and hammer. We normally, or always, replace that part. But living in Europe makes it difficult to get parts, yes? Seems like they could at least get crash parts. Maybe it was one of those late night, backyard, hammer to fit, paint to match, occurrences. The guy probably ran down some cabinet member who was trying to sell state secrets to the Russians. Sounds plausible.

yeah parts are hard to get for these cars, i only found 1 replacement new which they wanted £2000 for it and i declined that and got this one repaired instead, but it was definitely a bodge job who ever did it the first time.

 

[Beerus]

update on my lean issue,

so new throttle body installed, spacer removed and as well as bought new gaskets for my intake manifold and throttle body, replaced the parts, the car is back on full power, however its still running lean, long fuel trims have improved massively n dropped to 1 to 7% when driving, 25% maxed out when on idle which is strange, short trims have dropped o 1 to 3% on bank 2 but bank 1 is around 6 to 10%, its still a big improvement as my power loss has stopped, but i encountered another issue after driving hard and pulling up on idle or driving super slow it gets a misfire and starts choking up n will cut out, when looking at the fuel it goes into -8% then slowly goes back up to 6% but noticed one of my coils is broken so a new set of coils and maybe spark plugs?? (not looking forward to sparks as i heard they always snap on the 3v engines)

however tho its a big win as my power is restored, just a shame about the lean issue still on going but with some improvements.

 

[Juice]

You should figure out the misfire issue. Misfires look lean to the sensors.

 

[Beerus]

You should figure out the misfire issue. Misfires look lean to the sensors.

i have a feeling its my coil packs, so next month ill be investing in new sparks and coil packs to eliminate this hopefully, my coil packs have seen better days if i'm honest, i'm hoping it might fix everything but that's wishful thinking,

will drop an update when i have the parts n replaced them

 

[Pentalab]

What is your fuel pressure sitting at? On my 2010, it's 40 psi...at idle or wot. You can read all that on the OBD port.
A few years ago, I had an issue where it would gag with my foot into it pretty good.....and fuel pressure would drop. Turns out the 'sock' filter that's on the bottom of the fuel pump was clogged badly. Once the pump was removed, and 'sock' filter cleaned out, it's been running fine after that. You can also see the FPDC (duty cycle) on the obd port....watch out, the indication is exactly 1/2 of what it really is. IE: '40%' is actually 80%, 30% is actually 60% etc.
You can also read individual cat temps. They are normally identical. If one is higher than the other, the higher reading one is starting to clog up.

 

[DieHarder]

I had a similar problem with misfires/loss of power. Turned out to be coils; specifically, if you've ever removed them the ends can get pushed too far into the boot forcing the spark to jump a gap. They can often work fine at low throttle but give it any input and the engine loses power/bucks/bogs down. Can't hurt to change plugs at the same time.

Get a set of OEM units. Feebay has them for a very reasonable cost. Just be sure to get the same color you have now. Black or Brown.

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[Beerus]

update on this, sorry for the slow update,

so i have replaced coil packs and spark plugs with MSD coils and motor craft sparks (old ones was cheap aftermarket when i looked and took them out), but also replaced the fuel pump with a 100 psi from CJ pony, you can use it as a direct replacement no tune required, misfires have gone, the fuel psi was at 22ps under load, now at a steady 40 to 45psi now, i have replaced everything that would cause these lean issues and after everything, it still says its too lean but the O2 sensors, i noticed the voltage on bank 1 (which is where the lean issue is most persistent) is very low and noticing my alternator is low charging the car at 13.2 lowest to 13.6v, it should be 14.5 max, and ofc as mentioned before in my previous posts my battery gauge is been off for a while and its starting to make sense now, since the sparks and coils are in the battery gauge is starting to work more then usual too, i'm wondering if the sensors are giving a false reading now due to the lack of volts, because the car is running perfect, no hold backs no misfires its super responsive now and running as it should but still says running too lean on both banks, it literally can't be after everything has been replaced,

i will be replacing the alternator next month n hopefully will sort it out, if not new o2 sensors, if not its a mystery but its running amazing and the best its ever been and better then the old engine by far,

i thank everyone for helping and suggestions and i hope this thread helps someone who's struggling with the same issues i had, i will post if any improvements but my main issues have been resolved, just this minor lean issue code which again i think is false readings now,

thanks again all

 

[DieHarder]

If running voltage with a good alternator is low it's due to one of two reasons. Old cabling and/or grounding issues. What happens is over time due to oxidation/corrosion resistance builds up in the cables. This can affect the ground side too where resistance builds up in the cables or at the points where the ground cables and even parts bolt together.

To determine if you have grounding issues perform voltage checks (set VOM to VDC) one lead on the body of the alternator; the other back to the main ground on the passenger strut tower. This is known as performing a voltage drop test. If you're reading voltage the grounds/and or battery cables need replacing. To check for battery cabling issues inspect the battery cables - if they're green anywhere it's likely you need new ones. When I replaced mine I saw a +1v jump in the output at the battery terminals.

If you think you may have resistance or grounding problems there's a couple of things you can do about it:

1) Replace the battery cables - This takes care of the oxidation/resistance issue. Most of our cars are going on +15 - 20 yrs old anyway.
2) Clean/Replace grounds; and/or easier simply add a ground (4 gauge) from a mounting bolt on the body of the alternator back to the main ground on the passenger strut tower.

If you can get 14.3 - 14.7 vdc across the battery terminals you're good to go.

For more on the subject see: Grounds - Finally found the cause of my low voltage - Beware the all important grounds.

 

[Beerus]

Last update on this,

alternator replaced and all fault codes have gone and running on full power again, thank you all for helping me out, it's been a long ride but its finally sorted, i honestly appreciate everyone for there help and i hope people find this forum useful for there lean issues!

Thanks Again!

 

[Outlawed_stangz]

hello i hope someone could help me and give me an idea where to look to sort my problem out as im at a loss and many others have tried to fix it but have no clue, big lengthy post incoming,

so basically i had an engine swap last year in October as my last engine was completely destroyed, passenger side cams completely destroyed, no oil delivery on that side etc it was a wreck and suggested for a new engine by these mustang specialists i took it to, my last engine ran lean but never had loss of power or anything, this new engine i had rebuilt from timing components to brand new OEM cams with uprated rollers etc to prevent having this problem ever happening again, so i got the car back, its has loss of power under heavy load, so it sputters and holds back from 0 to 60 but after 60 it seems to burst to life and stop sputtering and goes as it should, i took it back to the specialists 3 times for this issue only for them to take my money and no improvements at all, i am a experienced mechanic but when it comes to this car there is not alot of info on these in the UK so its hard to find parts and any info on these cars, this is why i took it to a garage that specialises in these cars, but they have no clue and pretty much guessing really and i seem to be wasting my money, there last suggestion was replace the wiring loom as mine is in poor condition but to get it replaced by them was alot of money so i walked away from that as that will be my last resort if anything below doesn't work,


from the way the car is acting its not getting the fuel it needs so i looked into fuel delivery, when looking at my fuel trims short and long, my long fuel trims are maxed out at 25% they do not move at all at idle, my fuel trims on both banks was between 10% to 16% but bank 1 was around 6% to 8% so bank 2 seems to be more leaner in general and that was at idle, the fuel gauge also randomly at 72 miles or 46 miles it drops to 0 and says there isn't any fuel it in and acts there isn't any fuel in the tank, i even got a fault code of B2879 Fuel Tank JET Pump Error which someone said my transfer pump has failed, i took the top off on the passenger side and the fuel pump side and i had a full tank of fuel on the passenger but the drivers side was almost empty, so i replaced the transfer pump with a new one, filled it up and tested it, no different in the fuel trims still runs lean and the gauge STILL drops to 0 at 72 miles or 46 miles and acts like there is no fuel, i replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter, no different still does the same thing, sputters under load, fuel trims no different and fuel gauge to 0 when i hit 72 miles left or 46, replaced the fuel pressure sensor after getting a fault code P0193 Fuel Rail Pressure sensor High Input which that code hasn't come back since, but made no difference for my issue, so i started to look at injectors, i got brand new stock injectors but i also bought some uprated injectors of 24lb from last year, so i swapped injectors thinking it could be injectors, made no difference had slight improvement on bank 2 short trims but nothing major, so i swapped them back to stock as no point using the 24lb injectors,


so i started focusing on the air side of things, i did have an IMRC error saying my runners on bank 2 was stuck open, so i took off the intake manifold and cleaned them up and made sure the motor was working as well and it appears to be working fine, i put it all back together, not had that fault come back since but still made no difference to my fuel trims and lean issue etc, i tested purge valve which was fine after i had a fault code P0443 Purge Valve Circuit Malfunction so no clue what that was about but it hasn't come back since (its the valve on top of the engine right side near air filter not sure if that was the valve it was talking about), i bought a brand new OEM maf sensor and replaced that, made no difference (my car does have a ford performance cold intake filter on but it shouldn't effect my car this bad and came with the car originally when i bought it), so i borrowed a smoke tester and looked for any air leaks, low and behold the throttle body is leaking badly, i do have a spacer on between the throttle body and intake manifold but it was leaking bad, so i took it off cleaned it all up and resealed it and tested it, and my short fuel trims improved alot on idle, bank 1 -0.8 to 0.8, which is normal i believe and bank 2 however between 4% to 8% which is still bad so compared to how it was which was 10% to 16% is big improvement but still lean, so i did some readings driving it, and both banks was jumped to 16% to 21%, if you moderately accelerate the long fuel trims do drop to 4.6% so its improved them as well but still maxed out at 25% on idle and driving normally, so its still running pretty lean, so i did a smoke test again and its still slightly leaking from the throttle body but not from the same places as it was but from the sensor side (left) and it was also leaking from the breather pipe that connect to the inlet pipe ( i have a plastic inlet pipe as my rubber pipe spilt in the past) so i tightened the clips to seal them and that's stopped leaking, so i'm going to replace the throttle body next month with a brand new OEM one to rule all that out and going to remove the spacer as well because really it doesn't really do alot at all if barely anything so i can rule that all out, but i have i feeling this isn't going to fix my lean issue and think it might be something else but its a start,


and odd one but not sure if its related to any of this, but my battery gauge works when it wants to n says low input and high input then does a full circle then works normal then doesn't work at all which is the majority of the time now, it used to work perfect till the engine swap was done, so im not sure if there is a ground issue somewhere or causing the car to be lean i don't know, or maybe my stepper motor is gone i don't know, but thought might be worth mentioning that one but i tested alternator for precaution and its charging normal so no idea what that's about or if its related


i am at a loss here and don't know what else i can try to fix this issue, i was going to go down each list to replace everything related from brand new o2 sensors to doing an IMRC delete to rule all that out as i know its common problem for them to fail and get it tuned, new sparks and coils etc, just going down the line what might effect it but its all seems to be guess work with this car right now,


if anyone has any ideas or where to start or knows the problem i really appreciate your help to get this sorted once and for all and so i can start driving it again as it was my daily till all this happened if you can send pictures or videos what to look at or what to replace or try if its the problem would be a massive help for me too!

many thanks

Beerus

 

[Outlawed_stangz]

update on my lean issue,

so new throttle body installed, spacer removed and as well as bought new gaskets for my intake manifold and throttle body, replaced the parts, the car is back on full power, however its still running lean, long fuel trims have improved massively n dropped to 1 to 7% when driving, 25% maxed out when on idle which is strange, short trims have dropped o 1 to 3% on bank 2 but bank 1 is around 6 to 10%, its still a big improvement as my power loss has stopped, but i encountered another issue after driving hard and pulling up on idle or driving super slow it gets a misfire and starts choking up n will cut out, when looking at the fuel it goes into -8% then slowly goes back up to 6% but noticed one of my coils is broken so a new set of coils and maybe spark plugs?? (not looking forward to sparks as i heard they always snap on the 3v engines)

however tho its a big win as my power is restored, just a shame about the lean issue still on going but with some improvements.

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