Howdy folks,

I moved down to SD from Portland about a year ago on an emergency basis (suddenly sick relative who lives here alone), and now my daily driver 93 Montego FD is sick with some kind of problem that sort of resembles a blown apex seal. I'm in the process of diagnosing it today and tomorrow.

Quick facts:

Starts with no trouble. 1 or 2 cranks and it's lit.

Big blue smoke cloud on cold start, blue smoke for maybe 15 seconds, tapering off to nothing after 30-45 seconds. Warm starts have no smoke. Smells a little rich.

Under 1100rpm, motor shakes like Kramer with tourettes after downing a six pack of red bull. Below 800rpm it nearly dies, dropping to 200-300 rpm, then corrects back to 800-1000 where it's a lot smoother, but not "smooth." It might actually die if I let it do this up and down oscillation long enough, though I haven't tried.

Above 1100rpm, pulls fairly strong and things smooth out almost completely, turbos kick in, etc, all the way to 7000. I haven't done more than touch that number a couple times to see how the RPM pull went o I don;t know if that's sutainable.

No ECU Codes except for one 15 that didn't come back after I cleared the ECU (which didn't change the behavior at all).

Waiting to get a compression test done tomorrow, I'll update when I have the numbers.

Any ideas on the source of the bad mojo would be most welcome

So, at any rate, I was thinking of selling it before this happened but now I am sure I am done with it. It doesn't make sense for me, starting over down here with a new business which involves a lot of city driving, with no room for storage and expensive fuel needs. I love the car, maintained it regularly and drove it lightly (it was my 2nd car before I moved here, and I telecommute much of the time now), but it's too much of a liability for me right now.

It has around 87k and a rebuild about 20k ago, and that was a long-term warrantied rebuild from a reputable shop, with the highest rebuild tolerances etc. I'll not say who did the rebuild because I am not sure what the problem is yet, and don't want to associate any names with negative results if I cannot confirm there is a connection.

When I know about the compression test results I'll update but for now I am strongly considering selling it whether it needs rebuild or not.

If anyone is interested, PM me and I can send pics or arrange a time to show you the car.

Here's the lowdown:

93 Montego Blue / Tan Touring

87k miles, new rebuild about 20k miles ago. Oil changed every 2500-4000 miles.

I am the 3rd owner, though 2nd owner barely drove it judging by the mileage records.

Stock except:
complete silicone air and vacuum line replacement
stealth DP mod (precat turned into pass-through pipe)
upgraded front anti sway bar
K&N filter mounted in the stock air box
Battery relocated into Driver's side storage bin (make room for upsized IC that never happened)

Clean title, no accidents but there are some scratches and dings, most are buffable except for one each on the very bottom of the front bumper and right rear fender which need to be touched up, thanks to on street parking in Portland among bozos who parallel park by braille.

It passed Oregon's DEQ smog test very easily about 18 months ago, with the mods in place. Though my understanding is that Oregon's DEQ test is patterned after CA's DMV, it is nonetheless not CA smog tested.

 

did you replace your water pump recently? if so, it may be your front counterweight because you took your pullies off wrong.

if not, its most likely a vacuum leak because you said you changed them all over to silicone lines.