Tom, Yes it sounds like I have a bad fast idle spring heater. It has power to the input lead, but never comes off fast idle. I rotated the whole unit like you decribed and it idles fine for now.
As far as the EGR goes... I will go buy some gaskets tomorrow and take the whole unit apart and clean it. I hope I can re-use this EGR valve, as the replacement cost for this unit looks to be well over $100. Hopefully I can pinpoint the cause of this car's quirks. It's a decent old car and I'd love to drive it for a while, but not at 7-8 MPG!!!
Anyone know what the average NORMAL MPG of these cars was?
Oops, wrong button. I've heard of folks getting 20-22 on the highway. I've never owned one. My 84 Mark VII with the same CFI motor and trans gets about 20.5 with my heavy foot, about
17 city.
Draw a vacuum on the EGR valve. If it holds vacuum and the pintle moves freely it should be ok. The EVP sensor on top of the EGR valve is a common failure item. I would replace it while servicing the EGR, it is 22 years old. Same with the Throttle position sensor. An O2 sensor couldn't hurt. This is just my personal preference on a car that old. If you do this, avoid Wells brand parts, they're no bargain even at half the price. Failing EVP and TPS will kill your fuel mileage. Be careful of the plastic vacuum lines, when they get old they get brittle and break if you look hard at them. They can be repaired with small (1/8"?)rubber vacuum line. While you're working around the CFI, look at the bushing in the transmission Throttle Valve rod (kickdown rod)as they tend to disentegrate after 20+ years. $2 part that can cost you $2000. At that age and mileage you may see numerous age related failures like the water pump, radiator, etc. Like other folks have said, start with a complete tune up including all of the filters. Use your judgement after that.
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