I have a question that I hope I can get some help with. I recently inheirited a 1988 Sable, with a 3.0 V6 engine. The vehicle only has
75,000 miles on it. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the vehicle history, other than it was owned by an elderly person, and, judging by it's overall shape, it was well cared for. Anyway, the car is very hard to start, when it does, it is hard to keep running, ie, after I 'feather' the gas pedal for a few mintutes to keep it running, it will sometimes idle smoothly, sometimes not, sometimes backfires, sometimes sputters, chugs, etc. So far I've changed the fuel filter, and added two bottles of fuel injector cleaner to the tank, but no help from this.
I suspect the fuel pump, hopefully I can get a gauge to measure the fuel pressure, as I don't want to change this expensive (and pain to access) part on just a hunch, plus I am trying to find and fix the problem myself, as I have few funds to work with. Does anyone know what the proper pressure should be? The fuel tank is about 1/2 full, I am not sure hold old the fuel is, but, when changing the fuel filter, I noticed the fuel still SMELLS strong, (and the little bit I drained looks clean), does that mean the fuel is OK? Also, I read somewhere that when disconnecting the fuel filter, that the fuel would be under pressure, when I disconnected this one, the fuel didn't SPURT or anything, just kind of dribbled out, is this any help?
So, do you have any other ideas, things to look for, etc? This is the first Ford I've ever owned, but I am semi-handy with basic tools/auto repair none-the-less. Is this problem common on this vehicle?
Please email a response, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com
Thanks in advance,
Jay