Well I spent Labor Day working on my car, finishing up the 90K
mile tune-up. Here is what I did:
1.Replaced distributor cap and rotor (both were original from
factory)
2.Replaced plugs and all wires (including coil wire) (Plugs last
replaced at 60K and wires never replaced)
3.Flushed transmission with Mobil 1 synthetic transmission oil
(last done at 60K)
4.Replaced oil and filter with Mobil 1.
Here are a couple of the things I found at 91K miles:
1.The distributor cap and rotor definitely needed to be replaced.
The cap had a black ring inside and the terminals were worn.
The rotor was worn fairly badly on one side of the arc.
2.The plugs definitely needed to be replaced. The plugs had small
black hard deposits on the edges and tanned on the tips
with little black deposits. I know the engine was running rich
for a long period of time until I figured out (with help) that a
vacuum line was broken. So that could explain the black deposits.
3.The wires were in OK shape, there were some places were you
could see some ware, and I figured if I didn’t do them now
then they would need to be replaced in the near future. And I
figured since I was doing the cap I might as well do the wires.
4.The transmission fluid definitely needed replacing. The fluid
was brown and smelt pretty bad. As a side note, learn from my
stupid mistake, I accidentally connected the drain hose up to
the top of the radiator not the top disconnected hose so you can
only imagine what happened when I started the car :). I honestly
don’t know why I mixed up the connection; I was really out of
it!!! What a mess!!!! It cleaned up easily though.
After I was all finished the tune-up I started the car and it
ran great! And I mean it felt like a new car again, it didn’t hesitate
at
all when you pressed the gas and downshifts seemed much quicker
and much more powerful!! The car felt OK (meaning no
major problems with starting or running) before the tune-up,
but you don’t realize how much performance degrades over time
until you drive it right after a tune-up. From my experience
I would say that if you’re at 90K miles or above and haven’t already
done so, to change the cap and rotor and definitely give the
cars some new plugs. Also, I would inspect your wires to see if
they need replacing while you already have the cam cover off
and the plugs off the cap. I also recently (1500 miles before
tune-up) added a K&N filter and that made a slight difference
in performance, nothing to drastic but the car just felt like it could
breath better (could be mental). Hope this helps someone!!!
Scott
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Scott K - 91K miles 1994 850 Turbo
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