PastaPirate13
Member
Alright, quick background. I aquired this raggedy old 1995 mtx last summer, previous owner installed a new transmission and differential, MAF sensor and TPS. I got the car home and discovered the ball joints were shot and replaced the LCAs and outer tie rod ends. A few weeks later it develops a sudden misfire shortly after leaving for work one afternoon, I get the car home and discover oil in the #5 plug hole so I assume it just needed the upper 60k. I replaced the plugs and wires and did an oil and filter change to only short lived success. It started up and ran great for less than a minute before the misfire returned, which turned out to be a DIS failure as well as an IAC sensor issue. After replacing the DIS and the IAC sensor the car ran great at night and in colder weather, but during the afternoon or in warmer weather it would occasionally stutter and surge a bit and the check engine light would now throw a MAF sensor code. I eventually tracked that down to a broken MAF plug that I broke while removing the intake manifold for the first time. I spliced in a new plug and it once again ran great, this time for a couple days. Eventually though the sputtering and surging slowly came back and got worse than before, once it completely cut power for three or four seconds and i pulled over onto the shoulder unsure when I'd get any power back. I eventually made it to work, and the drive home that night went relatively well with it only sputtering a couple times. The next morning I pulled the codes again and came up with an IAC sensor code, which is odd since that part was new. It's been parked since late November while I've been gathering parts and knowledge on what to do next, and battling with the weather as I'm doing this outside in my driveway.
Fast forward to today, I've gained quite a lot of knowledge on how to do most of what I'm trying to do though it's a bit intimidating doing most of this work on my own. Most of the parts I believe I need to at least have a mechanically solid SHO have arrived and I'll be ordering a bit more tonight. So far I've gotten 24/26mm sway bars with poly bushings, new end links front and rear also with poly bushings. 3rd gen rear subframe bushings, poly front and rear tension strut rod bushings, stainless steel brake lines along with new pads and rotors. As far as engine maintenance goes, I've gotten an intake gasket and coupler set, new drive belts, a new timing belt, new water pump, CPS and front main seal. I also got new rod bearings but these came from rock auto so I wasn't sure if these were correct or not. I ordered new spark plugs as well since I had to drive for a couple months with the MAF sensor issue. Tonight I plan on ordering the valve adjustment kit, brake bias plugs and I have a feeling I'm gonna need way more poly grease than I currently have. I'm doing my best but I am disorganized as fork so if there's anything else I should get before I really get started on this project I would greatly appreciate the advice. Also I'm a bit lost as to what order I need to do this stuff in, the Chilton repair manual I have helps, but as I'm sure many of you know has it's limitations.
Left and right rear tension strut rod bushings, looks like they're the original ones. These were by far the worst but the others were all showing various levels of dry rot.
Fast forward to today, I've gained quite a lot of knowledge on how to do most of what I'm trying to do though it's a bit intimidating doing most of this work on my own. Most of the parts I believe I need to at least have a mechanically solid SHO have arrived and I'll be ordering a bit more tonight. So far I've gotten 24/26mm sway bars with poly bushings, new end links front and rear also with poly bushings. 3rd gen rear subframe bushings, poly front and rear tension strut rod bushings, stainless steel brake lines along with new pads and rotors. As far as engine maintenance goes, I've gotten an intake gasket and coupler set, new drive belts, a new timing belt, new water pump, CPS and front main seal. I also got new rod bearings but these came from rock auto so I wasn't sure if these were correct or not. I ordered new spark plugs as well since I had to drive for a couple months with the MAF sensor issue. Tonight I plan on ordering the valve adjustment kit, brake bias plugs and I have a feeling I'm gonna need way more poly grease than I currently have. I'm doing my best but I am disorganized as fork so if there's anything else I should get before I really get started on this project I would greatly appreciate the advice. Also I'm a bit lost as to what order I need to do this stuff in, the Chilton repair manual I have helps, but as I'm sure many of you know has it's limitations.
Left and right rear tension strut rod bushings, looks like they're the original ones. These were by far the worst but the others were all showing various levels of dry rot.
