rls@iham1.UUCP (Rick Schieve) (10/19/84)
The car experiencing problems is a 1980 turbocharged 4 cylinder Ford Mustang. I know that this engine/turbo combination had problems in 1980 and I am well aware of prejudicious against Fords so please spare me the unconstructive criticism. I rebuilt the engine last winter due to a drastic loss of compression in cylinder 3. The turbo mounts on an aluminum intake manifold. The mating gasket between the intake manifold and the cylinder head is non-metallic and, according to Ford, the same gasket is used in the non turbocharged 2300. I sprayed both sides of the gasket with Permatex High Tack (the red stuff) and torqued the intake mounting bolts according to spec. About a month ago the car began to refuse to idle below 1500 RPM. I backed the idle stop all the way out and checked the carb throttle plates to make sure they were closing. Also my gas mileage dropped about 2 MPG or so. At this point a began looking for vacuum leaks which turned out to be very apparent around the intake gasket. When a finially got the intake manifold off my problems was obvious. Both ends of the intake gasket had migrated outward. There were leaks above and below cylinders 1 and 4 where the stretching effect had finially split the gasket. I had the manifold checked for flatness and it is not warped. I hate to simply put things back together and hope for the best, so any helpful comments would be appreciated. A few other points. The turbo makes the engine run very hot even when the cooling system is at its best, the only way I could stop it from eating valve seals was to was the teflon type. Also the turbo does not boost a great deal, only about 5 pounds, so intake pressure is probably not forcing the gasket out. Thanks Rick Schieve