When I first bought my 89 lincoln town car it had been sitting for a while but it ran really good. I went ahead and tuned it up (plugs, wires, rotor button, dist cap) and it still ran good but I could swear I thought I could hear a slight miss so I checked the wires and none were loose and I hadn't got any wires mixed up. Over time I would go start it every 2 weeks or so and it seemed to get worse every time I started it and drove it around. I went and started it the other day and it acts like there is a miss and is starving for gas. It ran great before and started to run rougher and rougher, I think maybe there is something wrong with some of the sensors as it is fuel injected plus I showed my dad and he thought it could be a bad plug or wire (which are all new) Should I just put the old plugs and wires back in to see if that will fix it? I'm not going with fuel injection when I put it in the truck (edelbrock carb and weiand intake) so if I were to change the plugs and wires back to the old ones and it still didn't clear up, could I just suspect a sensor problem?

 

Take a look at the emission tubing scattered around the engine. Some are made of steel and can rust through.

 

How long has it been sitting? You could have built up condensation in the gas tank. Gas also gets old and breaks down over time. Weak gas with water in it. Just a thought.

 

Well when I first test drove it it was real low on gas so I put $10 of regular gas in it. the other day that crossed my mind too so I put some fresh gas in it and some stabilizer but it didnt seem to help. I also looked all over the engine at all the emission stuff ad everything seemed ok, nothing loose or rusted it seemed. I did notice that there was some what seemed to be oil residue in the throttle body?? there is a hose from the thrttle body to the valve cover.

 

it didnt seem like the engine had much blowby at all so I was wondering why a little oil would be sucked up all the way from the passenger side valve cover to the throttle body on other side of engine

 

Is it starving for gas or running too rich? I had problems with my 87 TC running rough and the fuel pressure regulator was stuck, way too much fuel pressure. On the oil in the TB, check the PCV valve and tubing, also the mesh filter under the PCV valve in the rear of the intake. The PO of my TC had the engine rebuilt because it used excessive oil, rebuild didn't help. I replaced the mesh filter and never had to add oil again.

 

Have you checked for computer codes? You might also mist the plug wires at night. Then with the light out, check to see if you have any sparks leaking form the wires. When did you buy the car and put $10 worth of gas in it?