1990 3.8 v6 questions

Ok so I just bought this cougar, idles way high (2k or so) and it isnt the throttle linkage. Only place to start looking now is computer codes. How would I retrieve the codes from this year 3.8? What do the codes do? I have a chiltons book, and it isnt much help here. Do I need any special tools, or can I do a key on/key off type cycling to trigger the codes?
[addsig]

brian, congratulations. You have one of the worst ford engines ever built! My 1990 T-bird tought me this.

Anyway, unplug the idle controller on the throttle body and see what happens. It may be stuck. Also, if someone has played with the idle screw it will affect the idle in a bad way. Also check for vacuum leaks.

Good luck getting any useful codes out of that POS computer.

Greg

What *should* happen if I unplug the idle control thingy? Should the engine go funky, if it was working properly? Is the idle control screw the throttle stop? Its not holding the linkage open so it should be ok right?
[addsig]

Brian M

I have an 89 Tbird with a 3.8. This
summer the idle speed actuator went out
and the idle stayed at around 1500 to 1800
with it unplugged or not. I picked one up at a salvage yard for 5 bucks and was set to
go. Also, there is a large vacuum line on
the back of the upper intake manifold that
hardens and splits or comes off by itself.
This will give you the same symptoms. You can't see it without a mirror but you can feel it if you reach around the upper part of the upper intake.
Personally I think the 3.8 is a pretty good
motor, with the exception of the head gasket
problem. I have owned two '89s, my present
89 has 220 thousand miles on it and it still
hasn't blown a head gasket. The other one
blew a gasket at 140 thousand. Other then that the motors have been very reliable.
Bruce

Is it sitting down against the throttle stop? If not then either the cable is holding it open or someone adjusted it back trying to get it to come down. Pop the cable off at the throttle body and see if it comes down and rests on the stop. If not then the idle air solinoid is either bad or dirty. You can pull it and try to clean the seat part of the valve, or just replace it. One trick to see if the solinoid is working is to turn on the AC at idle and see if it will compensate and hold the idle RPM's.

Once you get the idle air solinoid working you might need to re-adjust the throttle stop to your normal low idle setting.

It was sitting against the stop -- I adjusted the stop in order to attempt to fix it. I have disconnected the throttle, and it has not helped either. I am actually getting the car here tomorrow, and I have built an eec-iv code reader, and hopefully that will help. If not, I'll try the idle air solenoid first.
[addsig]

Problem solved, idle air solenoid was very dirty. Cleaned it, and it magically started working again. Still idled high, so I'm gonna run to pick n pull tomorrow and grab a new one. Now for the tranny...
[addsig]