My 1982 Ford Granada (3.8L V6) recently had a stalling problem. I noticed an unused vacuum pipe on the intake manifold that was uncovered. Its rubber cap was off and lying next to the small pipe. I re-attached it with a small hose clamp and the car ran okay. About a month or two later, I had the same stalling problem. This time it was a vacuum line that was disconnected from its pipe near the master brake cylinder. Could there be reversed pressure bursts in the system to cause the lines or caps to pop off?
Possible. For example the engine could be backfiring into the intake manifold. Do you ever hear any weird knocking or popping sounds from the engine compartment? If so, that could be caused by a problem with
- Ignition timing
- Valve timing
- Valve clearance
- Fuel/air mixture
- Cylinder head damage
- Cylinder carbon deposits
your car is almost 40 years old. as the rubber ages it breaks down. dry rots ect. it could of come loose from vibration. its probably time to check and replace all the hoses. just a thought.
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Good comment above. I own a Ford truck even older than your Granada, and I replaced all the rubber vacuum hoses several times over the years b/c the rubber had deteriorated. If that’s never been done, that’s the first thing to try. Might want to go for the gusto & replace all the rubber hoses in the engine compartment, vacuum, cooling system, brake servo, PVC, evap, etc.
I suspect that it is just hardened 40 year old rubber. Just replace all of it. It’s cheap and easy to do.
It’s at least possible the exhaust could be pressuring up a bit due to a clogged converter but that should show up in increased braking difficulty.
My dad thought I was a genius when his 62 Lark was running terrible. I simply found a vacuum hose that had come off. Rubber deteriorates over time.
Just curious - is this a Ford of Europe Granada? Never mind, I’m thinking of the 1st gen, this is the Fox-body based one with the V6. I agree with the others, go through all the vacuum hoses, replace any that are dried out, cracked, or hard, could be a lot. Do you have a vacuum hose diagram? They could have been rerouted and or mixed up over the decades.