TOPIC: Attention********Ron Hatton*********Making a new attempt!

Hay Ron, I want to reattempt the gadgetman groove on my 1994 Ford Explorer. We talked quite a bit about three years ago when I tried this on my old 91 explorer and was unsuccessful. I still live in Statesville NC, and saw that their is a gadgetman in York SC, (Wayne Meador-Personal License) would he be able to help me with this process? I still have the throttle body that you grooved for me three years ago off my 91, and it will fit on my 94 explorer. Thank You, and I look forward to hearing from you.

JDiemicke, Ron Hatton is no longer active as Gadgetman, he has health issues. I haven't seen Wayne Meador in the forum for quite awhile either. But we can still offer help here.
Have you tried the Grooved TB on your 94 yet? Did you and Ron discuss what the issues were on the 91? If you post pics of the Grooved TB, and give more details, maybe we can figure this out together...
BTW, that's an innovative mini-camper on top of your Explorer!

Tracy G

I hate to hear that about Ron I hope he gets well soon. Basically with the 91 we weren't getting enough vacuum, I searched every hose and no matter what I did nothing worked. Ron even had me send my throttle body to, I think Nick up in NY and he sent me one from the store and their was still no difference. I haven't actually tried the throttle body out on the 94 yet, due to the fact that I would really like to have a gadgetman here that knows exactly what their doing. I am mechanically inclined when it comes to working on vehicles its just that I tried on my 91 for a year and still couldn't get it to work.

I'm gonna jump in here on this....

Yes, Nick used to do the mail-in Mods. Well, have you put a vacuum guage on the 94 yet to measure vac.? Lotsa things can cause low vac. IF you have a Groovy TB, it's so easy to swap 'em, do the ECU re-learn, and see...? But the Groove won't fix pre-existing problems. This Ford 20 yrs. old. Old slow upstream O2's, of course vac. leaks and other stuff will rob gains.

Some Ford's give easy gains, others are stubborn.

If power/driveability are currently excellent, then it will respond better, it can be subjective to judge those things. You drive it for years, things degrade slowly over miles/time. If it has a lot of miles on it, and not much done or seem needed for tune-ups or other maintenance, I'd be slightly suspicious of worn parts and gremlins like small vac. leaks creeping in. ECU can/will adapt for a long time, seems OK, drives "OK".
Maintenance/tuneups with top shelf ignition parts can go long way to waking it up. Vac. leaks esp. little ones can take patience to track down and kill. I'd start w/ checking existing manifold vac.
Hook up a vac.gauge to man. vac. on engine, see if it's steady at idle, should be over 16 inches hg at hot idle. You can spray carb. clean at vac. hose junctions/nipples to make a vac. leak "show". Inspect vac. lines,hoses, hook a Mityvac. hand pump to brake booster, give it a few dozen pumps see if vac. holds, check all vac. system lines that dead-end into something that vac. operates, like the brake booster, heater controls, etc.

It's been pretty well established, that upstream O2 sensors over 60 K miles, need replaced w/ factory OEM new ones if no/little gains. Old high mileage O2's often get "slow" in voltage up/down output to ECU. How fast voltage goes hi/low is the Cross Count rate. Good O2's with fast enough cross count rate, are necessary. An engine in good shape, w/ a good Groove job, no vac. leaks, will burn more of the fuel IN the engine, and therefore use more of the O2 going into engine w/ fuel. This gives less O2 in exhaust. THAT causes higher voltage bias in O2 sensor output, tells ECU to cut fuel.

Read around in the Index section of this forum, there is a ton of info in there for you. Read on the PCV reroute, tire press., MPG Remedy, as easy side mods to do. The Ignition can't bee Too Good, also. Fix any existing computer code issues. Also, the tailpipe sniff test, cup hand at tailpipe and sniff, feel for water vapor in exhaust. Clean moist exhaust is a good sign, a good before/after test. The exhaust tone will deepen at idle w/ any significant improvements, esp. w/ Ignition upgrades.

Also some vehicles need time/miles to get gains from the Groove. I can tell right away in the ECU relearn drive sequence if I am getting gains in low-end power. Sometimes you see lower MPG's for awhile, then ECU adapts and allows gains. How It's driven, of course, is also a big factor in MPG's.

"Political Comment- WARNING!" IN the USA you are Supposed to burn fuel!

If you dig in, and stick with it, then let us know, ask Q/A here,post pics, that's what this is all about!

Tracy G