Hi,
On our way to the ferry terminal on Sunday from a weekend of camping we
started having problems. After driving about 20 minutes the van started to
have no power and wanted to stall. We made it to the ferry and once at the
other side of the sound,the van started. It still ran with no power and
black smoke. Was not overheating or hot.

History:

Rebuilt motor,new distributer,cap,rotor,wires,temp 2 sendor,pro cleaned
injectors,all new hoses,fuel lines ect......
Grounds were all cleaned and some replaced while motor was installed.
Has about 70 miles since rebuild was installed.  The O2 sensor is unplugged
and cat is hollowed out.
Made sure the oxygen sensor plug wasn't touching anything to ground it out.
Looked over the engine and all
vacumn lines are intact. Boot between throttle body/afm appears intact.
I did check the  o2 connector and when the black rubber cover is over the
connector is shows a light ground. There is no wires from the braid coax
touching the center connector. It appears tha the black rubber has become
conductive for some reason. I pulled the rubber cover back and taped the
connector for now. With the cover off the ground goes away. Checked the wire
from the plug at the afm and shows no ground at all now.
 I also checked the throttle switch and that needs to be adjusted. It works
correctly full throttle but not at rest. The throttle butterfly show zero
ohms at rest and infinate at full
throttle. I will adjust that in the morning. Looking for some other
suggestions to look at tomorrow to help with trouble shooting my problem.
I also am curious that if anyonelse has replaced their coolant gauge sendor
and now it shows normal temp at 3/4 of gauge? Mine used to rest right around
the light in the middle. This is on a 87 and I am wondering if I should try
the other type gauge sendor with the different connector that the later
years have to see if that will bring it back to where it used to be. I had
to resplice the wires to this connector and wonder if I added resistance to
the circuit. Does that light in the coolant gauge also start to flash when
the coolant gets to hot? I know it flashes if there is low coolant.

Thanks and look forward to any suggestions as I work through getting this
sorted out....

A.