My 280TE was performing very peculiarly, struggling down the freeway. It had been sitting for a week at the airport. I just assumed I was running low on gas (my fuel level sender is out). As I exited to get gas I heard a loud BANG!!!; it felt like the car twisted. I thought I threw a rod or something catastrophic had occurred in the engine. After a few minutes of crying, I tried the key and it started fine and ran as normal except for the deafening sound of the unmuffled engine.

I have finally tracked down an exhaust system, but I wanted to sort out why this happened before I install it. Currently I get a lot of afterfiring when I decelerate from high RPM, or downshift. The idle seems a bit high, and the idle adjustment screw has no more adjust left in it.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Keith