I was driving down the road when my truck ('92 F-150 302 E4OD) just died. It's happened twice in the past 3-4 months, but it would restart immediately. This time, it won't restart. I had a little electrical smelling smoke come outta the dash, and now I'm almost positive I'm not getting fire from the coil. I can't find any burnt wires or anything though. Any ideas?
Thanks.

 

Pull 1 plug wire and have someone watch to see a spark.

 

Sounds like a burnt ignition switch. It likely was starting to burn up, that is why it would shut off going down the road. Now it's toast.

Does it crank over?

 

I took the coil wire off the distributor and put a spare plug in it and there was no spark.

Yes, it cranks.

 

Start tracing Ignition wires....Keyswitch to cluster is Red/green stripe...

 

There are multiple contacts on the ignition switch. Likely the starter is fine, but the ignition side is toast.

If you look closely under the dash, above the column, you'll find the switch module. You can likely unbolt it, pull it down and check it while in the truck. Then you might be able to "sniff" it and see if it smells burnt. You mentioned that the majic smoke came out of the dash area.

I've never had mine down, but had to tap into it when I installed my remote start. If it is the switch(kinda a common issue), they are cheap and easy to replace.

 

How would I check it?

 

First, sniff it to see if it smells burnt. That is the quick way.

If you could come up with a Chilton book, you could check the wiring and possibly jump the ignition side to see if truck runs. There are like 4-5 big wires, and a few small ones, and I don't have anything handy at work to tell you what they are. Not sure if there is something online?

 

It don't smell burnt. Can anyone tell me which wires in the plug on the coil I could check & what the voltage should be?

 

Just for the heck of it, check the top 20 amp fuse, and the bottom relay,...both in the power box under the hood...scratch that...pull the codes and see what you have, that will lead you in the right direction hopefully. Do you have a test light?

 

I'm pretty sure I got a burn wire. There was a small amount of smoke coming from the dash when the engine died, and I'm not getting a spark. I put in a new ignition switch & coil & had the ignition module checked & it was good.

 

Sounds like a bad burnt Computer.
Just unplug the computer and if spark returns open up the computer and I am sure you will find burnt parts inside.