What is going on with my truck? After stopping and visiting a friend, I turned the key and after cranking for one minute, it would not start and there was a strong odor of gas. I pressed the accelerator to the floor and after a while, it began to sputter and started and a bunch of black smoke came out of the tail pipe. I moved the gear shift (automatic) to drive and the engine died. I repeated doing what I did before and got the same result and every time I put it in gear, the engine died.

I left the engine running for about three minuets than I got the truck going. I had a full tank of gas and traveled 70 miles and saw that there was less than half a tank left. I was getting 11 miles to the gallon and after this trip, I got 5 miles.

Please let me know what happened and what I need to do to fix this problem. I just don't trust using my truck for fear it may act up again. I know nothing about mechanics and would appreciate your help.

Thanks. Carino

 

If you smelled gas you should check for leaks. If there is a leak it could would cause a loss in fuel pressure which might be why your truck didn't want to run. The black smoke might have been because the air/fuel mix was rich due to your pushing the gas pedal to the floor. It wouldn't hurt to pull the codes off the computer.

 

Thanks 400m, I just came back from starting the truck and it started without any problem. I did smell a little raw scent of gas. There could be a small leak in the fuel system or perhaps the choke is sticking and flooding the engine. Your advice is appropriate and will take it to my mechanic to check it out.

Thank you for taking time to respond.

 

No problem, we all need advice and help eventually. Your truck should have electronic fuel injection (EFI) so it won't have a choke. There is a computer (electronic control module or "ECM") that controls how the truck runs. There are lots of sensors all over the engine telling the ECM what is going on so if they go bad the truck won't run right. Luckily you can easily scan the computer and it should tell you if there are problems with these sensors.This is all assuming your truck hasn't had the EFI pulled and had a carburetor put on. If that were the case that would be a valuable piece of info for diagnosing whats going on. Also you shouldn't need to pump the gas with fuel injection.

Does your truck have dual fuel tanks or just one. It's possible that maybe a fuel pump is going out and it starts fine when switched to the tank with a good pump but has trouble with the other tank. Has the truck ever given you any other issues like maybe feeling under powered or sputtering while accelerating? Was the engine hot or cold when it wouldn't start?

 

you have a carburetor on a 91?? for real? you said you were pumping the gas which only works on carbureted and you said it has a choke.. wow.. i thought they all switched to EFI in 88

 

Thank your for following up. I did not "pump" the pedal. When it would not start, I pressed the pedal all the way down and kept it there while cranking. This worked because it started but when I placed it in gear, it would die out. This happen several times.

Yes, the truck has two tanks. Now that you mentioned it, yes the front gas tank gage sometimes work and sometimes it does not. Come to think of it, yes while using the front tank the truck seemed to jerk at times but this happened intermittently.

The Truck was not hot when I attempted to start it. I was using the before-mentioned tank at the time of the trouble. When I purchased the truck, it seemed that the previous owner seldom used the front tank. I say this because when I added "foam" additive to the front fuel tank, the gage worked so to me it seemed that there was some crude in the tank.

Could it be that the front tank is the culprit? I certainly appreciate all the information you have provided.

Thank you very much.

 

They did but sometimes someone does and engine swap and they throw a carb on for whatever reason.

If it is only doing it on the front tank than you might have a bad fuel pump in that tank. Drive it around a while on the back tank and see if it acts up. Then switch to the front and see what it does. If it doesn't want to start on the front tank you can just switch tanks but it may take a bit of cranking after switching to get fuel pressure in the lines again.

Now it can get a bit complicated here. In '87 ford had a 3-pump system that had one low-pressure kicker pump in each tank and those would feed the main high pressure pump. In '88 they switched to a two-pump system where each tank has it's own high-pressure pump. The thing is ford hadn't stopped installing the old system so some trucks have one and some have the other. I think by '91 they had gone totally to the two-pump system but I don't know for sure. I had an '89 with the older 3-pump and it was fun getting parts for it because according to most sources '87 was the last year for that system and anything '88 and up had the 2-pump.

 

Well I had my truck towed to my mechanic yesterday. It started fine with no problem and I took it and spent over 100.00 dollars filling the two tanks. After fueling, it would not start. It was acting the same as before. I used both tanks while driving to the fueling station and they worked fine.

I am waiting for my mechanic to call me with what I consider bad news. Hope the cost to repair, whatever they find, is not too steep. I will post again after I learn what they find. Meantime, thank you all for your help.

 

My '89 F150 wouldn't start one day not long after I bought it. Ended up taking to a mechanic and it turns out he had told the PO that both tanks and pumps were bad. He got a good wrecking yard tank and got it running but from then on both tanks worked. Then one day years later the truck died on me and wouldn't start on either tank. The gauge said the front (replaced) tank had gas in it and the back was full. Turns out the front was out of gas. The gauge would stick sometimes and I had to flip the tank selector back and forth to get it to read the correct level. That's when I remembered that I had never replaced the other tank. I felt like a **** when the mechanic told me it was out of gas and vapor locked.

 

Well I just picked up my truck from the shop. It cost me 186.00 dollars for the repair plus the cost of towing. The problem was the "cooler temperature sensor". This is what was causing the flooding of the truck. I took it out for a long ride and It is running like a champ. I switched tanks the truck did not miss a beat. It seems to be running smoother and the smell of raw gas I have been smelling for a long time is now gone.

Hope this can help others have this kind of problem. Thanks again.

 

Thanks for the follow up. That seems to be a reasonable price. Glad it's up and running again!!

 

$186.00 was worth it to have it fixed. thats the most frustrating thing about these trucks, not knowing what the problem is. i just spent $300.00 for two fuel pumps on mine, but it was worth it to fix it.

 

I agree with you hotrod, I just love my Rosie (trucks name) she is just wonderful when she has nothing wrong with her. I have thought about trading her in but I just cannot see paying monthly payments. The past two years I have spend approx. 1,200 dollars which equate to 50 dollars a month. I know there will be other things I will have to repair in the future but I think she is worth it.