<hr size="1" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> 88 Ford with the 7.5l (460ci). A while ago, I was driving home with a heavy camper loaded up on the back. The alternator fan cracked, and threw off about a third, causing a WICKED vibration. I immediately slowed to about 30, and the shaking and noise abated. Got to a place to pull over and checked stuff out. It being dark, I did not properly recognize the problem right off the bat. At idle, in Park, all seemed okay. I was in the middle of nowhere and headed off again. Serious vibes at 30-40 mph. Hoping just to get to the next town.

I thought I trashed the tranny or transfer case. But it kept running. After a while (damn near 2 hours) of cruising along at 30 mph, the voltage started to drop. Eventually quit running, just as I rolled onto my street.

Okay. Next day discover the alternator problem. Replaced it in about 5 minutes. Should be all groovy. Runs real poor and took forever to get started. Pulled all the plugs and found them very sooty, as would be expected by the low-speed, high-load slog I put this poor beast thru the night before. With clean plugs, it starts up, but it still runs poorly. I suspect I have a cracked exhaust manifold on the right bank that I have dealt with for over 10 years now, but it always keeps keepin' on. Once warm, it always seemed to run great. (tried like hell to get it off, but could not get the nuts loose) Mileage was always ****ty (8-10mpg), but what do you expect from an 88 with a 460 and a 12' camper?

Smokes more than usual, and runs rough at low speeds. Did the serous vibration from the alternator take out the air pump thing (I know nothin' bout them), since they are run by the same belt? (belt looks like new, by the way) I had to disconnect the alt a few years ago when it melted, thus bypassing the air pump on that occasion, and noticed it smoked more than usual on that occasion, but I was running flat out then, and didn't load up with a bunch of carbon on the plugs, so it ran pretty strong. Motored along on just the battery at 70 mph to get home, again, from the middle of nowhere. (Maybe I should avoid the middle of nowhere, unfortunately, that is where I live, so all roads home go thru it!)


Put two tanks of fresh gas in it. Front tank has some STP injector cleaner and I put a can of SeaFoam in the rear, 'cause it was on sale. Truck runs pretty nice without the camper (I dumped it in the driveway) at highway speeds, but crappy idle and low speed.

Is there a way to test the air pump? How does it work with all the other pollution control stuff? Would a FUBAR one cause the additional smoke? Did I plug up some valve or sensor somewhere? Check Engine light is NOT on.

Or did I finally suck a valve on the right bank? What do y'all think? I think I'll have another beer and wait for the Usual Suspects to chime in.

The stereo isn't loud enough, either, but I'll deal with that on my own. <table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="thead"></td></tr> <tr> <td class="vbmenu_option"></td></tr> <tr> <td class="vbmenu_option"></td></tr> <tr> <td class="vbmenu_option"></td></tr> <tr> <td class="vbmenu_option"></td></tr></tbody></table>
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maybe the vibration caused you to crack some vacuum lines. truck that old could have some pretty brittle ones. I'd check vacuum.