this is a long one fellas, say about a month ago my mom was going to tim hortons and went thru a small puddle, the felt the odd time the vehicule was missing (88 bronco II 5spd 4x4 2.9L V6) any who, my brother then that night went to a moose game and parked it in the parkade by a huge fan dont know if this matters but, he didnt notice any missing so anywho after the game he comes out to start it and no dice, it wants to go but not enough gas, but when it starts it does, yes it had gas at the time we made sure, so he leaves it there overnight my oldman goes to grab it the next day took him about 200 peddle pumps and maybe ignition turns it startes he revs it and it dies, now this fan is blowing warm enough air you could be in a t-shirt infront of it etc...so my dad tows it home, and it starts, runs for about 30 min no problem, then dies, start it up again, hold revs to about 3g's within 10sec it starts to die down slower and slower then coughs and dies, did this NUMEROUS times, i changed the cap and rotor, checked the spark from the coil which was a nice blue, and i felt it, i got a huge zap from it, stupid brother, looked at the plugs at night to any escaping charges nothing, added HEET to it, it ran wicked for 2 weeks, then it does it all over again, but this time no puddle hitting or anything, try adding heet still did nothing, left it til next day went out and it started up ran for 45-60min perfectly then dies, then it wouldnt start for a while, it would cough sputter etc...so we changed the fuel filter, it ran good for a couple days then it dies, so we dropped the tank and noticed a vac type line was off on the top of the tank, so we put it on it ran good for a couple days then quit, fuel pump on the frame cacked out so we changed it and still not getting enough fuel to make it run, any ideas? sorry for the long story...


heres what we came about

hmmm, we connected that pink/black wire and it fired up no problem, has been running for 30 min, just shut it off for 15-20 now going to start it again, lots of times say when we do this, it can run fine for an hour, and then we let it sit for a day then theres no power to the pumps again for some reason, but i believe that pink/black wire going to the positive on the pump on the rail goes to the batt etc...then that line runs down to the gas tank where it meets up with 3 other wires in a 4 wire clip....

so once we connected this wire together again, its been running for atleast an hour no problem, but could this of been the forsure problem?

 

Check the fuel pressure regulator. Install a preasure guage to the sharader valve on the fuel rail and confirm the proper preasure when it does run. I believe it is supposed to be 28-30 psi, but check the manual....

Good Luck!

 

Sounds like you may have had some bad wiring connections, but you may also want to check fuel pressure as previously mentioned. It should be 30-40 PSI, if I remember right. Also, you'll want to check the fuel pressure regulator... if there is gas leaking when you pull the vacuum line that goes to the 'tree' on the upper intake, then you need to replace the FPR. Also, the pink/black wire goes from the inertia switch to the fuel pump(s) -- the one on the frame rail and the in-tank pump/float assembly. The other side of the inertia switch (located on the passenger's side of the transmission hump, under the dash, just under the carpet), there should be an orange /(forget color) striped wire that goes from there to the fuel pump relay that is located on the passenger's side inner fender (should be underneath the black cover that also covers part of the air filter box). You'll want to check all of that, INCLUDING the relay, it could be getting water in it, although, it sounds as if the in-tank pump wiring came loose as well as the one line that goes to the fuel pickup/pump unit. Hope this helps

 

thanks for those comments, today i over looked alot of wires, and vac lines etc... today i went to start it, ran for 10 min then died, went out to start it again (it fires up w/o a spec of hesitation) ran for 30 sec and died, start it again runs 20 sec and dies...i can hear the pumps screaming for fuel (so i know they're working) any other ideas guys?? could the o2 sensor on the exhaust have something to do with it?

 

have you checked the fuel pressure yet?? the pumps may be working but there could be other problems..such as the fpr. put a pressure tester on at the schrader valve on the fuel rail and watch the guage while its running so you can determine if it is indeed a fuel related issue..may also want to pull the codes as that may lead to something

 

how would i find out codes on it...and seems most opinions are the FPR...could i ask what that does? (stupid question)

 

how can i tell if the FPR is toast..or not working...whats its main purpose? also today i went out to start it after its been sitting for a few days, starts like a brand new car, ran for 10 min then died, started it again no prob, ran for 30 sec then died, started it again and died in 20 sec....somedays i can go start it and it could run for a few weeks, then one day we can go out start it then it dies all over again...

 

go to ken00's tech info at the top of this forum,it has some really good info in there and explains on how to pull the codes.as for the fpr it is a pressure regulator. the easiest way to check it is to pull the vaccuum line off {the one going to the intake} if you smell line or see fuel coming out,it is bad. sometimes the diaphragm inside ruptures or will have a hole in causing the leak. i had to replace mine last year. on another note..your in-tank fuel pump could be going bad and causing the intermittent problem..hope this helps

 

well guys, i fixed a broken 02 sensor today, fixed some wires got nothing....so JUST BY CHANCE someone had a FPR laying around and i got it for 20$....threw it on AND SHE RUNS...but im not really gettin my hopes up, in a way tho its a good thing its running because it wouldnt stay running longer then 1 min but now i let it run for 20 min, it did no problem, no hesitation, shut it off, cleaned my tools and everything up, started it again let it run and ran no problem, has no missing, no idle dropping, nothing....hopefully this was the problem, and i thank everyone for your help...i will keep this thread updated

 

glad to hear you got it running, and yes, hopefully that was your problem! let us know how things go, and may the bronco II gremlins leave ye be!

 

well like i told you i would update you and here i am, its been a few days since ive replaced the FPR and ever since then before work id start it at about 11am and let it run about 45 minutes, id let it cool off for an hour then let it run for half hour, id do that before work and once after work, im glad to say every time ive done this its ran great, no missing, no hesitation, bogging, anything, it even starts just before the key is fully turned, nice quick ignition. Yesterday night i started sanding the front push bar because it was rusty and not lookin to good, so i grabbed rust primer paint, and i chose flat black, did 2 coats already and its lookin wicked, doin the last coat tomorrow before work, i cant wait!!!

 

well guys heres the update on the ol bronco, so i changed the part sunday, and every day before work and when i got home i would start it let it run for an hour shut it off for 30-45 min (cool down time) and run it again, did that sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday come thursday i start it and it dies i was like oh no biggie ran out of gas (said this because it died instantly) go get 5$ worth of gas (1.05 a litre) poured it in primed the puppy it started then started bogging and died...its doing it all over again, but on the shrader valve has lots of fuel pressure...i cant handle this any more, im just about ready to give up

 

Did you ever pull codes from the computer? If you didn't like Ken00's instructions, try searching the internet (there are several different write-ups out there) or any self-respecting repair manual will describe how to do it.

What does "lots of fuel pressure" mean? It's very possible for there to be pressure at the rail, but the wrong pressure (either too low or too high). "Lots of pressure" is not very diganostic. If you haven't put a gauge on it yet, then I would suggest getting a gauge and measuring the fuel pressure. Ken00 also posted an article on how to test fuel pressure which, as I recall, is pretty good. Make sure to take the time when testing fuel pressure to see what the fuel pressure is doing when the engine stalls/stumbles/won't start.

 

well i dont have a computer to pull codes for it and i cant really afford it at the moment, the plugs havent been changed in 3 years and i changed them tonight, properly gapped them to .44 according to the net...put em in and it made no difference, all the wires are to the book, fires up good but dies quicker, im going to go to the auto wrecker this weekend and try to find maybe the tfi and maybe the eec-iv....can anyone tell me how i can tell if the eec-iv is going, or faulty etc... thanks again

 

The first step in diagnosing a bad EEC-IV computer would be to pull trouble codes. If your '88 has a functioning check engine light (most should), a paper clip is all that is required to get trouble codes.

Ken00's tech info post also has an article describing how to test the TFI module using a voltmeter.