I have been trying to get my truck to run for about a week now. I took my 88 Ford f150 V8, 5.0 for a trip and on the way back it started backfiring whenever I accelerated. After I got it home and shut it off, it wouldn't start. It turns over fine but nothing else. I changed the fuel filter and it was full with grey fuel. I had it towed to a shop where the guy said it was my fuel pump. He replaced the pump but the truck still wouldn't start. The mechanic also checked for spark, compression and tested 40psi at the fuel rail.

He then decides to change the thermactor for another couple hundred dollars. When that doesn't work he says that the fuel injectors are bad. I decided to pull the injectors out and clean them myself. After testing them, they all had good spray so I just installed them and the truck still won't start. I don't know what to check for next. Maybe for injector pulse? I have a tactometer and I need to know what to look for.

 

Maybe it Jumped timing. If it was backfiring that bad, it may have jumped. Pull the timing cover and see what's going on there. I know the Windsor was running plastic timing gear teeth during the years that your truck was made, wouldn't be surprised if you were running them too. Hope it helps.

 

In my 73 351C they were using nylon coated cam gear ... I kept finding chunks in the oil drain pan .... that was in 1982 or so. The car ran, but it was hard to time and get a good idle ... lots of timing chain slap. The "plastic" coats a steel gear ... when it comes off the engine still runs but the chain is loose, which could lead to the chain jumping. Don't know if later models switched to a nylon coated crank gear also .... I switched to an all steel double row.

 

I finally got it to fire. After a month, I changed the coil and it started immediately. It turns out that the weak spark, and wet plugz, were all I needed to diagnose the problem. I just wish I had bought the $28 part before investing nearly $1000 in fuel parts and labor. Stupid mechanic told me I had good spark and wanted to replace all the injectors with new ones.

Anyways, this forum helped a lot. Another thread had a similar problem a while back that I found. Sounded a lot like my problem and it was the coil for him too.

 

Glad to hear it. I guess you now have a list of a few local mechnics to only recommend to mortal enemies.