Good to know 81-F-150-Explorer, I need to decide what I am gonna do when I get some $$$$$. Thanks for the help.

 

I know it is jacking but I must answer if I know an answer

Mr. Fixit the sound you heard is commonlly known as dieseling there is nothing real wrong with it happening but it can be hard on parts so you do want to try and figure out what is going on. The most common fixes are new carb floats and choke adjustments make sure your choke is working correctly if not well then there you go and it is always a good time to rebuild your carb.

 

That was a error on my part, not the first or last.

Red was the crappy module that Bill posted.

 

It should be 12 volts when you crank the engine at the "I" terminal. The I terminal has no power in any other mode.

The coil's Red/Lt. Green Wire should have 6-8 volts at run.

The Red/Lt. Green wire at the coil and the brown wire at the starter solenloid are tied in together after the ballast resistor in the harness. So the brown wire at the "I" terminal may also have 6-8 volts with the ignition switch in the on position but this is just bleed over from the Red/Lt. Green wire.

Sounds like a plan, make sure you have spark, then I would turn to the carb, as it sounds like you have issues there too.

 

Yes, all the modules and California specific parts sometimes gets mixed up in my mind. Sorry bout that. California was never really car friendly after 1970.

Alot of experimentation went on in California, at our expence. IMO. The cars here were subjected to EEC-I, EEC-II, EEC-III etc... all very complicated worked half the time, hard to diagnose, crap. Sometimes they would break down before they left the lot. At least by the time EEC-IV came out, Ford worked out most of the kinks. Even the early 80's pickups were plagued by these weird computer systems in this state. Most mechanics don't have a clue how to work on these systems either.

 

A little update here on our '76 with the 460... checked out the (blue grommet) Duraspark connections and found the correct signal...fast flashing of the test light at the coil. I'm beginning to get the impression this is not an ignition problem but a carb one, as USArmyTaterness says.

I have already converted to a manual choke so that should be OK.

Will check the readings as 81-F-150 suggests at the I terminal + coil and also the float in the carb next time I'm "over there".

Here are some more symptoms. After a hard start with plenty of cranking before she sprang to life (poured some fuel into the carb) she was running perfectly for about 2-3 minutes. Then she died on the road and refused to start. There were two backfires that caused a neighbour to come running out. He thought I had ended it all in dramatic style. Then she started again and ran perfectly.

Could the float be sticking and then opening/filling the bowl?

I've never touched a 4bbl carb... can I open and clean out the float chamber easily? I'll phone NAPA about a new float. Would prefer not to rebuild the carb until winter arrives and I have some time.

Thank you all for your help - you'll get me through this eventually!!!

 

I'm adding this to my sig - too funny...

What kind of carb do you have (Motorcraft, Holley, Edelbrock, etc)?

 

Furyus1: It's a Motorcraft 4 bbl carb Model 4300 or 4350 I think.
the tag says: D2VE:8620:LA DF G273

 

it could still be the battery... they can be bad even new... i went through 2 batterys in less than a yr recently on my truck.. reason it was changed the first time was because it was old and wasnt holding a charge anymore... so that 2nd battery worked great for couple months and started having problems again... i was thinking i had a bad grounding problem somewhere that was draining the battery.. turned out id gotten a new battery that had 2 dead cells in it out of 6.. when they checked it back at the store they "tried" to tell me it was a good battery just because it "passed" their draw bench test.... but my hydrometer said other wise... i got another battery and havent had problems since with starting...

that 2nd battery would sometimes have enough juice in it to kick over normally.. other times it wouldnt even try or turned slowly..

personally id change that starter too just because of that big dent.. but thats just me... i dont like seeing big dents in parts that have moving mechanical parts in them...

 

Here's a diagram I found for the 4350 (I'm assuming the 4300 is similar):
http://www.ifsja.org/tech/fuel/4350.html

There's a bunch of stuff attached to the air horn - might be better to pull it from the truck first before cleaning/rebuild...

Just a thought...

 

Thanks Sparky83, I was going to replace it anyway, but I am only 15 and don't have a job!

 

know the feeling mate... im older and having hard time getting one here too... lot of things on my truck that still need fixed too...

 

Thanks for the diagram and advice Furyus1 - I'll try running some carb cleaner through first, then attempt to clean the float & seat next if necessary

I'll move any more carb comments to a new thread since I've highjacked this one way too much. Apologies to all.

 

I have a D8VE12A199 A2C module (blue label and connector) and a D0ZF12131A 17 distributor. Is that a good choice for a 73 F-100 360? Are there any instructions anywhere on how to retrofit this? I have doner wires with connectors.

Thanks.

 

ok what about this, if you can start it by jumpin the selenoid but the key wont work, i get lights and such when i turn the key but no crank?? Is this the ignition module or somthing else??
thanks
Vance