Just bought a real beauty of a 84 f150 inline 6 for a great deal. Problem is that it has some issues from sitting for so long and I have no automotive repair knowledge or experience. But I have the internet, the haynes repair manual, the original owners manual, and you guys to help me learn . It has 107,000 miles on it and looking at the title, it only had 1,000 miles put on it since 2014. From what I hear having an old vehicle like this sitting for long is actually a bad thing. Something about the rubber parts drying out and sediment ect. I had to get the fuel pump replaced almost immediately after purchasing the truck (part #E16010) when it broke down 20 miles down the road from where I purchased it haha. Shes a beauty on the outside but not so much under the hood. Oil leaks and screwy wiring being the biggest problem. The mechanic who put the fuel pump in called the wiring "mickey moused". It has an aftermarket trailer brake so it probably has something to do with that. I am planning to do an overhaul on it to do her good looks some justice and chronicle it here in this thread, and learn as I go. Hopefully this can help other people who just learning basic automotive repair with old ford trucks. First I will start out with the good, then I will get to the bad, then I will post my progress as I go. Here are some pics of her

 

As you can see theres a ton of oil buildup on the front of the engine (mostly from the cylinder cover). In some spots its 1/4" thick . It looks like it has never been cleaned. I included some pictures of the wiring that look bad and different from whats in the haynes manual.

 

So far I have started with the very basics. Got some seafoam system cleaner which I mixed with some gas in a gas can and poured in, changed the air filter because I could find it easily, got a digital multimeter which I will learn to use with some help from youtube, cleaned the engine up a bit starting with a flathead screwdriver (need a putty scraper haha) then some de-solve-it on a rag, got some overhead dome lights (912) just to find out that they do not turn off no matter what including turning the truck off and taking out the keys, tightened the bolts on the cylinder cover because they were so loose that I could turn them by hand, and opened up the radio to try and figure out why the channel dial doesn't work just to find the line that connects the dial to the electronics (some ancient technology compared to today) was broken so Imma have to just swap in a new one. Heres some pics of the goodies I picked up from the autoparts store and the engine (somewhat) cleaned

 

Today I am going to crawl underneath and try to clean it up with a wire brush. If you guys have any suggestions for cleaning a dirty engine I'm all ears. Theres so many nooks, crannies, hoses, and wires in the way it's a real pain in the rear end. I know if I disconnected some things in the way it would make life easier but I am not too confident that I wont mess something up when I replace it before I research it haha. Problem is I am still trying to figure out the engine's anatomy. So far my list of need-to-do's consists of

• Figure out why the dash occasionally doesnt work on start up and when I accidentally kill it (turn signals, heat, ect)
• Replace the front 2 tires (small craks from dry rot?)
• Replace as many gaskets as I can manage, especially the valve cover
• get the fuel gauge operational
• Get the second fuel tank to work
• replace the cracked gas pedal
• replace the radio
• figure out why the overhead dome light wont turn off
• get the stupid windshield wiper dial to go back on (don't know why this has proven so difficult)
• Replace the fuel filter as soon as I can figure out where it is
• replace a million other things I dont yet know where or how to do

If theres any other things I need to replace on a vehicle 33 years old with most of it's original parts and sat in a garage for years please let me know. I will try and follow the Haynes manual as much as I can and overhaul it as far as I can on my own.

 

Hey man, you have one beautiful truck there. I myself have a 1986 f150 and a 1994 f150. I suggest to do something about your wiring if there are any exposed in the engine bay. Also, Make SURE that your FUEL LINE has no cracks or leaks. My 86 has the same mickey mouse wiring as yours. It was sitting for 7 years before I got it back on the road. I did not realize I had a leak in my gas line. when I was sitting at a gas station, the fuel caught a spark from a exposed wire and burst in to flames. The truck was on fire for a good minute. Luckily there was a fire extinguisher on hand, but in the end I had to replace all wiring, coil, distributor, fuel pump, 1000 BBQ. Buy yourself an extinguisher for the back. As far as fixing your truck, as long as you have YouTube you will be fine. These trucks are quite user friendly unlike the new trucks. Just be prepared for complications to arise, as she is an older specimen.

 

heres a link to a video of the start-up so you can see how it runs. The mechanic mentioned something about adjusting the timing because it runs a little rough.

 

Thanks for the reply Clay. I am hoping to eventually get a canopy for mine as well. Is your's a long wheelbase? If so do you recall the dimensions?

 

I like the truck!

For cleaning the engine, they sell a foam de-greaser that you spray on when the engine is hot, let sit, and then spray off with a hose. But it makes a MESS where the truck is parked, so just beware.

The problem with the dash and other things not working is usually because the key isn't quite returning to Run after you start the engine. Check by turning it back just slightly. If so, that's because the linkage between the ignition tumbler and the ignition switch, and sometimes the ignition switch itself, needs cleaned and lubed - as described here: Ignition Switch - ???Gary's Garagemahal.

The fuel gauge not working can be for a number of reasons. The best test is to pull the wire (shown here: Fuel Tank Selector & Gauges - ???Gary's Garagemahal) and ground it to the frame or some known ground. Turn the key on and the gauge should go to Full and beyond. That proves that the gauge works, and if it does it means the sender in the tank is the problem.

The dome light not turning off is usually because the pin switch on the door jamb in front of the door is stuck. Play with it and maybe lubricate it.

 

Here we go again. Does everyone see what I see in the picture below? Computer controlled engine.

Original poster; You need to know this going in, take a survey and learn what is going on, and decide if this engine system is fixable or you need to put a different distributor in place. For instance you just don't "set the timing" like you do a regular truck, you need to unplug the spout connector before you try to set it.

If you have a lot of things unplugged and disconnected on the engine, then it's not going to run very well and get poor fuel mileage. You can put a older distributor in place that does not need the computer, but that is something you will have to decide on.

Here's a thread near yours where a guy has the same engine system as you have, and is struggling to keep it working as original. Sometimes taking the high road and keeping it original is not easy. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-solenoid.html

 

Thanks for the response franklin2. What do you mean by "computer controlled"? From what I understand its a carbeurated non-EFI engine before they added computers. As far as the engine is concerned, the only modification (that I know of) is an electronic fuel pump. The old mechanical ones are hard to find these days apparently

 

Well spotted, Dave. I missed it.

Flyguy - in the 70's there were engines with carbs and no computers. In the early 80's, depending on the engine, they introduced computer-controlled carbs and ignitions. Later, they introduced EFI.

On the computerized trucks, like yours, the computer fired the ignition and, to some extent, controlled the air/fuel mix. If anything is wrong, and I mean anything, then the computer locks the ignition to base timing and your power and economy are poor.

The way we know it has a computer is that the distributor doesn't have a vacuum advance. So, you need to decide if you need/want to keep the computer, like if you have emissions testing, or if you want to convert it. That would be to change to a DS-II ignition and, maybe, a non-feedback carb.

 

Nice! Very similar to mine, so I'll tell you what fires I've put out.
If you keep that distributor, grab an ignition module, and the appropriate tiny long neck socket it takes, throw it takes n the glove box. It will often die after heating up, and you'll have to keep her revved not to stall.
I also got more reliable starts after adding an extra ground.
A phantom vacuum leak may be the carb connection itself. Spraying carb cleaner helped me find that.
Bookmark garagemahal. Most of your internet searches that don't land here land there.

That's what I've come across in my very limited experience, good luck and congrats on the nice'84!

 

Thanks for the responses gary and osage. Gary lewis must be a fairly common name but I can't help help but wonder if you mean The Gary Lewis outdoors-man haha. I've been trying to wrap my head around this distributor thing you guys mentioned but I'm a little lost. As far as my limited research goes, I have come to understand that the distributor is connected to the starting coil and has some sort of starting function. It seems like this may be a drawback?? What are the alternatives? From what you said about it being sensitive and effecting base timing and locking up power and fuel economy Gary it reminds me of my previous piece of Subaru that dumbed the car down when the knock sensor went bad and got somewhere around 12 mpg and had no power. I am not looking to keep it as original as possible or anything just whatever makes the truck run the best at the lowest price and is comprehensible for an idiot such as myself haha. Thanks for the link to garage-mahal Osage, I need as many resources as I can get. Scraped off about a pound of nasty oil residue today and I'm not even a 1/4 of the way done cleaning the engine bay, I'll get a picture of the mess tomorrow when the sun is out. Theres some worn down tape wrapped around the spindle that the doors latch to on both sides, I wonder if that has to do with the door latch and the overhead dome light. I added 4 layers of blue painter tape to each side to see if that would fix the dome light issue to no avail (I was hoping to take an easy route). I will mess with the latches themselves and spray them tomorrow to see if that changes anything with the dome light. Thanks for all the help guys, I hope I'm not being too dense, I'm just very new to automotive repair. I've literally never even changed a tire or oil filter before. Don't know why I bought a 33 year old vehicle considering that, but I'm determined to learn.

 

Dome light. Check your light switch. If it's a pull out **** style you turn the dome light on and off by rotating the ****. Turn it one way brightens up your instrument cluster lighting and then turns on the dome light. Rotate it the other way and you turn off the dome light and the instrument cluster lighting grows dim.

There are two types of ignition systems on these old trucks. TFI (which apparently you have) and Duraspark.

The TFI system is an early computer controlled system and it does not work well if there have been any modifications to the motor or factory emissions. A lot of people these days abandon the TFI system and convert to duraspark which is a simpler mechanical system.

 

In my day, Gary Lewis was the lead singer of Gary Lewis & the Playboys, belting out This Diamond Ring, among other hits. His father, the Jerry Lewis of Walkathon/March of Dimes and Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis fame. That's not me.

On the ignition, you have TFI as Maytag said. You need to read the threads shown here under DSII etc Conversions: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7434583.

And, on the dome lights, if Maytag's suggestion doesn't work you will need to look at the wiring. But I think he is right. Go try the headlight switch.