So, to be clear, I went through every step posted on this thread only to finally have my truck towed to a trusted high school mechanic friend of mine who reached in, took off the dist cap, and rotated the rotor by hand and said the timing chain was gone...he either rotated it in reverse or forward...can't remember, but that was his test and sure enough that fixed my problem. Although, after replacing all of the above I still have a great running hunting truck..If I remember correctly when I tried to crank it, the motor seemed to rotate a lot faster than usual and would spit and sputter but no crank..

Shep

 

 

Update to the struggle:
I dropped the rear tank to get an actual visual on the gas level, it was darn near full. This is after running on the rear tank for 200+miles. that seemed odd to me. While the tank was down I replaced the fuel pump because the needle didnt work anyway. Now the needle works, small victory. Tried to start the truck again and no joy. Took apart the tank selector switch and it seems to function normal. replaced the actual manual tank selector switch, it works. tried again and no joy. I then swapped the two relays in the engine compartment. I think the fuel pump replay and the ecm maybe??? Truck started right up!!!!! I took it for a test drive and the alternator died, or so I thought. Replaced the alternator on the side of the road, and it started right up. Drove it home and parked for the night. Next day girlfriend took it, and it died on her at the home depot. turn the key and nothing. no fuel pumps no crank, nothing. After work I went to go look at it and it started right up. I did nothing. So I drove it about four miles to her house and on the way it sputtered and died. Dragged it the rest of the way with my hybrid nissan (probably not designed for that). A couple hours later when leaving I tried it again and it started right up. I should mention that when I was trying to restart it after it died it would bang and knock and make all kinds of noise. I thought I blew the motor. When it does start though it purrs like a kitten. Last night drove it almost home, died a block away. went out this morning and it started right up. Clearly this is a heat issue. What would cause it to die when hot? temp needle doesnt go past the n and the temp sensor is new. I have read elsewhere that maybe the fuel pressure regulator, but it running so perfectly when it runs seems like that isnt the issue. Any help would be appreciated.

 

wont start up after setting time

 

I cured the crank no start condition in my '95 Bronco 5.8L by religiously following this diagnostic tree:

https://troubleshootmyvehicle.com/fo...t-a-no-start-1