I need some ideas here. I have a 1994 F-150, 351 motor. A month ago it started having issues with starting. I'd somehow left the interior/cargo light on for 2 or 3 hours one evening. Didn't think much of it--shut it off when I noticed. Next morning the truck wouldn't start--it would turn over quite good but wouldn't fire. Put the battery charger on it and in half an hour it started. This went on for a few days, decided the battery was definitely toast so got it replaced (garage said it failed the low test, it was a 1998 battery). When I picked the truck up it was reluctant to start--turned over quite awhile before it finally fired. It was okay for a few days, then started not starting again.

I thought I had a battery drain somewhere as putting the charger on would get the truck to start after 10-30 minutes. Battery tested up just fine when I took it back to the garage. Mechanic could find nothing so I took it elsewhere. 2nd mechanic said the coil wire wasn't solid--the clamp on the coil end wasn't holding it tight--he took the clamp off, pushed the wire onto the coil, and it's been starting ever since. Mechanic figured the poor connection had been making it not spark strong enough to start--putting the battery charger on it would make a bit stronger spark & allow it to start. Likewise, once it was running it had enough spark to keep running (once it was running it never died) but it was not running real well--it was guzzling gas, and the plugs were carboned up, we figured because of a weak spark. But, with that wire firmly on the coil it's been starting okay.

I started the truck this morning, drove it 3 miles down the road to pick up a load of hay, shut the truck off and went to start it a few minutes later & no luck. It would turn over real good but wouldn't fire. Pulled the coil wire off & tried to start it, and no spark there. Now, I could sort of smell fuel--and a few times this past week when I started the truck, even though it started normally I could smell fuel, as if it were flooding a bit.

So, question--if the truck is flooding itself, once it's flooded, will it still have spark? Or does something disengage so that there is no spark once it is flooded?

It was a colder morning today, so truck wasn't real warm when I shut it off at the neighbor's. If it were going to choke itself up for some reason it would do it when it's still a bit cold, which it would have been when I tried to start it there. I'm wondering if my main problem is with the spark, or if it's actually a fuel problem.

I am going to pick up a new coil wire & put that on it Monday--but am afraid that won't help & I will still have this problem.

What would you all think?

 

Yes but you can turn off the fuel injectors by holding the throttle on the floor while cranking.

No, nothing does that.

I would say you either have a bad Ignition Coil, TFI (ICM) module or more than likely a bad PIP sensor.

If you replace the ICM make sure the one they give you is BLACK in color as the books at the auto parts store will be wrong. Ask for a ICM for a 95 T-bird. A GRAY one will not work so well in a 94 truck.

 

I'm quite certain it's not the module....at one point when the truck wasn't starting a new module was put on and (thankfully) it still didn't start...had it just decided at that point to start the mechanic would have deemed it fixed, charged me $300 & then next time it would have been the same thing over again. (Can't remember for sure if the module they tried was black, or grey...)

Where is (what is) the PIP sensor?

Fixing that coil wire did help it so much 2-3 weeks ago, it's funny it would go 3 weeks without trouble & then suddenly start in again. Definitely no spark from the coil yesterday.

 

The PIP sensor is mounted inside the distributor on the stator.
PIP: Profile Ignition Pickup.