I bought a truck that didn't run. It has a 460. I got it running,but it is missing and smokes a lot. I need help.

 

Ok, you may want to give a run-down on the truck itself, any history on how it was treated before you bought it, why it wasn't running, what you did to get it running, any codes, what color smoke, and anything else than can help us give you a better diagnosis.

Get back to us and more will chime in.

 

The motor was rebuilt 30000 miles ago according to papers. The truck supposedly just stopped running. The owner started replacing parts. He soon tired of this and sold it to me. I took the plugs out cleaned them. All but one was not tight at all. The ones that was not tight were fouled out. I cleaned them and reinstalled them. I then found TDC and rewired the wires and it fired up. The truck had been showing a code saying the distributor was bad. Now the check engine l

 

Light is not on. The smoke is mostly blue

 

Blue is better than grey/white, but it doesn't matter though..it's smoking. I say valve stem seals are either worn, shrunk or a terrible rebuild job was done, if the motor was just rebuilt 30K ago. It will continue to foul plugs until the cause of the smoke it found. I say your best best is to either pull the heads and inspect OR you can start running some dino oil in it with just supertech filter(wally World brand) DON'T USE FRAM!!!!! The orange can of DEATH is the last thing you want on there. Add some MMO to the oil and do 1-2 engine flushes on it. I would stick with just cheap autolite plugs until you get a plan of action decided. Could just be the block has not run an quite a while and the seals have shrunk. Another thought is to check all vaccum lines and the PCV Valve. DON'T get a cheapie PCV valve, get a Motorcraft.

That's the best advice I can offer, but they're are more experienced Ford'smen here that will offer more.

 

What does grey/white smoke mean. And what did you mean by add mmo and flush?

 

What can I do to trouble shoot the loping and missing?

 

Grey/white smoke means water is entering the combustion chamber. A cracked head or bad head gasket would cause this.

MMO= Marvel Mystery Oil

It's one of those "snake oil" products that some people swear by. I'm sure Timbersteel will be back to elaborate.

If it were my truck I would start with the basics such as doing a compression check on all the cylinders. That will eliminate a lot of guess work. If you do not know what a compression check is, then you will need to do some research or find someone who does.

 

There might be some smoke just from the fuel from the p.o. trying to get it running. A new set of plugs couldnt hurt.Also, check the vaccum line going to the fuel pressure regulator for fuel. When the fpr fails it lets fuel into the intake via the vac hose.

 

Fpr fails?

 

Fuel pressure regulator,It is located on the fuel rail. It is about a 3" round can lookin thing with a vac hose hooked to the center.

 

I agree with RLA on the compression test, since it is an overlooked step in diagnosising/troubleshooting. As the MMO/Snake oil "campaign", the MMO may help to expand the seals and help to remove any sludge that may have "Coked" around the areas of the seals. I have also used Seafoam engine treatment as well. As I misused the word "flush" earlier, I would only add as much MMO as the directions call for, and fill with fresh oil and filter. I assume you have already drained the oil once. Did you notice anything flashy or shiny after letting the oil sit for a bit? Would have been easily noticed when draining the catch pan back into a suitable container for disposal.

Deeznuts also pointed a that if the FPR is failing, well it would have failed even with a slight rip to the diaphram, it will allow for fuel to be sucked into the intake manifold via the vaccum line attached to it and will flood, foul, and run terrible.

Your local Oreilly's, Autozone, Advance Auto, and/or Napa may have the compression tester and the fuel pressure tester courtesy of a "Loaner Tool Program". If not, then for both of these items, you are looking @ about $75.00 give or take a few bucks either way. Both of these item can be obtained from most Auto parts stores.

 

Well now that you mentioned it the oil had a strong odor of fuel. Didnt notice anything flashy in pan.

 

The guy had been pouring fuel down the intake trying to get it started. He did replace the fuel pump, lines and filter.

 

Good chance then he has allowed fuel to coat all exhaust components. It may smoke for a good bit until the crap is fully burned away from all the exhaust.

Another thought is to find out what he replaced. People throw money @ a problem and part houses $mile! I hope that when he was throwing parts at it, he went with quality Motorcraft parts and not some MasterPro crap! I know that for a fact too with Borg-Warner. Still got the old EGR valve on, even though the new one would crap out codes all day. But According to Borg-Warner, that's an exact fit for the old one. I know for a fact it isn't, why the hell would Motorcraft give 1 part number for '92 and another for '95.

That side rant was for quality assurance.