Hello, I have never wanted to be the guy that joins a forum and pleads for help right off the bat, but here I am. I am at a complete loss on a project truck of mine. I have a 1996 7.5L EFI EEC-IV E-350 van engine in my old Scout. Thanks in advance for reading this long post and for any help you may have.

I need to preface this so you know where I am coming from on the situation. I custom built the wiring harness a few years back to use only the components of the EEC-IV System that I needed/wanted. In doing such, I removed the AIRB, AIRD, Trans wiring, and other items that are of no use on an offroad only vehicle. After all of this, the thing fired right up and ran perfect for several hundred miles of trails without a hicup. Then I let it sit for a few years while I moved, got married, bought a house and moved again....

After all of this, it still ran fine and would start and run anytime I tried, althouh I did not have plates on it at the time so I did not actually drive it down the road.

So, I got it all together, and took it for a drive and it started out by running fine. then, about 2-3 miles in, it started sputtering and backfiring and it bucked like an old pissed off mule all the way home. If I would give it much gas at all It would try to die. I would shut it off and let it sit for awhile and start it up, no problem, take it for a drive, same thing. Removed all injectors and sent them in for cleaning and testing with no bad results. Tested fuel pressure, tested fine. This went on for a few weeks with me just scratching my head. new TPS, ECT, MAP, ETC (any other sensor that I kept on this after the conversion, I replaced with a new one at this time)all the while starting and running it as before with each item changed and no changes. Then, I did it one last time, took it for a drive, bucked like a mule all the way home, then shut it off, started it back up and let it run for awhile and it purred right along for about 20 minutes, then it died.... forever.....

Here is where I have been since then.... New Fuel, Fuel Pump, Fuel Filters (varnish at rear filter, front one clean), Fuel pressure regulator, ICM, Distributor, cap, rotor, wires, plugs.... Pulled all fuel lines and blew compressed air, pulled Pressure regulator and blew air through all fuel rails, neither showed any varnish or blockage of any kind. I can even hear the fuel getting back to the fuel cell after making the loop....Compression test turned out good.

I have inspected all of the wiring for physical problems and I don't see anywhere that there has been mice or a rub mark at all.... I put a spark tester on the dist and I get spark to all 8 plugs.... I cannot smell fuel out of the exhaust no matter how long I crank on it.... I put a steth on the injectors and some seem to ping, others do not when cranking, but it is hard to tell for sure... Pulled codes, they show the ones that I removed, and one from the EGR position sensor being out of range (could this EGR code cause any issues? I have never even hooked up vacuum to the EGR and it always ran perfect?) also, I have never pulled codes before this issue either.

I used to get just a hint of it wanting to turn over when I would first start to crank it, but now I dont even get that out of it. I am thinking it is all due to fuel delivery, but what am I missing???????

Do any of you guys have any ideas on where I could start, I have been for over a year now...

 

Have someone try to start it while you spray a little starting fluid in the throttle body. If it starts you know you are not getting fuel, if not, it's the ignition. Is your spark blue or orange?

A 460 in a Scout? That's pretty cool.

 

I may have missed it, but did you swap the coil.......assuming the '96 has a coil and wasn't part of the distributor you already replaced. I had a camry that did that very thing, not realizing it had a coil. I chased fuel/computer issues for ever until I found that it had the coil mounted in the distributor. It would run great until warmed up, then crap out. Shut it off, let it cool down and your were back in business for a short while. Swapped the coil, and it ran great.

After reading the last of your post with "I put a spark tester on the dist and I get spark to all 8 plugs.." and with "I used to get just a hint of it wanting to turn over when I would first start to crank it, but now I dont even get that out of it." Makes me not so sure about my earlier statement, but if you haven't changed the coil, it would be something cheap to try.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, I forgot to mention that I did use the starting fluid. I could get it to pop and sputter, but never could get it to even try to idle for even a second.... Backfired a couple times and started a small fire at the pelnum so I figured I should put that away.... The spark in the cheapo spark tester is orange...
As for the 460, yeah it is awesome when it is working! I have an Art Carr racing C6 behind it with a gate shifter, D60s front and rear and all of the suspension parts out of a 78 bronco (new lift springs of course) sits on 37 TSL Boggers. Cant wait to get it to start agian. I was always flawless before this.

 

Thanks for the reply. I did swap the coil with a new one, but I read something last night about testing the ground of the coil due to signal back to the PCM for the spout so I am going to check that tonight.