I have had a long time problem of my 5.0l F150 stalling on me when driving. I will be driving along and it will just cut out, then run again. Some times it will just stutter and die. But will restart later on like nothing happened. Considering it's an old truck, I decide to replace a few things. New plugs, cap, rotor, ICM, spark control, and coil. Each time I think it's fixed, then at some random time it will stall again. I can't get it to happen in my shop. No codes stored, I tested the TPS and it seems to function correctly. One thing I did notice is I heard one time when it stalled and I was able to jump out and open the hook. I could hear what sounded like arching in the area of the coil. But I could see nothing and it stopped before I could get my head in that area. Today I pulled it in to my shop and popped the hook. When I shut the engine off, I could hear a slight buzzing sound. I believe it is the EGR vacuum solenoid. There are also 2 other vacuum solenoids there, but I believe those are the TAD and TAB, those are emissions and really shouldn't effect the engine like that. But I could be wrong. This is the area where I heard the arching coming from. Is it possible that the EGR vacuum solenoid could cause a stall if it's going bad? The connections all look clean, and I don't feel like spending another $33 on the solenoid if it's not the problem. Been working on cars for about 40 years, and this one is really getting to me. One more thing. When it stalled last time I was able to determine I had spark. I suspected it might be flooded, but I can't say for sure. The FPR came to mind, and I could smell just the slightest whiff of gas in the vacuum line, but I could see no gas come out of the FPR with the vacuum line disconnected. Really scratching my head here.

 

The EVR "farting" noise is normal. Some trucks are worse than others. I highly doubt that is your root cause.

What is a "spark control"?

 

I had a stalling problem that was caused by a leaky gasket between the upper and lower intake manifolds.

 

I've looked for vacuum leaks by spraying carb cleaner all over, and found none. This problem is really frustrating because I can't get it to happen in my shop. I've used a heat gun to heat parts up, I've tapped on everything I can see, I've wiggled the wires around. Nothing. It has to be fuel related, I've replaced all the ignition system. Seems like if I pump the gas it will fire back up.

 

Might have found the problem, but only time will tell. It's not been starting right, a few clicks and then it starts. Today I hardly got that. I could hear the starter engage, but not turn. Like a dead battery. Battery is new, and so is starter. I thought, loose battery cable. So I check the connections. Nope, all tight. I wiggled the wire. Then it started right up. So I looked closer and found the wire was loose on the batter clamp. I was able to move the bolt by hand. I tightened it down. Now it's a mater of driving and see if it's fixed. It would make sense. I forgot to mention the tach would drop to zero each time it stalled like a switch was flipped.

 

Sorry flr2005, I should have said pickup coil. My bad.

 

Thanks for clarifying

 

A 1990 does not have a pickup coil. That went out with the Duraspark II Ignition system in the mid 80's.

The 1990 has a hall effect PIP sensor in the distributor that does not use a coil like the older Duraspark II Ignition system did.

 

It's inside the distributor and the part is listed as a pickup coil. Not trying to sound like a smarty pants. Just this is what autozone has.

Duralast/Pick-Up Coil

For your 1990 Ford Truck F150 1/2 ton P/U 4WD 5.0L FI 8cyl

 

Autozone is wrong, that is not a pick-up coil.
Look at the Ford shop manuals.
I wish the auto part stores would get something right.

Just tying to stop bad information from being posted on the site for others to read.

 

OK, looked at my manual and it's a stator assembly. I'm a GM mechanic, Ford has a bit of a learning curve.

 

What you posted there with the Duraspark II Ignition system does have a coil and is call a pick-up coil and is located on the stator assembly.

Duraspark II Ignition system, it has a coil of wire in it:



The 1990 trucks have the EEC-IV Ignition system with a computer and is no where similar to the Duraspark II Ignition system.
The 1990 PIP sensor has no coil of wire and uses a switch:



The only reason I bring all of this up is that they are two different parts and there for they are trouble shot differently.

If someone with a 1990 sees a post calling it a pick-up coil and then goes to the internet and finds a trouble shooting procedure for the pick-up coil and tries to use it on his truck it will give the wrong results.
And we do not want that.

 

Understood. I do the same thing on the GM forum I run.