A Little Help
I recently purchased a 92 F 150 5 spd with a straight 6 (123k miles). Ran fine for a while, put in a new transfer case to fix an existing problem. Now it is acting strange. The car will crank up fine (new battery) but will idle and then sputter and stall out. I will try to restart and it will crank but takes several times to start, while kicking out a ton of exhaust. It will run a bit then stall again. The AMP warning light comes on and the check engine.

First time this occurred was while driving at about 40 MPH and the car stalled while driving and in gear. I hit the clutch and tried to restart and got nothing. I popped the clutch while in gear and it fired up and continued on. This happened several times before I got home. Check engine and AMP light and stall. As soon as I popped the clutch the lights wen away and it rode fine. Now that it has sat for a week, I can barely get it running for more than 2-3 minutes before it stalls. But when it is running, it idles fine (and while ideling there is only normal exhaust). I know i should have the codes checked, but I want to see if anyone has had this problem before I spend the $ to have it looked at. Any thoughts? I was thinking water in the fuel line or bad spark plugs....at least I hope it is a simple fix.

 

it could be a bad ignition module. i dont really follow what you mean when you talk about the exhaust but if it idles and then stalls the exhast could be plugged especially if it is the stock exhaust

 

Thanks for the reply. I am just curious about the ignition module. I have heard these are infamous for going bad on Fords. How can an ignition issue effect the car after it starts? Again Im new to this so sorry for a stupid question.

 

no such thing as a stupid question. after you start it the current going through it makes it get hot. if it gets to hot it will break the circuit basically and stall the motor. later models have it mounted on the distributor and later models have it on the fenderwell in a heatsink. i have a 92 currently that is down due to the problem. 92s are supposed to have them on the fenderwell in a heatsink. this did not always cure the problem but aftermarket units are much better these days. it is not hard at all and my mechanic is going to do a tranny flush oil change and replace the module all for a 100 dollars so it isnt that expensive either. there are many other things that could be doing it and autozone can test the units for free. or many other parts stores

 

As suggested, the TFI would be the first thing to try - you should always carry a spare regardless. Even if this fixes the problem, pull your PCM (computer) and check it for leaking capacitors. If it's original, they're probably already leaking and indeed this could be the cause of your current problems. If not, it will be the cause of your future problems.

 

Excellent Brad.....Excellent.

Bob