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1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Early Eighties Bullnose Ford Truck

1981 F-350 Stalling

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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 09:55 AM
  #16  
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Thanks for your help guys. I think I've got a pretty good direction to head in now. I want to order new plugs, wires, cap and rotor anyways just because I doubt any of it had been done recently. It will be a while for parts to come in, but I will be sure to update this once I get everything sorted.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 10:06 AM
  #17  
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I should have mentioned plugs, cap, and rotor as potential problems. However, the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor rarely will cause it to stall, just buck when you load the engine heavily. That's the kind of thing that the ignition module or failing fuel system would do. Still, it will certainly not hurt to replace them.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 11:10 AM
  #18  
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Originally Posted by Gary Lewis
I should have mentioned plugs, cap, and rotor as potential problems. However, the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor rarely will cause it to stall, just buck when you load the engine heavily. That's the kind of thing that the ignition module or failing fuel system would do. Still, it will certainly not hurt to replace them.
Yeah, I'm not suspecting those components as the cause of the problem, I would just like to change them as a general maintenance kind of thing.

I do plan on replacing fuel lines, adding an inline filter and rebuilding the carb as well. It may not all need to be done, but it will give me piece of mind.

On the ignition side of things, I am going to do the fore mentioned as well as look into the ignition module, voltage regulator, and coil. I may just change it all for the hell of it to know that it's been done. Again maybe unnecessary, but I like knowing the state of components. Being a truck that's 8 years older than me, I have no idea what type of maintenance was done or when things were replaced.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 11:28 AM
  #19  
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When I rebuilt the engine in mine I replaced all those components as a matter of course. The only thing I didn't replace was the fuel lines. I should have but hindsight is 20/20
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 12:15 PM
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The voltage regulator is part of the charging system and has nothing to do with the ignition.

This is just my opinion, but today's Chinese-made parts very often aren't worth crap (for very long) so, if you decide to replace parts *****-nilly, keep the old ones so you can put them back in the event some new part(s) doesn't/don't work (for real long).
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 12:19 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by ctubutis
The voltage regulator is part of the charging system and has nothing to do with the ignition.

This is just my opinion, but today's Chinese-made parts very often aren't worth crap (for very long) so, if you decide to replace parts *****-nilly, keep the old ones so you can put them back in the event some new part(s) doesn't/don't work (for real long).
I was just going to say the above as i was reading down the thread. Replacing parts with new sometimes is not the the best thing to do. If you are going to replace all these parts, do it one at a time and keep an eye on your symptoms. If you suddenly have other problems I would suspect the new parts or something that got jostled loose when replacing the parts.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 12:26 PM
  #22  
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The voltage regulator can easily cause weak spark if it isn't causing the alternator to keep the battery charged. A few years ago the regulator on the 82 failed and the ammeter didn't show a discharge. I was driving at night thinking the headlights were really poor when the engine started missing as I tried to accelerate. It would cruise just fine, but didn't want to accelerate. Turned the lights off and it ran great.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 12:35 PM
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Gary Lewis
The voltage regulator can easily cause weak spark if it isn't causing the alternator to keep the battery charged. A few years ago the regulator on the 82 failed and the ammeter didn't show a discharge. I was driving at night thinking the headlights were really poor when the engine started missing as I tried to accelerate. It would cruise just fine, but didn't want to accelerate. Turned the lights off and it ran great.
This is true but can be diagnosed and verified with a simple volt meter; merely replacing unrelated parts (that may or may not be affecting the suspect system) *****-nilly just because "it could be" is the point we're getting at, Gary.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 12:41 PM
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I fully agree that parts shouldn't be replaced "just because" since many parts we are getting of late aren't good. But don't overlook the charging system, as I said in my first post in this thread, since it can easily cause the ignition to throw a weak spark.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 12:44 PM
  #25  
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Yeah, don't ignore it because it very well CAN and oftentimes WILL) cause drivability problems.

But, do some actual diagnosis, first....
 
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Old Jun 10, 2014 | 01:01 PM
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We still haven't heard from the OP if he has done any inspection of the fuel system or any testing at this point. If you throw too many parts at a problem you can make things worse, I agree.
 
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