Starting troubles
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 46
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From: Southern Oregon Coast
Starting troubles
Hi folks.. I apologize for the lack of information but my pickup is not actually that close to me (over 2 hours away) currently and I am getting relayed information via the phone, I have not personally seen it.
A few days ago my father was driving my pickup (he is borrowing it to move) and the upper radiator hose blew. It got antifreeze everywhere under the hood. He replaced the hose and got the truck back to his home.
Both yesterday and today he is getting a strong scent of fuel and he is not able to start the truck 9 times out of ten. It will eventually start but may stumble and die or might start and keep running only to do it all over again the next time he wants to start it.
It is doing this on both front and rear tank switch positions. Fuel in both tanks.
I am thinking maybe some coolant got in or around the distributor cap and that it may need to be cleaned. Could it be related to the coil (an UltraTorquer unit)? Any other ideas out there that I can relay to him?
Would having the code reader for my 90 F-150 with 351 be useful in any way? Should we at least give it a shot?
Thanks for your help...
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
A few days ago my father was driving my pickup (he is borrowing it to move) and the upper radiator hose blew. It got antifreeze everywhere under the hood. He replaced the hose and got the truck back to his home.
Both yesterday and today he is getting a strong scent of fuel and he is not able to start the truck 9 times out of ten. It will eventually start but may stumble and die or might start and keep running only to do it all over again the next time he wants to start it.
It is doing this on both front and rear tank switch positions. Fuel in both tanks.
I am thinking maybe some coolant got in or around the distributor cap and that it may need to be cleaned. Could it be related to the coil (an UltraTorquer unit)? Any other ideas out there that I can relay to him?
Would having the code reader for my 90 F-150 with 351 be useful in any way? Should we at least give it a shot?
Thanks for your help...
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
Thread Starter
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
From: Southern Oregon Coast
Thanks... I relayed to him that that very thing might be a good place to start. I will check with him in a little while and see if that had been done yet.
Still always happy to hear any/all advice folks.
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
Still always happy to hear any/all advice folks.
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 385
Likes: 0
From: Oregon
I'll occasionally spray under my hood with a garden hose just to see if that would happen at the worst possible time, big puddle in the middle of the night.
Maybe antifreeze is more conductive than water?
What's that water displacement thought? wd 40 displaces moisture? I've head of spraying that stuff on wet wires but have yet to try it.
Maybe run it at night and see if you can see sparks arcing?
ez to pull distributor cap and look. Maybe cap cracked from getting wet when hot?
Maybe antifreeze is more conductive than water?
What's that water displacement thought? wd 40 displaces moisture? I've head of spraying that stuff on wet wires but have yet to try it.
Maybe run it at night and see if you can see sparks arcing?
ez to pull distributor cap and look. Maybe cap cracked from getting wet when hot?
Thread Starter
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
From: Southern Oregon Coast
Well, funny you should mention the wires arcing. I'll tell you what, dad did mention seeing an intermittent arc out of one wire. I figured it was really quite irrelevant to the starting issue, am I wrong? Could the occasional arc of one wire prohibit the truck from starting 9 out of ten attempts?
I just spoke with him and he is working on the coolant issue right now, will address the distributor cap later on. I will post what I hear from him about that when I hear from him next.
Thanks again everybody, all of your advice is dearly appreciated. I feel terribly bad about him having to work on this issue. He's 60 and has had more than his fair share of vehicle problems over the years. I suppose his son (me) should have done something greater to keep him from having this trouble.
I'll go over later in the week and put eyes on it if we can't get it resolved before then. Until then, more updates and your thoughts would be very welcome.
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
I just spoke with him and he is working on the coolant issue right now, will address the distributor cap later on. I will post what I hear from him about that when I hear from him next.
Thanks again everybody, all of your advice is dearly appreciated. I feel terribly bad about him having to work on this issue. He's 60 and has had more than his fair share of vehicle problems over the years. I suppose his son (me) should have done something greater to keep him from having this trouble.
I'll go over later in the week and put eyes on it if we can't get it resolved before then. Until then, more updates and your thoughts would be very welcome.
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
I'll occasionally spray under my hood with a garden hose just to see if that would happen at the worst possible time, big puddle in the middle of the night.
Maybe antifreeze is more conductive than water?
What's that water displacement thought? wd 40 displaces moisture? I've head of spraying that stuff on wet wires but have yet to try it.
Maybe run it at night and see if you can see sparks arcing?
ez to pull distributor cap and look. Maybe cap cracked from getting wet when hot?
Maybe antifreeze is more conductive than water?
What's that water displacement thought? wd 40 displaces moisture? I've head of spraying that stuff on wet wires but have yet to try it.
Maybe run it at night and see if you can see sparks arcing?
ez to pull distributor cap and look. Maybe cap cracked from getting wet when hot?
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 385
Likes: 0
From: Oregon
Not sure I got what engine you have?
some arcing can translate to other wires, especially if they run parallel.
They can cross talk.One or 2 missing shouldn't stop it from running unless one wire is telling another to fire, say, on the way UP..
I just got some plastic wire loom holders to keep my wires separated.
Maybe some kind of insulation spray for the wires and cap would get him out of trouble temporarily?
Oregon here too but you're in the salt spray area?
go over?
where is he?
Maybe I can swing by and take a look
some arcing can translate to other wires, especially if they run parallel.
They can cross talk.One or 2 missing shouldn't stop it from running unless one wire is telling another to fire, say, on the way UP..
I just got some plastic wire loom holders to keep my wires separated.
Maybe some kind of insulation spray for the wires and cap would get him out of trouble temporarily?
Oregon here too but you're in the salt spray area?
go over?
where is he?
Maybe I can swing by and take a look
Thread Starter
|
5th Wheeling
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
From: Southern Oregon Coast
Well, thank you sir, I appreciate your kind thought. First, sorry if I did not make the engine clear. In one of the early posts above I listed it, but it is also in my signature line as well. 351W.
My father lives quite a bit out in the boondocks south of Tenmile, which is west of Winston, which is southwest of Roseburg. I am south of Bandon, right on the coast. I have spoken with him today and told him that I intend on coming over there later in the week. He'll keep working on it in the meantime to keep me from running over there. I'm about 2 hours away each direction.
I will suggest what you said about the wires and see what he thinks about that. It is surely something to consider. I am the second owner of the pickup and the first owner was an older gentleman (in the Lakeview area) who just took his pickup in not long prior to selling it and asked some shop to "soup it up", so it has a complete Ultratorque coil, distributor and wire set. Of course, that was over 11 years ago that he did that, I have owned it relatively trouble free for the last 10 years and 40,000 miles (it is still around 100k original miles).
Anyhow, keep those suggestions coming folks and I'll keep passing them along/getting prepared for a trip later in the week. And, thank you all again...
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
My father lives quite a bit out in the boondocks south of Tenmile, which is west of Winston, which is southwest of Roseburg. I am south of Bandon, right on the coast. I have spoken with him today and told him that I intend on coming over there later in the week. He'll keep working on it in the meantime to keep me from running over there. I'm about 2 hours away each direction.
I will suggest what you said about the wires and see what he thinks about that. It is surely something to consider. I am the second owner of the pickup and the first owner was an older gentleman (in the Lakeview area) who just took his pickup in not long prior to selling it and asked some shop to "soup it up", so it has a complete Ultratorque coil, distributor and wire set. Of course, that was over 11 years ago that he did that, I have owned it relatively trouble free for the last 10 years and 40,000 miles (it is still around 100k original miles).
Anyhow, keep those suggestions coming folks and I'll keep passing them along/getting prepared for a trip later in the week. And, thank you all again...
Jason
Bandon, Oregon
Not sure I got what engine you have?
some arcing can translate to other wires, especially if they run parallel.
They can cross talk.One or 2 missing shouldn't stop it from running unless one wire is telling another to fire, say, on the way UP..
I just got some plastic wire loom holders to keep my wires separated.
Maybe some kind of insulation spray for the wires and cap would get him out of trouble temporarily?
Oregon here too but you're in the salt spray area?
go over?
where is he?
Maybe I can swing by and take a look
some arcing can translate to other wires, especially if they run parallel.
They can cross talk.One or 2 missing shouldn't stop it from running unless one wire is telling another to fire, say, on the way UP..
I just got some plastic wire loom holders to keep my wires separated.
Maybe some kind of insulation spray for the wires and cap would get him out of trouble temporarily?
Oregon here too but you're in the salt spray area?
go over?
where is he?
Maybe I can swing by and take a look
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