I'm driving to a very important meeting today. I'm driving along and the Bronco just dies. Turns over fine, but won't start again. I left it on the side of the road and got a ride to my meeting (I was late). It has full coverage insurance, I was hoping someone would wipe it out. But it got towed to the shop. Shows codes 14, 41, and PIP. Mechanics think the ignition module in the disrtibutor. It has no spark. Replace the module. No spark. Replace the inductor in the distributor, and the gear as well that cracked when removing it. Put it back together. No spark. Swapped coils. No spark. It's still at the shop, I had to be driven home.


Forgive me everybody, but I am really %$#@ hating this truck. I take perfect care of it, I keep it clean, I cleaned the undercarriage and painted it, I keep the motor clean, I keep wax on the paint, and do every bit of preventative maintenance possible. And the truck just continually %^$#'s me. It only has 113K and had 89K when I bought it. I just can't take it any more. It sucks all the money out of my bank account and then begs for more. I just spent $800 on various repairs (none of which had to do with the ignition in any way). And I'm just driving it, I'm not even 4 wheeling. That's basically just for the snow.

I am hoping to get a fat settlement from a motorcycle accident where a driver hit me last March. If I do, the Bronco is gone. If I get enough money I might just pay someone so I can press the button when they put it in the crusher. Never have I taken such good care of a vehicle and have it screw me over at ever turn.

Sorry for the rant.

 

JBronco,
Man, i hate to hear it. I thought for sure after your last work was done to it, it would be good for some time.

I know you don't want to hear it but - i've had good service from my years of owning Broncos. The first being a '66 (RIP) and would still have it but over 20 years ago was in accident.

with 113k miles, things will need to be replaced - but man, it's not unheard of for more with out major problems.

I guess yours is going to be a total rebuild before 120k - whoever ownes it. Guess it beats a car note? not sure tho


LOL

 

The only way that it beats a car note is that if I decide not to drive it, or it goes for a while without needing repairs, then I don't have to make a car payment, and I'm ahead. But if I added it all up, and I don't want to right now because it would infuriate me even more than I already am now, I think it comes out the same as a car note. And a new car would have a warranty and be dependable.

I got the Bronco to get out of car payments, so I could make my Harley payments. I had to choose between car and bike payments, and that was not a hard choice.

There is a place near my house that sells clean, low mileage 4X4 pickups for real good prices. They are cheap in Colorado. They had a 1999 Chevy Z71 with 56K, asking $15,000. Then they had a 2001 Dodge Ram 4X4 Dually Diesel for $18,000. If I get enough money, I'll probably get something like that. Not quite brand new, but probably reliable enough, and I can buy a warranty.

Sorry, but I really do not trust Fords anymore.

 

Oh yeah, those were extended cab pickups too.

 

CRAP on the z-71

 

Check the fuel pump relay and the pump itself. Can you hear the pump whine when you turn the ign. to the on position?

 

Did you read the part at the top where he said he had no (SPARK) , last time i checked the fuel pump and its relay didnt control the ignition system.

Did they check the TFI modual ? they will do that, just up and die for no reason. DW

 

I know how you feel. I've put more good work into my Bronco than any vehicle I've ever owned and it still gives me fits sometimes. When it's being bad I gaze at the nice Dodge crew cab 4 X 4 that parks near me at work, and I say,. "one of these days....." But I really like the Bronco overall. I figure any vehicle with more than 100K will need something. What bugs me is that Ford doesn't support these very well. What's the sense in building a truck that could last for half a million miles mechanically if you deny having built it after 15 years?

Mine's an 86 and I've found 3 spots on the engine wiring loom where there were bare wires from rubbing on the block or other stuff. Try moving the harness around and see if it fires up. Might be just that simple.
I'd like to hear what it turns out to be.

 

Get yourself a 93 and call it a day. I just completed my first bit of motor work on it last week at 201K and all that was was the fuel injectors and regulator. Heck, it's still on it's original water pump.

Oh and I did an alternator on it too but that was just from mudbogging.


Oh and the suggestion about the harness is a good one, my Old 84 CC dually would lose spark everytime the oil temp wire frayed and grounded out. which was weekly, I hated that truck...

 

Just because your mechanic is an airhead that could not diagnose the problem, why blame the Bronco. I bet that's the same place you took the truck to from your last incidents.

 

JBronco, I had the exact thing happen on mine except it was intermittent for 3 years. Check your EEC Power Relay as well as the 1st 6 inches of harness going to it. Try getting someone to turn it over and then someone else to really wiggle the wires and see if you get spark. I think that I would just replace it from Ford for lass than $20. and see if it works. I also had bad wiring, so I replaced the connector and spliced the wiring for less than $15. for a Ford connector.

A friend of mine told me about how many times he runs across this at Ford but of course, I never talked to him when I was having my problems relating to it.

I know how you feel about always doing work on it because I also baby mine and it keeps costing me. Lucking I do most of the work so I don't get nailed by the mechanics.

Hope this helps out but either way, let us know for sure what it is / was.

 

JBronco

A little spleen venting is allowed here. Old 4x4s are expensive to own if you have to pay for labor. It's a fact of life. I bet you keep thinking, "Just another 500 bucks and all the bugs will be out this time for sure" I wish I could tell you to fix it this time and your money dump will be over. That's probably not how it's going to be though at 60 bucks an hour, and the world full of repair shops that are less than honest.

 

Mr repair shop is VERY honest. They don't charge me for the time they spend if diagnosing in error, and with the amount of sensors, harnesses, and computers on this old truck they have as hard time as anybody finding this type of thing.

Everything they have ever fixed has stayed fixed. It's not their fault if something else breaks. So lay off the shop, I know these guys and they are good.

The Bronco is a piece of $h1T. I have seen many vehicles with 113K have many less problems, 4X4's included. I can't wait to get rid of it. I'm done. Once I get my settlement I'm getting a new truck, I don't care what anyone says, a 1999 Z71 is a better truck than my let down of a Bronco. Good luck with all of yours. I have better things that I could spend this much money on. My Harley would be a show bike with all of the money I've wasted on the Bronco, not to customize it mind you, but just to get it to drive me to work and back. FU, Bronco.

 

BTW - as far as the shop, code 14 says that it is the inductor pickup, which they replaced along with the ignition module, as it is recommended to replace them in pairs. They did what the codes told them to do. The truck still has no spark. We may have gotten a DOA part, which is what they are checking now.

As for you, jnguyen, with your 11 posts; I could do without your criticism of mechanics that I know to be competent and efficient; and your stupid .jpg that makes everyone have to scroll to read the text now. You saw the title of the thread, if you didn't want to hear b!tching then you shouldn't have read it. If you had to spend as much money on your Bronco as I did, you'd be p!ssed too. So go crawl back into the whole from whence you came, and leave me alone.

 

JBronco, Did you ask your mechanic to look at the EEC Power Module ? It is near the driver side wheel well with the Fuel Power Relay.

Sorry for the problems.