Starting hard..

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Oct 17, 2003 | 06:08 AM

TripleCorpseHammerblow

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Freshman User

Joined: Jul 2003

Posts: 44

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From: Everett, WA

Starting hard..

Own a '89 Bronco 302. Starting the thing has been getting progressively worse for the last few weeks, at first I thought it was a weak battery but it seems to start ok if the engine has only been shut off for a short time (a couple of hours) as opposed to all night so I don't think it's that. A few months ago I fried the starter solenoid and the wire leading from it to the alternator after not paying attention and connecting jumper cables incorrectly (don't need to be made fun from that anymore

). Fixed that, but the job was only really supposed to be a temporary fix but never got around to doing it. I'm going to look into that now that I put the truck in a somewhat dry spot, but would appreciate some brainstorming on what else could be wrong. Also, I think I could have damaged the starter and/or alternator after what I did, never seemed to start up as smooth after that.

Thanks.

Oct 17, 2003 | 08:33 AM

DW2455

Posting Guru

Joined: Jul 2003

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From: Independence, MO

I'm not saying go out and buy one, but mine turned out to be the TFI modual, I came to this conclusion after several weeks off probing and testing everything else, I now have a ACCEL high performance modual on my distributor now, and it cranks on the second spin every time. DW

Oct 17, 2003 | 08:56 AM

JasonBrod

Mountain Pass

Joined: Oct 2003

Posts: 196

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From: Dallas TX

DW is right, that could be the problem.

Also look at your battery cables. I had a problem similar to that accept it was when the motor was warm and if I stopped and turned the motor off it acted like a dead battery. It turned out to be bad battery cables. The battery was fine, the starter was fine. So I spent lots of wasteless time returning batteries and starters and all it was were the cables. Just because you don't see corrosion on the cables there could be underneath the the rubber coating. I hope this helps.

Oct 17, 2003 | 04:45 PM

AYoungblood

Elder User

Joined: Mar 2003

Posts: 522

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From: Warren, MI

I would also check your ground cable(s).

Its take 2 to tango with wire frying (and pos and neg), both might have fried, and you just didnt see it.

Oct 18, 2003 | 11:53 AM

Norm Carter

Senior User

Joined: Aug 2003

Posts: 109

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From: Southern California

Like DW said, I wouldn't replace without some checking, but I recently solved a long term intermittent no start problem on an 86 302 by replacing the EEC relay. Not the same as the fuel pump relay.

Another possible is fuel pressure leakdown. The fuel pump check valve can go bad (mine did once) and allow fuel to backfeed to the tank with the engine off. There's also a small pressure relief valve on my 302's fuel rail that can cause the same problem.

Oct 19, 2003 | 08:08 AM

xray1murphy

Junior User

Joined: Oct 2003

Posts: 84

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I hate to be the stupid one here, but have you checked you plugs lately,, if these are down on a high milage engine, you will crank with no result for hours. I also agree that the module may be out, but go for the simpliest thing first.