My truck has been having this problem that has gotten progressively worse over the year. At first it would just always take a long time to crank but it would always start, now (before it stopped running all together) I have to prime the fuel a bunch and crank for what seems like 5 minutes, or use a can of starting fluid for instant results. Once the engine dose crank over it doesn't idle at all, it sounds like its misfiring a bunch. In order to keep the engine alive I have to keep hitting the throttle, before that I was able to just fast idle it through the rough idle and then after a little while the engine would smooth out and run just fine... until I had to start it even a few minuets later (the sheer humiliation I caused myself at a gas station because of this). Apparently the throttle body doesn't open when I rev the engine either, not sure if its supposed to do this or not, I couldn't find any information.

Not sure how to fix this, I replaced some old vacuum lines, replaced the MAP sensor, and replaced the plugs ( which I need to take back out because I didn't gap them).

A problem this truck has had for a while but at the time ran fine is that it doesn't give any codes what so ever (really makes fixing anything else hard), this might have something to do with the fact that the farmer who owned it before me, his dog ate the bit of wiring harness that hangs out in the driver side fender well, and the farmer (who is color blind) soldered it back together him self.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Put a fuel pressure gauge on it to see what you have both with and without the vacuum hoses connected. How can the throttle not open when you push the pedal? Is the cable not connected?

How do you know it doesn’t have any codes if the wiring is all boogered up? It doesn’t seem like you have checked. Can you pull back the harness covering to find the original wiring? You would need to jumper the two wires to start the KOEO test. You don’t need the whole connector.

 

I'm not saying it doesn't have any codes, I'm just saying it won't give codes. Ive used a dedicated Ford OBD1 tester and I have also used the wire/paperclip trick. The only thing that happens when I try to do the KOEO test is I get some clicking sounds and the fuel pump primes it self 2 times.

I dont know whats with the throttle, when the engine is off the throttle plate will open, but when its on it doesn't move when I press the accelerator.

 

Could be that the computer has died.

It is a cable from the pedal to the throttle. Sounds like it is either disconnected or broken.

 

It's going to have to start with this.

How are your electrical skills?

One of the members here might provide a schematic to help you straighten it out if you're up to it.

Good luck.

 

Well an update to the situation. I got the truck running with lots of persistence and starting fluid. I headed over to harbor freight and bought a fuel pressure tester. With fuel pressure tester in hand I checked my fuel pressure and turns out that I don't get any fuel pressure, that's one part solved.

I took a look at the ECU and it was clean and there was no signs of electrical failure in the ECU. not sure what kind of electrical problems is causing it to not give me codes but this is really hard because chasing down problems in a computer controlled engine with out the ability of it being able to tell me "where dose it hurt"...

 

I have to agree with this. You need to verify that the “colorblind farmer” didn’t cross up the wiring when he put it back together.

 

Do you know what these 3 plugs are for? the part that is supposedly damaged is the part that goes under the cab.

These three

 

Gotta'ask... You did get the EFI kit at Harbor Freight?

When you went in the computer, did you look closely at the capacitors?

Did you read codes before/after removal & with/without a reader?

If you turn the key to "on", but not start, does the pump run 1-2 seconds & stop?

 

The computer looked fine, see for your self. It will not give codes what so ever, I did the singe wire test and I also use a Sunpro code scanner for the ford OBD1. The only thing the truck dose when I try to run the test is it makes clicking noises and the fuel pump primes it self 2 time.

 

Bump to the top.

Did you have any progress?

The clicking/pump run is part of the self test.

The last question in post #9 is kinda' critical.

 

UPDATE: So my rear pump, which didn't work, the positive and negative wires where switched because of the colorblind guy wiring it in.
The front pump was basically dead (no pressure and for some reason there was moss on the strainer) got a replacement pump and now the truck runs better than ever and I can trust it to take a road trip.

TLDR: dead fuel pump and backwards wiring.

EDIT: also don't buy the cheapest parts possible on amazon unless you are really good with at trouble shooting (all this could have been prevented if 1.Some one who could see colors wired everything and 2. if the cheapest no name Chinese parts hadn't been used.

 

The colorblind guy wiring it might have been the 7 year old boy in China that assembled the whole part. The aftermarket front turn signal assemblies for my Jeep were wired backwards. Easy enough to swap out the two wires but still a pain having to fix brand new parts.

 

Glad you had success.

 

That is very true. The farmer is actually colorblind though. I found out which wiring harness it was that the dog had for a snack, which was the transmission wiring harness. I guess when the farmer was soldering the wires back together he wired some wire that sent like 9 volts to the pump in the transmission (E4OD) and when you went 80 it would over pressurize the tranny and blow fluid every where leaving who ever drove it stranded on the side of the highway.