Hey All,

Yesterday my bronco started losing oil pressure and power. It also seemed to be running hot. Limped home and first thing I checked was the radiator. It was about 2/3 empty so I figured it just needed to be filled so today i did just that. It started and ran fine. Drove it about 2 miles and when I stepped on the gas to leave a stoplight it just died and wouldn't start. Got pushed into a parking lot and screwed with the fuel filter hoping that was it. Finally got it started after about 20 minutes but if I take my foot off the gas it stalls. Got it home and pulled the fuel filter and had some nasty brown crap come out and I can blow through it fine so put it back on and it will start but same thing...it dies if I take my foot off the gas. It also started putting out some white smoke from the tailpipe. The fuel pump is working good, fuel filter should flow okay now. I checked the oil and it doesn't have water or anything in it. the radiator fluid was awfully nasty though. No oil or anything, just nasty. Kind of burnt smelling. My oil pressure is where it should be also. It's an 89 with a 5.0L. Any ideas are greatly appreciated as now I don't know how I'm going to get to work tomorrow! Thanks! --Eric

 

Also forgot to mention, I replaced the TPS sensor a few months ago and I checked in the distributer cap and nothing looked out of the ordinary. I'm going to go try to pull the codes and see if that tells me anything. Thanks again! --Eric

 

okay, tried to pulled the codes. I think I got a code 33 for the EGR. Not sure if that could cause the problem or not, but gotta say that i could have done it wrong. Doing it by myself with a digital multimeter. that was key on engine off. by myself I couldn't do the engine running test. Once again, thanks for any and all help. BTW, this time it would idle without my help but it was low and erratic. about 800rpm down to about 400 and almost a stall, then back up to 700 or 800 again.

 

I would do a cylinder leakdown test. It sounds like you may have blown a headgasket.
You will not always have water in the oil with a blown head gasket. I have one that blew and just put compression into the cooling system. It would run hot when running low rpm's.
Jimmy

 

Well that's not good news. ****** me probably shouldn't have coaxed the poor old girl into limping home and just pulled it over on the side of the road. i sure hope that isn't the problem, but I sure can't say that isn't. Thanks.

 

If you discover that it has good compression in all cylinders check the Ignition control module. The module is located on the side of the distributor. You can take the whole distributor to your local auto parts store and they will check it for free. If the motor gets hot so does the ignition control module, Unfortunately. So check that out they are known to fail prematurely from high heat exposure.

 

So let me get this straight - you had nasty brown crap come out of your fuel filter and didn't replace it?

Stumbling, hesitation, rough idle and stalling are all symptoms of low fuel pressure. If you actually have brown stuff pour out of your filter, spend $8 and replace it.

Then get a fuel pressure gauge and check your fuel pressure. You most likely have either a failing fuel pump, a leaky injector (worst case), a bad regulator, or a clogged return line. That's my guess.

Do this *before* you assume it's something really expensive to fix, like a head gasket.