1989 Ford Bronco, 351W, C6 transmission

Alrighty, I bought this bronco as a project, and boy is it turning into one. I thought I finally got the bronco ready for one of its first test drives. Differential oil good (front and rear), engine oil good, transmission topped off, etc. I have done a few short drives with no problems (10-15 minutes), all under 50mph.

The drive started off fine, I started her with somewhat of a struggle, but I already knew that the starter is just starting to go out. (it sticks sometimes) but not bad enough to use a hammer yet. About mid drive 15ish minute mark, I die on the highway. I pull over to the side, and she wont crank at all. Battery Kapoot. A friend of mine comes and jumps me, I make it approximately 1 mile down the road...battery kapoot again. We get another battery, and make it to his house the rest of the way. We go to Oreille's later on, Battery checks out more towards end of life, and alternator is deep fried (bearings shot to hell). We change out the alternator, and put a new battery in her. She now starts with more power than ever. When my wife and I decide to take a trip to Braums. (4-5 minute away). While we are waiting in line for our milk shakes (approximately 8ish minutes). And we start pulling away after getting them, she randomly dies. No chuggin, no signs of sputtering. Just dead. I try cranking her, and she still cranks strong, and shows oil pressure while doing it. just does not start. I check the engine bay, I try to see if maybe I knocked something loose. No cigar. I try starting her 2-3 minutes later, she starts right up. I get maybe 5-6 miles down the road and she dies again. This time I was able to get her going in about 2 minutes, after letting her sit. I start her, and pull her over into a neighbor hood a couple hundred feet from us. Just in case the coolant temp guage was not accurate I pop the radiator cap off, no pressure at all. (temp gauge showed below normal), I add about 1qt of water before she is full. This time we made it 10 miles going 45mph before she died while idling at a red light, I make it home, then shut her off.

I know that this was a wall of text, but I just wanted to make sure I put down every detail that I could recall. At this point, I am thinking that it is probably the fuel system. However I have never had it go out like this. In my 1993 F250 351W E40D. Whenever I had a fuel issue, either plugged/dead fuel filter or fuel pump. The truck would always start gasping while losing power before it shut off. I have never had a shut off where it is just immediate like that.

I post this, in case someone has some insight as to what might be happening.

I appreciate any answers that could be provided!

 

It has been a couple weeks since you started this thread but you have not added to it to say what you found so…. Have you checked for fault codes? When it dies does it lose spark or fuel? What is the fuel pressure when you tested it with a mechanical gauge?

 

I apologize for not replying back, life got in the way. Several things had happened that slowed down diagnosing anything, I had a fuel line break going between the single function reservoir and high pressure pump. Which I had to replace, and was not able to until recently. I also have narrowed this down to the ignition system I believe, when it died last time I placed my timing gun on spark plug 1 and the battery and not signs of any power going to the spark plugs. (this was checked while key was still in run position without switching to off first). I was following voltage through the ignition system, the plug in to the ignition coil had full voltage, the ignition coil connector to distributor had voltage (on both sides), ignition control module plugin to the distributor had voltage, spark plugs had no voltage doing to them, so I was narrowing down to the Ignition control module on the distributor. The previous owner timed this vehicle a little wrong.... the ignition control module was facing the engine... It was easier to just pull the distributor, or so I thought. The distributor was a PITA to pull. Found out why later, it had dislodge the oil pump shaft and wedged. I was able to retrieve it from falling in the oil pan and get it setting without falling back in. But it is not in the oil pump yet, I was unable to do that with my needle nose.

I got some straws to put it back in the pump tomorrow. The straws fit around the shaft snug like, and when you have it in place, you can use a flathead to go down the back of the straw to hold the shaft in place while you remove the straw from it. So that way it does not try to come back up with the straw.

Also I tested the resistance values on the ICM and they were within spec, also my local AutoZone had a old ICM tester laying around. And it tested good there as well.

So that's my life so far lol, sorry for the wait!