1987 302 EFI

Ok ok, I really need help here. My van as to run in 2 weeks.

Here's the other topic explaining my problems so far:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3152...ad.php?t=315230 (posted in november)

What I did today: removed the doghouse to acess the fuel rail.
Key ON: fuel bursting out of the fuel pressure check valve then stops. I gess the electric pump builds up the pressure to start. I also gess that when you crank and start, it runs constantly.

Key ON once, doesn't start (but crank all right). Key ON, OFF, ON, cranks almost starts, burns something. When I go ON three times, it starts for about 2 sec and dies. Same scenario on both thanks.


I crawled under it. My friend was operating the key. Key ON on front tank: bzzz and click in the front tank. Switch to rear, key ON on rear tank, bzzz and click.

It doesn't run on either tanks. Looks like I need to build some pressure to get it to run.

My gess:
- Electric pump weak close to death
or
- Tank switch box improperly working.

I still need to find a fuel pressure gage.
Is the electric pump working constantly when you crank the engine?

Thanks for your help.
Etienne

 

MOVED..... and member notified

 

Moved to where?

 

Fuel pressure regulator? Anyone else sence this?

 

Someone at work told me that as well. I changed it last summer with one that I found at the wreck yard. It looked totally new. But we never know... I'll have to change it again I gess. No gas smell out of it either.

 

hey brother. got a 87 302 myself. also got a "electical- vacuum trouble shoooting manual.
first thing check the ground at the "y" brace(metal on firewall inside, above your gas pedal. at the middle of the "y" is a ground for the fuel system. if you click my name and check my gallery there's a pic of manual i put up for another poster. a pen points to the spot. enlarge it.
also, have you gotten any codes. a good part store will lend u one with a deposit.
happy to help in anyway.
i have a brake pad that has come loose. i beat it with a hammer today and it's alittle better. tommorrow a bigger hammer, or maybe gum. good luck.

 

also the fuel selector valve is faulty on the years. have you ever notice fuel traveling from one tank to another?. if they get stuck in a funny position the can stop your pressure. but that's not ness. your prob.. if you can by-pass it and it runs, well then you know. it's on the rail before the higher pressure pump. four lines in two out. keep us posted.

 

try http://fordfuelinjection.com/ for some general info. check the right side of page for "ecc" info and "how to run a self-test". if you cant get a code reader, they'll walk you through getting the numbers the hard way. also gives code translations. good site. good luck.

 

me again. ok you mentioned in your first postings that your alt. had seen better days.
your battery will run the engine but in that cold weather maybe not. a batt. that isn't getting a good charge with a bad alt and freezing weather, no good.
the "brain" needs 10.5 volts at start up. the alt should be between 13.5v and 14.5v.
check you battery(and cons) and try turning it over with another or while jumping with the other car "rev"ing.
sometimes it's the little things. you might want to check your alt gauge after starting. i know she only goes a couple of seconds, but you might have over looked it in your frustation. just some thoughts.

 

That Schrader valve will also fit any bike gauge, and it will work, though I don't wholly recommend it. The gauges with a lever to lock onto it work neatly. I think it's supposed to be 30 psi?

There is a delivery pump in either tank which don't pump much pressure, and a single high pressure pump for the EFI system under the frame below the driver. The fuel filter is also located here, a clogger fuel filter is an obvious problem.

The fuel pressure regulator is a vac-driven component that bleeds off extra pressure by sending fuel back to the tank on the return line (this also automatically bleeds out any air in the rails from when you mess with it). With the engine off, take the vac line off the reg. If fuel leaks out, the diaphragm is punctured and you know you have a bad reg.

Also when my timing chain slipped on my '87 302, it had very similar symptoms. Turned over smoothly, spark, no combustion. I couldn't see the fuel and assumed it was the fuel pump because when you've got compression and spark it should run. There were a few times where it shuddered and ran for a few brief moments.

 

Ok, first thanks a lot for all those tips.

Regulator is good, no gas smell, and it's been changed last october. Fuel filter was changed in november when I started to have problems. We scraped the crap off the distributor cap rotor and pickup. By pulling the fuel return line and key ON, we had lots of gas flowing out instantly. Makes me belive that the fuel flow is good. Can still be a weak pump.

I now know for sure I got fire, that the timing chain is not off and all that because we got it to run for almost 4 secondes twice. Enough to see that the thing works.

Now we're down to believing that the TFI module is faulty. My buddy said that when his quitted, it was acting like this. I also think that if the TFI is the problem, it would explain why I had to pump the pedal like crazy to get it running in november. TFI thinks he needs to retard the timing. So by pumping the pedal, it would advance it. But then it would realize that it doesn't need to advance, so it would retard. Then it would almost die, but by pumping again, it would advance.. on and on and on.

So I'll go by one tomorrow to make sure. I can return it if it's not the problem . I'll also do what you told me racinbob.

Oh! One more really important thing: we believe that the TFI is faulty also because when we crank it, we are constantly getting smoke out of the exhaust. So it burns gas...

 

I had the same thought and replaced my TFI module. From experience, I'm still bet your timing chain has jumped. I'd bet against high odds, too.

You have not mentioned if you've checked for spark. You want to do that first.

When mine was slipped, it ran for a few moments. Here's the thing. Take off your fan housing, fan, and put a big socket on the bolt on the end of the harmonic balance. Take off the distributor cap. Using a long socket handle, rock the crankshaft back and forth through the harmonic balancer bolt. If there's any lag between crank and the distributor rotor, then the chain has slack in it. This makes it run poorly and with enough slack it can jump teeth. It need not be broken to cause it a no-start condition.

When I had my problems, I couldn't really smell gas with the spark plug out and couldn't smell fuel in the exhaust, I expected to smell fuel after all that empty cranking. So I assumed no fuel. Apparently it's just not very noticible.

 

For those 4 sec that the engine ran, it ran smoothly, just on high idle when it used to work properly. I'll check the chain for loose. That problem came gradually, and the link to my other post in november will explain.

 

Got another bunch of snow so I had it towed to the garage.

Gess what? MAP sensor was dead...