I haven't particularly seen the "universal-style" inline filter anywhere on mine, just the one underneath the driver's side, inboard of the frame rail. I have a replacement element for it that I need to get installed one of these days....

 

Hot dog! I thought people'd given up on me. Glad to see I was wrong!

Alright, what I have done. My BII is indeed the fuel canister type, and had no filter. There was some grit in the cup and I firmly believe that more grit is up in the injectors. Dad came across an article someone wrote on how to remove and flush the injectors, so I'm going to look into doing that. I'm willing to put in the man hours to clean these things out because I really have a feeling that's where the problem is. Years of having the same problems with carbbed lawn mower engines and tractor engines taught me that! If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but if I'm right...saved a bit of money there. So we'll see.

Compression test was run dry, unless some oil was in there that I didn't know about. If it comes down to a head and valve job...that's really up to dad and not me cuz that's where the big bucks will come into play.

Cam wise...I emailed Jasper Engines to find out of the line the guy told me was true or not. Low and behold, I've got no answer from them. But what I have figured is if one wants to change the cam, they'd have to remove the push rods and lifters. To remove the push rods and lifters, you have to remove the heads, not to mention the radiator, water pump, timing cover, starter, oil pan, and etc. The dirt and grime on this engine looks really old and undisturbed, so I'm guessing someone was fed a line. Also, everywhere I've read says a 4.0L engine has a distributorless ignition; it uses a crankshaft position sensor on the front of the engine instead of a distributor gear in the back. So if that's true, how would a distributor work on a cam not meant for one? Guess I need to find a good picture of one.

The tach...I'll probably just go to the junkyard and find something to replace it. Actually what I'd like to do is drop in a gauge pod with the 4 gauges for oil pressure, water temperature, charge and fuel, instead of the tach. This is how my truck is setup and I like having a gauge there rather than a dumb light. Is it a drop-in replacement or will I have to change some sensors? I know the oil pressure sending unit will have to be changed for an oil gauge to work, but what else?

And finally the cats...I really hate when people do this, but the guy decided trashing the cat's was a good way to get more horsepower so he rammed a broom handle up through them to "clean them out". I'm betting they're junk, and replacing them is gonna run about $300. Right now I'm working at the EGR valve because I'm getting a fault code and I know for a fact the tube down to the exhaust manifold is broken in two. I think it might be stuck open and causing a vacuum leak.

I think that's it for now. If I forgot something I'll put it in next time. Thanks for all your suggestions, I'm gonna use em and hopefully ring the bugs out of it!

 

If the exhaust had insufficient back pressure due to lack of a functioning cat, then I would suspect burnt valves as probably one of your problems. I learned something today, I've had an '87, '88 and '89 B2 and never seen a fuel filter with a removable filter ... all had a one piece canister. Good luck and tell us what you find !

 

Well I just got done messing with the EGR system, removing the broken tube from the truck and temporarily plugging the EGR port at the intake. I am just about out of ideas, but I'm trying to keep tearing apart the motor as a last resort. I've done it before, twice, and its not pretty. If you remove the heads, you might as well replace the lifters while its out, and if you're gonna replace the lifters you might as well replace the timing chain and the cam, and if you rebuild the whole top end you better rebuild the whole motor or you'll grenade the bottom end and yadda yadda yadda....

About testing the low pressure fuel pump in the tank. I've had the fuel lines undone behind the canister to check and make sure the low pressure pump is pumping. When I turn the key on, the pump puts out a little bit of gas and stops. Is it supposed to run continuously as long as the ignition is "on", or will it run continuously only if it senses the engine is running? I guess I'll start looking into the fuel delivery system and make sure that its working correctly. Thanks.

 

Not sure about the fuel pump in the tank right now, but, seeing as how you have fairly decent dry compression test results, you can go ahead and do a wet test by squirting some oil into the spark plug hole and re-testing. If your lower readings raise considerably, then your rings and /or cylinder walls are blowing by. If you note no significant changes, then it's in the valvetrain and something is sticking partially open or they're burned and leaking by, etc. Then it'd be a matter of doing a top-end rebuild. Haven't looked if the specs matched between the 4.0L and 2.9L cranks yet. Dunno what to tell you there, but that could have contributed to the problem as well. You may also have wear on the cam / timing set as well... as previously mentioned, or even might have a poorly cold-set valvetrain. Still points toward top-end engine rework IMO. *shrug*

 

Well I've done it before on my truck so I've got the proceedure down pat. If I have to pull the heads off, I'm just gonna go ahead and break down and get new lifters and the 2.9L cam, timing chain and all. Just get it all over with and be done with it .

 

Throw some World heads on there while you're at it

 

I managed to get a couple things accomplished today! First of all, I called Jasper Engines to see if a 4.0L cam would work in a 2.9L. The guy told me over the phone that it really shouldn't for the reason that I suspected...it wouldn't have a cam gear. Jasper doesn't do that kind of work. So I'm pretty sure someone's been fed a line and I think its me!

Also, took off the fuel rail today, removed and flushed each injector. Dad and I built a little rig so we could spray carb cleaner into a tube, pressurize the tube, and then apply a voltage to open the injector. Flushed it one way, flipped it over and flushed it the other way. It must've done somethin cuz we flushed a bunch of brown crap out, and one injector was definitely partially plugged because it was squirting way off to the side. Tomorrow we'll hook it back up to the electrical and the fuel lines and see how they spray; if they all spray about the same we can put it back in, but if one of them is still messed up, we'll probably replace it. I think we made some real progress today and I can't wait to fire her up now!

 

You're lucky to have such a Dad

 

Well its his toy technically. I just like working on stuff. I am pretty lucky, and he likes how I charge for my work. Just let me drive it every now and then .

 

Well we hooked everything up to the engine tonight, and cranked it just to see if any of the injectors were still clogged. Came across a couple problems I don't understand. All 6 injectors always fire at the same time? I thought it would closely resemble the firing pattern of the spark plugs. And secondly they don't fire with rythm. Its like it goes squirt squirt squirt, miss, squirt, miss, squirt squirt.

What controls when the injectors do fire? Computer?

 

Well I reinstalled the manifolds, hooked everything back up and gave it a crank. Cleaning out the injectors helped some, but that wasn't the cure. Next up is taking a look at the camshaft timing and perhaps a valve job.

In the meantime, we do not have a title yet from the former owner. We do have a bill of sale, and we're waiting on a replacement title cuz the guy moved recently and lost the previous one. Dad refuses to put anymore time, effort, and money into the Bronco until he has the title in his hands. So we're waiting on the State of Indiana to print it and mail it and the guy to bring it to us...and until then I've been "laid off".

So thanks to everyone on here for your advice and what not. Kinda sucks having a toy you can't touch doesn't it? When I get "hired back" to my job, I'll try and find this post and update everyone on what I've done. In the meantime I'll try to frequent the site and help as much as I can.

You guys take it easy, and I'll try to do the same.

 

This may seem far fetched but Ford came out with a bulletin about the ignition module. Since this is a used car you bought and you can't spend any money on it, check to see if the ORIGINAL screws are used in the module. It was found that some people had dropped them behind the engine or otherwise lost the original ones and substituted screws that were longer and punched through the module casing. Any Ford dealership should be able to identify them, this one drove me nuts about ten years ago when I did my son's '88 and there was a guy (I forget his name ) on an old forum called Kunz Korner that suggested this to me and sure enough that was it.

 

I've had the modules off and replaced them with the one on my truck that was one year old. The screws were factory and they didn't protrude through the casing. And to top it off, it didn't run any better either!

Thanks though. I think kernal-panic is right. its something in the valvetrain. a burnt valve or the timing may have jumped a cog since its over 185,000 and the chain and cogs may have never been replaced, or replaced one off.

 

Pat Kunz, his tech tips are still in the "tech library" at TRS.

BTW, I like the cam timing idea, it happened to me on a 360 FE, it's where I'd be headed if I were in your shoes mattoney, although the way you described the injectors working is definitely incorrect, did you resolve that???