I'm driving home and the truck just died. It felt like it ran out of fuel, and it did try to start up numerous times while waiting for the tow truck. So, anyhow, from the time it died to the time the tow truck unloaded it, about 1½ hours. You can guess what's coming here... she fired right up. I think it's a fuel delivery issue, but I'm not sure where to start. Here's a rundown of the truck:

1989 Bronco 351W, C-6, stock height, 31 X 10.50
Recently (about 1200 miles ago) completely rebuilt 351 windsor
new map sensor
new (1 yr old) coil
new egr valve
new wires
new plugs
new fuel filter
tranny recently serviced (flush and fill/filter)
new vacuum hoses throughout
timing set at 10 BTDC
idles at 750 (right around)
alternator looked new when I bought it in Jan 2006
battery's at least a couple years old


She never runs hot and even though I was in rush hour traffic, it was only low 80's yesterday, so I don't think there were any heat soak issues

That's all I can think of, but on a side note, if anyone knows why this is only netting around 11 mpg, I'd welcome suggestions on that too.

thanks for all the help,

Mike

 

Diagnosing while the problem isn't happening will be hard, I think you do have a heat related problem. It could be a lot of things throw a couple cans of keyboard duster in the truck, take it on a ride that will recreate the problem(hopefully stay kind of close to the house or throw a bike in the back!) When it fails to start, turn the duster upside down don't spray yourself and wear safety glasses etc. You want the liquid freon to come out, spray the coil for a 20 seconds or so, try starting truck, No start spray tfi module, try starting, Basically go to each component and spray them down until truck starts, some components will only need 2 second spray time depending on the make up of the part, use the minimum amount of spray time you can. I would almost guarantee it is your tfi module, it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace it anyway since it is a high failure part and keep yours as a back up in the truck!! Ford has that class action lawsuit about the tfi module going bad and leaving people with dead vehicles in the middle of intersections,railroad track, etc. Make sure to coat the back of the module with the dielectric heat sink grease not the connector!!

 

I think blue beast hit it right on the head. Ford has I built in safety on their ignition modules when they go bad they are suppose to turn off until they cool then work for a short time to get you to help. GM has a fail safe too it goes into limp mode and runs like it is missing half the cyl. Good luck.

 

Been there done that...for a year but, finally fixed.

Pull codes from the continuous memory.
1. Check ground by the battery and connectors if you get a 212 code
2. Replace the ICM and the PIP sensor (stator) in the distributor if you get 211 because they have about the same life. It is easier to just replace the distributor for the latter.