Got a problem and a great story. Been raining here all week. Few days ago truck hiccupped on the way to work. Bucking and jerking, felt like it was running out of gas. I switched to the full front tank, and turned off the main road and headed home. Got couple of blocks and he was running smooth as can be. Drove it to work, and home with no problem. Next day hiccupped again on way to work. Just for a block or so, then everything fine. On the way home, he died just as I turned off the freeway. I was coasting along trying to restart and just as I got stopped, looked in the mirrors to see a cop with flashing lights. I explained the problem and told him I would call the wife and pull it home. This is 11:30 pm. Not legal here to pull one on the street, but cop said just be careful, only have to go about 2 miles. He said he would wait until we got going to make sure no one ran into me sitting in the right lane. Waited forever for wife to get dressed and drive to me. Told her to back up to the truck and I hooked up the nylon tow rope.
Explained to her how she should just take her foot of the brake and let it idle forward until the rope got tight and stopped her, then gently accelerate up to about 10 miles and hour. I would do all the braking for both of us and we would just go slow. She is just sitting there shaking her head no no no. Started babbling we can't do this the cop will arrest us. No honey the cop said be careful. Trust me just go slow everything be OK!!. I get in the truck and throw it in neutral, and wait, and wait, and wait. She is just sitting there. I'm thinking maybe she wants a signal. I flash my headlights at her a couple of times, and wait, and wait, and wait. I am ready to get out and ask what the hell she is waiting for, but I know as soon as I get out she will take off. I'm reaching for the door handle when her brake lights go off. Great she is finally moving, oh no, she is in reverse. Well hell she will figure it out, she has about 6 feet between us, but nope all the way back and BAM into the truck. Well I guess she will figure it out now. NOPE she goes down on the gas and starts pushing me backwards towards the cop car. I don't want to stand on the brakes and ride over her bumper and into the truck lid, but no way am I gonna hit this cop. Finally she stops. Now she is really shaken so of course she drops it in drive and hits the gas BAM!!! now we are moving.
She does a perfect job pulling me the rest of the way home. Just the first 10 feet were a problem.
Now back to the truck. I try to start it just before locking it up for the night, and cranks fine, just will not fire. Next day I try it again, and it fires right up and runs smooth.
Let it sit one day and today, Saturday, I jump on it to find and fix the problem. I first change the fuel filter, but it does not appear to be plugged and no serious crude came out of it. Then I install a new ignition module on the side of the distributor. Tested the resistance on the coil, and got .4 ohms. Think that is a good number. Started up and drove a few miles, and it hiccupped again. Stopped and got two bottles of heat, in case it has picked up a bunch of water in both tanks. Added heat and 1/2 tank of gas to the back tank and just heat to the front. Drove it a few miles and ran fine. Got home and pondered on the problem. Seems like every time I had the problem, I was either going up hill, or turning . Got to looking under hood. Pulled the fuel pump relay and found it has quite a bit of oily residue in it. Pulled the eec relay and found the same stuff. Couple months ago I had an A/C line break and spray the entire system contents all over the engine compartment. This is what was in the relays. Tried a couple of auto parts places and both had the fuel pump relay, but neither had the ecc relay. I figured I would try Ford dealer Monday, but for now I got a can of contact cleaner and flushed both relays several times, and blew them out with compressed air. Added a little dielectric grease to the plugs and reinstalled. Just as I finished, my son came by and wanted to borrow the truck. Told him the story, and made sure he had his cell. He drove it about 10 miles, and it hiccupped again, while he was going up a hill. After a block of so it smoothed out.

Summary
4.9 e40d 4x4 1990
Acts like it is shutting off electrically or running out of gas. Going uphill or turning.
Has done it 4 or 5 times, and once would not start.
Does it on both tanks. This one only has a pump in each tank.
Fuel filter is new.
Ignition module is new.
Tuned up a couple weeks ago with a new cap and rotor, plugs cleaned and gapped, timing checked.
Has Heat in both tanks.

I can probably replace both relays Monday, but not feeling real good about that being the problem.
Any ideas on how to trouble shoot this one?
Thanks Frank

 

Next time you get it running try wiggle testing some of the wire harnesses, might be something like that. Try bouncing the truck, you know simulate the conditions.

 

Man oh man you need to inform your wife, before hand, what the little d and r stand for lol. Hey least you got it home all right and the cop actually helped ya!

 

Man, what a night

As for the problem... NOT A CLUE! Lol. How about the MAP sensor? (although I've heard those don't bad very often). Orr the fuel pressure regulator? Just throwin' stuff out there

 

test ur coil when hot,maybe the problem

 

Just replace the coil. They are cheap.

 

check the codes and make sure the engine isn't telling you something by itself.

I think you should have a reservoir that the two tank feed into. You could be having a problem with the reservoir. Maybe you could get a fuel pressure tester and see if your fuel pressure is ok. If the pressure is low, then you can narrow the problem down to a fuel delivery issue.

Try this: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...gnition+module

If it is hurting when you change direction or inertia (uphill or turning) then I would suspect either the (I think that is part of the funciton of it). But, a pressure tester would help to find out. Maybe you could put the front end up on jacks and see if your pressure drops off?

 

Problem Update......
Conned my wife into taking Buff for a Sunday drive. I stayed home to "rest". She got about 5 miles. First he sputtered then he died. We pulled him home, absolutely wonderful pull with no problems, and got him in the drive.
Multimeter gives the following.
Ignition on, power to both wires at the coil.
Screw driver stuck in the coil wire and held off grounding point. Tried to start and proved no spark from the coil.
Opened distributor. Cap and rotor are couple weeks old and appear fine. Distributor is less than 6 months old.
Pulled the plug from the new ignition modual. Stuck paper clip in each wire and got following voltages.
#1 1.6 volt orangeish wire
#2 12.1 volt tan/ yellow stripe
#3 12.1 volt red/green stripe
#4 .004 volt red/blue stripe
#5 1.147 peach colored wire might be wire to spout
#6 .09 volt green/ orange stripe.

Are these numbers normal?

Plugged the connection back into the distributor, and heard the fuel pump cycle.
Hit the key and he fired up. Running rough, missing, managed to pull himself into the garage and died.

I got to head to work real soon.
Hope someone can tell from this info, if I have a bad coil, 6 month old MSD blaster, or something else is wrong.
Thanks Frank

 

DaGray3
Looks like it is not a fuel problem, but thanks a bunch for the link to the discussion about ignition trouble shooting. I bookmarked that thread and will expore it later. A quick read looks like real good trouble shooting steps.
Thanks Frank

 

fmr9, that has to be one of the funniest stories I've read in a long time. I'm still chuckling about it. Now that we've heard your point of view, what was her explanation for backing up?

As I was reading that, I was expecting to see something like "and I sat there and watched my front bumper making sparks on the pavement as she went around the bend ...."

Hopefully the damage wasn't too bad to either vehicle.

 

Old Paint
No damage to either vehicle.
Her explanation is, "I was 1/2 asleep and just made one tiny little mistake and now you have to make a huge deal out of it. I bet you are gonna tell everyone we know"
I'm thinking Oh honey you have no idea how many people are going to hear about this.
Today when we had to pull him home the second time, she had her springer spaniel, Patty, with her. After hooking up the tow, I leaned in the car window and said "hey Patty make sure she is in drive and not reverse ok?"
Wife said "you better get your smart **** in the truck cause me, Patty, and Buff are going home NOW!!"
Yes Dear.
Frank

 

Weird, my dad was just telling me about this same problem a few days ago (it happened to him about 10 years ago in his dual tank 89 4.9 F150). I'll call and ask him and let you know what it was.

 

Do you have a remote mounted TFI Module and if so what plug were the above readings from, the TFI or the distributor?

 

The TFI module is mounted on the base of the distributor. Cleaned it well and used the grease provided to help distribute heat.

Frank

 

Next time you have no spark or it is cutting out pull out the SPOUT and see if you get the spark back.

#1 1.6 volt orangeish wire (ORG/Red IGN GND) Should be zero Volts.
#2 12.1 volt tan/ yellow stripe (TAN/Yellow IGN Coil) OK
#3 12.1 volt red/green stripe (RED/Lt Green IGN Power) OK
#4 .004 volt red/blue stripe (RED/Blue START) OK, will have 12V in Start position of ignition switch.
#5 1.147 peach colored wire might be wire to spout (PINK SPOUT) zero with spout pulled, OK
#6 .09 volt green/ orange stripe. (GRAY/Org PIP) Would need to be checked with engine cranking and plugged in.


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