first off high everyone.

ok i just picked up an 87 f150 supercab with the long bed. its a boat. when i picked it up i was told the fuel pump didnt work and the back brake lights had some problems. i tried to test the fuel pump with the test out of the haynes book, 10sec it should pump 1/3 pint. well the battery is only putting out 525 cca and 600ca didnt allow the engine to turn for the whole 10 sec. so i stole my buddies battery out of his 92 f150 and bye the time we when to test it again his battery had drained so much that it did not have the power to turn it. we hooked up a battery charge with 20 amps and it still did not turn long enough. also the starter was spinning but it sounded like the fly wheel was not engaging. so we replaced the starter and its doing the same thing. but when it does turn it either a is not turning fast enough, or b sounding like there is no fuel getting to the carb. we even tried starter fluid and it still did not fire. any help would be great thanks.

 

Soundslike to me you need a stronger battery, I believe mine is a 750 cca. You never said what motor was in it.

 

my bad it is a 351, i had a red top optimum battery in it, rated at 850cca.

 

I would check obvious things first:

1.Can the engine even turn over?
2.Have you drained the engine oil and tried fresh oil? (sometimes old oil can act as molasses when it has either sat to long, hindering the engine to turn over with drag, or was wrong weight to begin with or both).
3. How old is the alternator? The battery you have should be enough to crank it.
4. When was the fuel filter changed?
5. How old is the fuel in the tank and/or how long has the truck been sitting before you bought it?

A note of caution, (maybe someone can chime in here if I'm wrong) careful with Ether, since it's highly combustible, it could crack the head if does ignite, (it could be violently).
and with using the battery charger to start or otherwise turn the vehicle over, (though some are made to "Jump start"), as it could send eletrical surges into the vehicles wiring harness and damage the EEC system.

Also, when you had the starter off, did you inspect the flywheel, at the opening, to see if there was any internal damage, i.e., missing teeth, fractures? You may be able to get a breaker bar and a socket to turn the engine over slowly looking for damage to the flywheel, if you beleive to to be the problem.

Also, you stated that the starter was replaced, did you get the new solenoid with it? It could be part of the problem as well. Another thought is the Fender mounted relay could have some bearing on this problem as I have had the same problem in the past along with many other Ford owners.

Inspect the wiring from the Starter housing, the terminals of the starter, the terminals on the Fender mounted relay, the Positive and Negative cables<----In fact, had someone on here just recently complaining of the same syptoms as you, and turned out to be the negative cable was terribly corroded "Inside and Outside"<---- of the cable. Look for any "Green oxidation" around the terminal ends and also any splices. Also check the harnesss that connects the Alternator to the Fender mounted relay terminals, since the older Fords with 2G alternators had connector issues, where they would deteriate and crack.

How old is the fuel in the tank? If its older than 6 months, then you should drain as much as possible, and refill with a few gallons of fresh, and purge any old fuel from the fule lines as possible.

And reading from my haynes manual, you must have a mechanical pump. I would clean it and the surrounding area well, and check for any obvious signs of cracks, leaks, or kinks. Slightly deteriation in the rubber line can cause many problems, that continually get worse over time. Lastly, dissassmble the pump from the engine, inspect, and/or replace if necessary. IMO, if it's an '87, I would replace the pump, since it may be the root cause.


I would definately try to get a pressure gauge that you can use to test fuel pressure with( Auto parts stores have them for about 20-25 bucks, " I think..." )

Lastly, be sure to inspect and/or clean all grounds and cable connections!

Maybe that will help with a start at diagnosing the problem. Remember the hardest problem is the one most overlooked.

Best of Luck!

 

ok update here, yesterday i pulled all the spark plugs, cleaned them all up and sprayed liquid wrench into the engine. manually spun the engine a few times, let sit for an hour or 2 and then sprayed a little bit more in there. replaced spark plugs. as goes the starter, the one that came with the truck was deamed bad at autozone, i got a nother one at the junkyard...causes there is nothing like the experiance of pulling your own parts at the junkyard...put the second one on and same thing. pulled it back off and took it down to get tested. testeed good. but they said the brushes might ned to be replaced. so i figure i have 2 starters why not make them 1 good one. got home pulled the original one apart and started tinkering. cleaned it all up lubed it up and put it back together. guess what just like new.

so now i have the starter in good running order the engine was freed up with the liquid wrench. everything back together and tried turning it over. everything spun. still no fire and the fuel pump is def bad.


to answer your questions....
1.Can the engine even turn over?
2.Have you drained the engine oil and tried fresh oil? (sometimes old oil can act as molasses when it has either sat to long, hindering the engine to turn over with drag, or was wrong weight to begin with or both).
3. How old is the alternator? The battery you have should be enough to crank it.
4. When was the fuel filter changed?
5. How old is the fuel in the tank and/or how long has the truck been sitting before you bought it?


1 it turns but no fire
2 no
3 no idea how old it is, the turck only has 86000 miles on it.
4 dont know when it was changed last but it looks new.
5 the turck has not been ran in almost a year. the fuel i am using to try and turn it over is some i just bought last month for my mower. i cut the fuel line on the frame and ran it straight into my gas can. so the pump is pulling from my gas can rather then the gas tank.

 

I'll second the opinion on not using starting fluid. Don't know what it did to my engine but it always idle'd funny after i used a bunch of the stuff, didn't start anyways.

 

forgot to add, i also inspected the fly wheel, thats good, and i got a new starter seleniod, but it fried so i out the old one back on. the old one must be good it was putting out the same voltage as the new one before the new one fried. 12.50volt dc. the terminal cables are all good. little to no corrossion on the entire truck.

 

Glad to hear of the update.

You stated that it hasn't fired over. Did you check the resistance of the plug wires? Have you installed new plug wires?

have you checked the ignition coil?
If the ignition coil checks out ok, then it could be in the wiring harness.

There are many other checks from this point on, so let us know how it goes.

 

start by replacin the plugs plug wires cap and rotor. also check the fuel pressure and make sure your battery is good. oh also a new coil might be in order

 

I have a simular problem with a fuel injected '87 F150. It ran until I pressure washed the underside of the truck. When I finished the fuel pump was running with the key off. I disconnected the battery overnight. It did not come on with the key off the next day, but the injectors are not discharging fuel. It has 41psi at the fuel rail tap but will not get enough fuel to run. It wiil hit about 3-4 times then no more. Please help! Could it be the ECM?

 

where can i find the resistance values? i looked through my book and i didnt see anything about it, maybe i just over looked them. and i forgot to mention i broke the ignition switch.

 

I pulled 2 codes on the '87 F150 that I am working on, #87 and #84. I will try to resolve their cause and hope it will run. It did run for about 15 seconds today then it died. I check the fuel rail psi, it had 41@ key-on and dropped to 38 when it would run. But, it would rise to 41 just before it died again.

 

Djack04F150XL:

It sounds hit or miss..I would start by checking the Fuse block relay under the hood. There is, I believe, a Relay for the fuel pump.

I would disconnect the Neg. battery cable once again and start checking the wiring from the fuel tank, "unsure if you have dual tanks or not" but follow the wiring until you get up into the hood to see if there is any water in the sleeving. Also look for any kinked or deteroiated wiring.

On the fuel pump relay, make sure there isn't any corrosion in the fuse block under the hood. After looking through my haynes and chilton, the PSI values you indicated, seem to be close to home.

Your problem seems to be electrical and could be a chance that water has found the path of least resistance in your wiring for the Fuel system. If you have a can of Quick Drying electrical cleaner spray, use can use that to clean any connectors and/or terminals. Use can also use Compressed air if you find any moisture in the sleeving from the hood to the Fuel tank.

shan69743:

The testing of resistance values and other related tests is located in Chapter 5, of my 1996 and 2004 published haynes manual. If you have a Chilton, then Chapter 2.

I didn't know the eletrical switch was broken. There is a good chance you will need a new ignition switch. I don't know if this part of your problem or not, but here is a write up from "Gust" on his problem:

"
'89 f250 electrical/running problems relapse
<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #d1d1e1; COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1 itxtvisited="1"><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --><!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: ad_showthread_firstpost_start --><!-- END TEMPLATE: ad_showthread_firstpost_start -->hi everyone,

i finally got everything worked out & running well with the f250 (after at least one tow & many hundreds of dollars...but we're still only into it $2300 or so total). everything has been working perfect for the last 900 miles from ventura,ca to eugene, oregon. then this morning we try to start it up and it fires fine (one of the main issues we had before the ignition switch was replaced), but then idles all erratic, has a loud whirring noise, and the power windows, wipers, and stereo are magically gone again (but working when the key is ON or in the back position). when i shut it off, the loud whirring sound keeps spinning down until it is finally quiet.

i didn't get much info from the shop who put in the ignition and got back our electrical system, besides a mention of finding the issue "inside" rather than in the wiring under the hood, and a bit about resetting the computer to fix the somewhat high idle it had going when i got it."


Your non-Firing could be definately related to the ignition switch and the wiring leading to it. I'm unsure @ this point.

Maybe another FTE member with more knowledge concerning this can advise you on the next route of repair.

Matthew

 

thanks timbersteel,
in order for the truck to be in run i have to turn the key almost 180 degrees. and i cant turn it anymore then that, so what i have been doing is jumping the starting sileniod. but updates for today i changed the oil that was some nasty stuff, i also swapped out the fuel pump while i was at it. and its still doing the same thing. just turning so slowly. i am going to hook up the charger to see if the battery is just going dead. im out of ideas as far as getting the engine to turn over smoother. i dont know what else to do except start tearing it apart and rebuilding it. any advice on this?

 

Thanks for the advise timbersteel, I found 2 problems with the truck. When I did a scan for codes I found the codes for fuel and EVR circuit faults. I found both wires to the front vacuum solenoid attached to the coil bracket were bare about 3 inches starting at the connection. I replaced them, the red wire connects to the red wires going to the injectors. I pulled the ECM and found it also had 2 or 3 fried circuits. It has had water damage even before from all appearances. I will be getting a rebuilt ECM by next Friday. I hope this is all there is to my problem beside the starter that is dragging now. Thanks again. djack.