I have a '95 Bronco with a 351 that occasionally dies at speed and at idle. Sometimes it refires immediately and other times it takes 20 minutes to get the engine to finally start agian.

I have had it to the dealer 2 times and they apparently don't want to take the time to properly fix the problem because the first time they diagnosed it with a bad alternator (the bearing was going out) and the second time they wanted me to replace the ignition module and distributor stator (I did replace the ignition module knowing that this probably wasn't the problem).

I spoke to someone the other day about the problem and I explained that I noticed that when turning the motor over when it is not starting that the tachometer doesn't move at all (I gave this information to the ford service writer also). I noticed that in my attempts to restart the motor after it dies that when the tach does begin to move then the motor immediately refires.

The person I spoke to suggested that this sounded like a crankshaft position sensor which I am going to test/ replace. My question is, where is this sensor located on a '95 with a 351? I have searched numerous threads with no success and the chiltons manual doesn't help either.

Any guidance here would be greatly appreciated.

 

The 95, like my 94 is in the distributor. Yes I would suspect ICM and/or distributor stator as they fail near the same time.

Are you getting code 211 or 212 in continuous memory?

Possibilities include several grounds, connectors, ignition control module, and the distributor hall effect stator PIP (crankshaft position sensor). I had the same issue for over a year. Tack would drop to zero when it quit while driving even though the engine was being turned by the transmission. The first thing I did was to replace the original black ICM with a gray Motorcraft one. Wrong. During the year I found bad grounds by the battery on the fender, cleaned all connectors twice, replaced ICM twice, coil, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, distributor three times, opened wiring harness from coil all the way to computer. A black ICM from a zillion mile delivery truck fixed it and it is now the spare. I'm running a used ICM from a 93 Taurus from eBay.

I think the issue was the bad grounds on the fender by the battery but replacing the ICM with a gray one created more problems. When PO replaced the battery cables they left the ground stud turning in the fender loose.

After thirty minutes of driving hold your fingers on the ICM. If too hot to touch for three seconds you may have a Push Start ICM in a CCD, Computer Controlled Dwell System. If your original ICM was black, gray may not work.

Changing the ICM requires 7/32 thin wall deep socket from the zone, semiconductor compound from Radio Shack for heat sink and diaelectric for connector grease.

Good luck. My wife is tired of my working on my Bronco every Saturday morning. I am cautiously optimistic now.

 

I finally decided to bear down and get the thing fixed so I decided to go ahead and replace the stator. I found out that a re-manufactured distributor was only $80.00 from O'Reilly so that's the route that I went.

The replacement of the entire distributor was probably easier than replacing the stator anyway. So far so good because it hasn't died since this replacement.

A word of caution for others that replace the dizzy with a reman. The first dizzy that I installed was bad because after I installed it the truck was missing badly. I thought I had a timing problem and tried adjusting it several times to no avail. I finally took the dizzy back and got another one that worked perfectly.

When setting the timing on a '95 you have to disconnect the SPOUT sensor which is located very close to the ICM (gray rectangular sensor with two pink wires running going to it). The sensor is taped to the wiring harness so you'll have to undo the tape to get to it.

Once you disconnect this sensor you'll set the timing according to the timing indicated on the emission decal under the hood.

The timing scale is actually located on the harmonic balancer so you'll have to clean it and I marked the 10 degree mark for easier identification under the timing light (mine was 10 degrees but be sure to refer to the decal).

 

There is NO crank position in your truck. The tach takes its signal from the PIP sensor inside the distributor. And given the symptoms you described, the PIP sensor is (or was) your problem.

Two MORE points about setting the base timing on your truck. One, ALWAYS set the base timing with the engine at FULL OPERATING TEMPERATURE. If you don't, you are flying blind on the base setting and the computer will not be able to correct for the error after you reconnect the SPOUT connector. Two, remember to disconnect the battery for about 5-10 minutes after replacing the SPOUT connector. This will clear the fault codes triggered when you removed it. It is also a good idea to drive the truck for about 30-45 minutes after setting the base timing (AND replacing the SPOUT connector) both on city streets and on the freeway. This gives the on-board computer time to "re-learn" the operational parameters of the engine.

 

I did realize after initially contemplating the "crankshaft sensor" that the PIP sensor is where the problem probably was and that the vehicle didn't have a "crankshaft sensor".

Good advice on allowing the computer to re-learn after removing and replacing the SPOUT sensor. I hadn't done this but I will now just in case.

If there were codes stored while performing this procedure, wouldn't there be a check engine light?

 

the CEL doesnt always light up