seriousmustangnut

The truck is a 300 cid 6 cylinder and most of the time it starts right up, but sometimes I can turn it over forever and not even an indication that it's firing. I thought maybe the ignition module, so I swapped it, no luck. Then I tried the coil, no luck. Most of the time it starts right up, but all of a sudden it'll leave you stranded.

I also can't determine if it's temp related for sure. Every time it's not started, I've been away from home and the engine hot, but most of the time, it'll still start even hot. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance...

billmck04

What kind of climate do you live in ? I had an old ford with the 300 six shooter, constant moisture problems with the distributor, especially when really humid out (michigan summers), it seemed truly random when it acted up. I changed out the distributor cap and rotor, sealed it with silicone and problem solved.
I must admit that I miss that engine.

seriousmustangnut

Well this is weird....you live like 60 miles from me (I live in Mesa). The problem started before the monsoon, so that's not likely. After I posted the other day, I drove it to the parts store to pick up some stuff and got stranded again. I went back in to see if they carried any freeze spray. They had a can of spray that also contained some petroleum product for loosening bolts, so I bought it. I then removed the cap, gave it a few quick shots under it and then soaked the dist. housing. Put the cap back on and it started right up.

A buddy of mine told me it might be the magnetic pick up before, hence why I tried that...just in case. I'm not certain it was the solution because the freeze spray really didn't "freeze" anything, but it definitely slightly cools.

I swapped in a reman distributor yesterday just in case and couldn't get it to fail at all, but as I said before, it's intermittent. I hope it's resolved because I'm selling it and don't want the next guy to have problems.

seriousmustangnut

I ran the thing for like 30 minutes and cycled it on/off successfully many times yesterday. Later in the evening, same thing. I couldn't get it to fail. Today, the kid I sold it to drove it 1.5 miles to get gas and it's dead. I went down to help him out and got it going. Ten minutes later it starts up.

Now I really want to get this fixed because I don't want this poor kid to deal with it.

billmck04

Wow - Mine was good after new dist. and rotor, I'll do some searching and see what I can come up with.

seriousmustangnut

Thanks. I really appreciate it. This one's driving me crazy.

I suppose it's possible that it's vapor locking, but I was smelling gas every time I attempted to start it, so I figured it was getting fuel...

billmck04

Well there is a few things you could check - when it dies, or wont start check for spark. Keep an extra sparkplug in the truck, pull one of the wires and plug it on the spare plug and ground it, that will tell you if its an ignition prob. Also check and recheck all grounds and connections in the eng. compartment, while its running move some wires around, see if it does anything funny. And I would assume that you have had any codes read, if any that would help. One of my friends was having a problem like this with his Envoy, It turned out to be the fuel pump (I know totally different vehicle but its a place to look). When it has the no-start condition do you hear the fuel pump ?

seriousmustangnut

Yes, the pump came on strong every time even when it wouldn't start. Besides that, I smelled gas after many attempts, so I naturally went with ignition. I could still be the problem, but it seems so much like an ignition failure that I didn't try it.

I was going to keep a modified plug that I welded an alligator clip onto, but I ended up selling the truck the other day. Makes this a little tougher now.

A ground problem might be something, but it only is a problem once the engine is warmed up which leads me to believe either a solid state ignition failure or a vapor lock condition in the fuel system.

I definitely want to resolve this for the new owner. I don't want to leave him hanging.

billmck04

Well - I finally found out a little more about what might be causing the problem - I can't believe there is so little info on this. Apparently on many reman. distributors the stator is checked for functionality and that's it - once its on the truck the heat gets to it and it goes out. Another thing is a computer fault ? I couldn't see vapor lock causing this, I know it's been hot out but in my experiences I have never had vapor lock on a fuel injected engine. - So I'm going to go with a funky stator - it sounds about right. It does make it a bit harder when the truck is not in your possession.

billmck04

Just found another post about the dual tank switch going out - another possibility I guess.