Steinhauer

Hello all. I have a 1988 Ford f150 XLT Lariat straight 6 manual 4.9 regular cab. I bought it this past Saturday and it drives wonderful, no major mechanical problems other than a tension pulley squeaking every now and then. I am hearing impaired, and a person at Autozone told me this. I had the oil changed last week, and the person there told me the truck runs great, but that everything requiring fluid needed to be changed. Also, the fuel filter, and air filter needed to be changed as well. I was able to change the rear differential a couple of days ago, and the gear oil that came out was blacker than coca-cola. Here are my questions and thanks in advance:

1) The brake lights work, but only when I compress the brake pedal hard. They do not come on when tapping slightly in stop and go traffic. How do I adjust this?

2) The driver's side door does not engage the interior dome light when open, the passenger side does. is there a way to fix this?

3) The fuel gauge is really funky. It shows way past full, then when revving the engine, sometimes goes from "way past full" to "nearly empty". How do I get it to read right?

4) Non electrical question - where exactly is the clutch bleeder screw? I can't find it. I may need a picture of its location (driver's side bell housing .... can't find it)

Rusty but trusty

Welcome.

For questions 1 and 2.

1) probably just need to replace the brake pedal switch, it's probably worn.
2) your driver door jamb switch is either failed or stuck in, mine got stuck in and didn't work, I cleaned it with some electrical contact cleaner and worked the junk out and it has worked fine since.

Both of those switches can be purchased from LMCtruck.com, that site will be your second best friend when dealing with these trucks aside from this site!

I'm gonna let somebody else chime in on your other questions.

sylver91

For the gauge the sending unit may be failing, corrosion at the harness or you have a worn wire grounding on some part of the frame making the gauge jump.

As for the bleeder screw if you have a 5 spd, it is located on the drivers side of the transmission directly above where the clutch line goes in to the slave inside the bell housing. But why do you need to find the bleeder screw for?

Steinhauer

Yes, it is a manual 5 speed, and thank you for the picture.

I have a hand bleeder for brakes ... and the clutch fluid (DOT 3 brake fluid) is the color of coca-cola. I **think** I should put fresh fluid in, and if I am thinking correctly, the hand bleeder I have will help with flushing the fluid out if I also continuously pour fresh fluid in.

The hand bleeder I have makes bleeding brake lines so much more easier. And if the clutch fluid operates the same way (as far as bleeding the line), then I should be able to bleed the dark clutch fluid out with little to no problems.

edit to add: The hand bleeder I have is similar to this one:

http://www.nationaltoolwarehouse.com...Fczm7AoduQ4AJQ

memoniz

I had a similar gauge issue with the front tank, pretty much telling me it was a float issue. It would read just short of empty, then maybe later to level. I ran a couple of cans of Sea Foam through it on consecutive fill ups and the problem went away.

sylver91

Problem is the hand bleeder won't do you any good with the clutch. You don't bleed them like you do brakes. Opening the bleeder just helps get the bulk of the air out of the system (or flush old fluid) which takes a couple seconds, then you keep pumping the pedal till it builds enough pressure and continues to self bleed as you drive. Every time you open the bleeder you loose all pressure and start from the begging.