1996 F-150 5.0 Dual Tanks 2wd E4od 180k miles and counting

My truck is shutting off on me completely when I go down the road. Doesn't seem to be a pattern,..a/c, lights, load, idle, it doesn't matter any more. It's happening a couple times a day and at some point in the future it's going to quit on me. I hate to get rid of it but....

There's no slow dying like maybe fuel pressure is going out. It's BANG and it's dead. If I'm going down the highway it might kick back on after a few seconds, once it didn't. Lights, radio, gauges and all other electronic stuff stays on. After a bit it will kick back on or if I was at idle in a parking lot, it will start again eventually, but not right away.

I've had trouble starting in the past and replaced both fuel pumps, regulator, plugs and wires, fuel pump relay and fuel filter hoping to do some good. Nothing has worked so far. Can't pull codes with anyone's reader so far.

When it runs, it runs pretty well...there's a rumble at 40-45 at low rpms going uphill but otherwise it's been a good truck.

Is there any centralized electrical device between the PCM and the injectors? My haynes manual is iffy on this point. Could the emergency cutoff switch be failing intermittently?

Thanks in advance!

 

Most likely the PIP sensor in your distributor is failing. If you search the forum or google you will see that is a common problem. When it fails, you lose spark completely. But it fails intermittently and can be hard to narrow down. It will also sometimes be called a pickup coil.

Most people just replace the distributor because the PIP sensor replacement isn't the easiest job.

There are other possibilities like a failing coil or a failing ignition control module. But what you are describing sounds like the PIP to me.

 

Don't guess. Follow the diagnostic procedure in this caption:


(phone app link)

If it results in "no fault found", then the problem isn't in the ignition system. But you have to do the tests WHILE the symptom is present. That means, if it starts running again while you're testing, you have to wait until it fails again to continue. So keep all the tools & a printed copy of that procedure in the truck. It took me about a month to find the problem in mine.

 

thanks steve.

from what im reading the pip sensor seems to determine timing rather than inducing spark...am i understanding that incorrectly?

 

The EEC and/or ICM don't get a signal if the PIP is failing, which means you don't get spark. Are you getting a check engine light when it fails?

 

no check engine light, but no scanners so far will connect to the pcm

 

https://www.supermotors.net/registry/media/867477_1

Check your dash fuse box - according to this diagram its fuse #16 that powers the data port - I'm assuming its OBD2 since you said it is a 96.

 

DUDE

I owe you a beer.

 

And a smoke, now that your cigarette lighter works too hahaha

 

Ford issued a TSB to rewire the DLC to a new fuse (so a short in the cigar socket doesn't disable a scanner), but I can't find it... Anyway, you can add a fuse using the captions in this photo album, and then transfer the +12V wire from the DLC to it:


(phone app link)


(phone app link)