SkyNET97

Hello all, this is my first post here, so go easy on me!

I have a 89 f150 with the 5.0 EFI engine. I got the truck after my uncle passed away in feb of 18, i got the truck in august of that year. and since then it has been rock solid. ran great.

A coupe weeks ago, i decided to go for a drive, just to get out of the house. i stopped at a drive through for some road munchies and immediately once the girl handed me my food, the engine died. like the key turned off. i was able to get it started with some effort and figured i would go back home, to be on the safe side. i got maybe 50 yards and it died again. however this time i could not get it started back up.

We did some parking lot diagnosis and found the coil was not throwing a spark. so we decided to try swapping out the ignition module that is bolted to the distributor. due to some ignorance on our part (we took out the distributor and tried spinning it to see if it would throw spark, and it was not grounded) we did not get any fire.

we then noticed the shaft in the dist was squealing with hand turning and my other uncle suggested we try to fix it. unfortunately we were doing this when the electricity was out and the press was unavailable, he used a puller to get the gear off the dist shaft. breaking 2 teeth in the process. at this point i figured, id get a new dist, heck it was only 70 bucks on rockauto.

The new dist came in 2 days ago, on monday, and i went down to install it( again our ignorance got us and tried testing it with no ground on the dist) we still saw no fire. i was working with it and noticed that the fuel pump kicked if i touched the bare metal of the dist to the engine, or the tensioner. at this revelation i tested again and got spark, so that was good! i installed the dist and it started up, for the first time in over 2 weeks.

Upon starting it, the idle was erratic. i loostened the bolt holding it and tried rotating it a bit. this made the engine run smoother, but would try to stall out like it was before. it would run fine, then all of a sudden start to stall, surge, even out for a bit, then stall, surge and die after a while. i was able to drive it up to the local store to get a pop from the machine, and it drove home. as i sat in the driveway, at idle it was stalling, surging a bunch then finally died.

i worked on it till 7am this morning trying a few ideas. i tried cleaning around the hole for the dist on the top of the engine, to hopefully alleviate a grounding issue, replaced the cap, and a couple spark plug wires. i did notice that as i rotated the dist after it died, sometimes i would hear the fuel pump kick on, thats what led me to think a grounding issue.

I finally tried pulling the SPOUT jumper from the connector near the dist, and it really made a difference. the engine sat and ran for almost 10 minutes without stalling out. i actually had to turn the key off. I really dont know what my issue could be, and after surfing some other posts, i wanted to get yalls opinion. am i experiencing a bad ignition coil, or a bad PCM possibly. i know the truck is going on 30 years old, but when she runs, she runs good.

Any Suggestions

sorry for the long post, i was trying to be as verbose with my issue as possible.

JohnPaul

Most times when a computer goes bad the damage is plain to see. Disconnect the battery negative cable, pull the computer out and open it up. Just a couple torx screws holding it closed. Usually 1 or more of the barrel shaped capacitors will have leaked and look bulged.

Steve83

Put all the truck's details into your signature as this caption explains:


(phone app link)That has nothing to do with the EEC.No, that's just how the EEC controls the FP relay. It sounds normal - no ground faults.That just disconnects the EEC from adjusting the ignition module timing. Get a Haynes manual after reading this caption:


(phone app link)

Follow the appropriate diagnostic procedure in Ch.5 (usually Sec.5 or 7), but eventually, you need to read the whole manual cover-to-cover at least once.

SkyNET97

Thank you Steve83!
i had added my info to my signature, before i posted. not sure why it did not show up. i have gotten your help on other forums and remembered to do this here. again, i dont know why it did not show.
I have a manual on order, been strapped the last few weeks but i have one on the way, and its the red cover if im not wrong. i will read it cover to cover when it arrives.

Thank You as well JohnPaul!
i will remove it and check it out.

i did notice something today, i could have a problem with the wiring itself. i went out again today to test it, and i shifted the wiring going to the ignition module and it caused the same issue of stalling/surging/evenout/stall/surge/die. it will stall and surge many times before it dies.
i did adjust the wiring itself and that caused it to even out solid, not stalling or surging, even with the SPOUT jumper in.

Steve83

(phone app link)

sdmartin65

You don't say anything about setting the timing with a light after the distributor install, you've done this correct?

RbnFl

If it acted up as soon as she gave you the food, the problem must be the food.

SkyNET97

Yes, it was a mistake going there, i see that now!!!

SkyNET97

@sdmartin65 i am going to say yes, i reinstalled the new distrib exactly as the old one came out. i marked its location meticulously with sharpies and photos. it went in exactly as it came out. i do know i should use a light, but tll i get new plug wires im waiting on that.

the other day i tried driving it up the road to test. it ran fine for a bit but the tachometer randomly dropped to zero, but the engine did not die completely. it came back after a few seconds. i did buy a new coil harness as the old one was noticeably damaged. there were bare spots showing on the wire. i am going to try replacing it today, but i noticed something odd.

On the current pigtail, there are 2 wires, on the new one there are 3, and it was sold as a direct replacement. mind, the right side of the connector has one wire (red) none in the middle, and 2 (green) on the left. and as stated, the original had only 2, one on the left and one on the right.

Steve83

That doesn't hurt anything, unless a bare metal wire touches any OTHER bare metal part (including wires).