Need a little help.

[Shiner1]

Driving the L yesterday and as I'm turning through an intersection I give her some gas and it coughs and dies. It never would start again. I got her towed home and in the garage and started looking things over. I can't find any loose wires, connections, hoses, tubing or anything that stands out. No fluids on the ground. Got gas in the tank. (first thing my wife asks..LOL) It will turn over all day but never catch. So I'm thinking....Not getting any fuel, not getting spark, broken timing chain, broken distributor. Anyone have any suggestions as to where to start??? Thanks guys. Don't really know where to start....:(

[PUMP]

Did you check the fuel shut off? I don't know if the Gen 1 has one but I seem to recall that my 93 Explorer did?

[dboat]

John, if you had a Gen 2 I would be thinking IAC but how about the fuel filter?

Dana

[Sixpipes]

Since the 351W is a pushrod motor I think we can rule out timing chain. :icon_mrgreen: Sounds electrical to me so I'd check all your ground cables. Also need to know if you have any aftermarket stuff?

You might also switch tanks and see if maybe you have a fuel pump problem. The Gen I is almost bullet proof so I would expect nothing major on the mechanical side, but probably some ancillary system failure. :cool:

[Ohmsby]

He only has one tank. Check the inline fuel pump.

[Mark #2]

Driving the L yesterday and as I'm turning through an intersection I give her some gas and it coughs and dies. It never would start again. I got her towed home and in the garage and started looking things over. I can't find any loose wires, connections, hoses, tubing or anything that stands out. No fluids on the ground. Got gas in the tank. (first thing my wife asks..LOL) It will turn over all day but never catch. So I'm thinking....Not getting any fuel, not getting spark, broken timing chain, broken distributor. Anyone have any suggestions as to where to start??? Thanks guys. Don't really know where to start....:(

Start at the plug wire, pull off and hold near the top of the plug, have someone turn it over, and "see" if you have spark. Do not ground yourself or you will "feel" if you have spark.;)

[Sandman]

Did you check the fuses?

[Shiner1]

Start at the plug wire, pull off and hold near the top of the plug, have someone turn it over, and "see" if you have spark. Do not ground yourself or you will "feel" if you have spark.;)


Haha!! that would be one way to tell. I have started to recheck the things I looked at yesterday to be sure that I didn't miss anything. In the past when the key was turned on you could hear the fuel pump kick on just before the electric fans did. Now in the quiet of the garage, I don't hear it coming on. This may be the problem. Good call John.

[L8 APEX]

Aftermarket fuel pumps die frequently. Didn't that one have a red or black Aeromotive?

[WA 2 FST]

Aftermarket fuel pumps die frequently. Didn't that one have a red or black Aeromotive?

Yes, they do, especially if they get too hot, too often. If you have a big, in-line pump (I'm guessing so, given the above comments), you don't want to run below 1/4 of a tank, even with a quality sumped/baffled tank. You can get cavitation in those super hi-flow pumps and that overheats it.

Also, if you have one of those big pumps, you will definitely hear it if it is working. I've had several cars with them. they are very distinct and L-O-U-D... at least for a typical fuel pump.

[mustgofaster]

If you don't have spark, check the TFI module & the PIP in the dizzy. I have a spare dizzy you can use, if you need to.

I also have a FP gauge you can borrow to make sure your fuel pump is doing what it is supposed to do.

Along with the fuel pump, check the FP relay.

Another oddball item that will shut you down, is the fusible link to the ECM. It is right off the starter solenoid. There are 2 of them; the larger one goes to the power dist box & the small one goes to the ECM.

Are you running a stock/tuned processor, or something aftermarket, like FAST?

[Ohmsby]

my money is on the pump.....

Let us know what you find

[Shiner1]

Thought I'd update ya'll on the breakage. As it turns out it was the fuel pump....kind of. Yesterday was the first day that I have had a chance to really work on the truck. As I said before I couldn't hear the pump come on so that's where I started. For those who may not know, It's an Aeromotive in line pump that's mounted right behind the roll pan. The volt meter showed no power to the pump. I checked the fuse and relay but both were good. I dropped the pump and started tracing the hot wire back towards the front of the truck. I found a glob of wires with a relay and fuse holder just in front the of rear (and only) tank. This is where the pump was getting it's power. As it turns out the 30amp fuse in the holder had blown and melted the holder and wires. After rewiring the bad section and adding a new fuse/fuse holder the pump fired right up and is now running like a champ. So John was right....kind of...LOL!! Thanks for the help guys.

[mikelemoine]

Might want to check your wiring for any chaffing or damaged insulation. If it blew a 30A fuse and melted wires, you likely had a dead short occur when you went around that corner. Don't want that happening again, could cause a fire or stall the truck just as you pull out in front of a big-rig! Glad it was a cheap fix, at least!

[L8 APEX]

You may want to run a dedicated circuit to the pump with large wire like a 10ga. Donnie blew a dozen fuses on his Aeromotive because they wired it from the stock 14ga wires. A 20ft run of crap wire through fuses and relays made the wiring run hot. IMO.

[WA 2 FST]

You may want to run a dedicated circuit to the pump with large wire like a 10ga. Donnie blew a dozen fuses on his Aeromotive because they wired it from the stock 14ga wires. A 20ft run of crap wire through fuses and relays made the wiring run hot. IMO.

Yep... this is what I did on my old 5.0 Mustang.

[Shiner1]

You may want to run a dedicated circuit to the pump with large wire like a 10ga. Donnie blew a dozen fuses on his Aeromotive because they wired it from the stock 14ga wires. A 20ft run of crap wire through fuses and relays made the wiring run hot. IMO.


Agreed! Where would you run power from??

[mustgofaster]

Agreed! Where would you run power from??

Just an idea.... I have a few electrical accessories, (Elec fan, Amp, MSD, etc... ) with a few more planned & I hate a nasty mess of wires. So what I did to keep things neat clean & safe is I pulled a power distribution box from a 90's Taurus, as well as the fusible link. I mounted it next to the stock power distribution block for a factory look. I ran a 2ga cable over to the starter relay, soldered the fusible link in, and now I have more accessory circuits than I will even need, with a factory look & factory safety.

[Sixpipes]

Nice idea...:tu: