1988 Bronco ll randomly dies.

Econn54 · Jan 29, 2014

Ok guys, this is my first post ever here..
Ive read, and read, and I cant find anything that perfectly describes my situation..

First of all. When I first crank the B ll, it runs great..
But after around 15 minuets of driving it will suddenly stall. Being a manual, it will start back.. But, if i happen to be stopped when it dies, it stays dead. It will stay dead for at least 30 minuets to an hour... You can crank and crank and crank and nothing happens..

Ive checked the fuel pressure when it dies, and its fine.. Plenty of fuel..
And ive also checked the spark.. Its kind of a yellowish color.. Not the awesome blue that ive been told to look for...
Now, I have taken it to a mechanic before, and he said that my distributor was bad. I just want to know if you guys think he is right.

If you guys have any ideas of something i can check, please let me know.

StitchBitch · Jan 29, 2014

i had the similar problem and the mechanic bypassed the enertia switch and cleaned a connection under the I think he said master cylinder .....haven't had it stalled since....

wildbill23c · Jan 29, 2014

Hmm, guess it wasn't just the early 80's models that did this. A friend of mine in high school had an 84 B2 that did the same thing. We never did figure out why it would do it. Also, his would do the same thing if you were driving somewhere and shut it off, then it wouldn't start for a good half hour or so as well sometimes and it was always very random.

dirtcowboy · Jan 30, 2014

TFI module on the distributor.

Beachbuggy · Jan 30, 2014

dirtcowboy said:
TFI module on the distributor.

x2! Very common for symptoms described. Make sure you clean the mounting surface spotless and use the proper dielectric compound.

Econn54 · Jan 30, 2014

Now I have replaced the TFI.. But... You guys are going to kill me.
One of the guys at auto zone was like, "Don't put that heat sync paste on there.. It'll just screw it up." At the time I had no idea just how bad heat was for it.
So. I guess my question is, even though I changed the TFI, could it still be getting too hot and killing it off anyhow? And if so, is it too late for the TFI, or could i still save it with a remote setup?

tinman_72 · Jan 30, 2014

I would take it back to AutoZone and make them replace it because that employee gave you BAD advice. Even if the unit tests good it has overheated and could fail at any time. Tell them you don't want it to fail when you are driving down the road in the middle of traffic. If it does it is AutoZone's liability.

Econn54 · Jan 30, 2014

tinman_72 said:
I would take it back to AutoZone and make them replace it because that employee gave you BAD advice. Even if the unit tests good it has overheated and could fail at any time. Tell them you don't want it to fail when you are driving down the road in the middle of traffic. If it does it is AutoZone's liability.

Sadly ive had this happen several times.. Nothing quite like pushing your bronco ll out of traffic in the middle of downtown Nashville. :annoyed:

SenorNoob · Feb 2, 2014

Econn54 said:
Sadly ive had this happen several times.. Nothing quite like pushing your bronco ll out of traffic in the middle of downtown Nashville.

You're in Nashville? Howdy neighbor.

1988 Bronco ll randomly dies.

Econn54

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StitchBitch

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wildbill23c

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