- Joined
- Jun 13, 2016
- Messages
- 134
- Reaction score
- 40
- Points
- 28
- Location
- Connecticut
- Vehicle Year
- 1989
- Make / Model
- Bronco ii
- Engine Type
- 2.9 V6
- Engine Size
- 2.9L
- Transmission
- Manual
- 2WD / 4WD
- 4WD
- Total Lift
- 6
Hey guys, I’m having an interesting problem with the old bronco II and ide like to see what you all think. About 8 months or so back I was parked getting gas, when I went to start the truck it just cranked away but didn’t start. So I got it towed and really didn’t mess with it much for a few weeks. When I did get around to it I pulled the dizzy cap, took the plug wires off, inspected and reinstalled everything, boom the truck starts! But when I started it, it cranked 3-4 times then kind of spluttered to life, almost like it was misfiring badly. After about 2-3 seconds of this it idled fine. This continued for a while and sometimes it would just crank with no spark at all.
So now fast forward to last week, the truck has been sitting since the winter and I’ve only moved it around the driveway a few times. I had some spare time so I went out and started messing with it again. I noticed that my connector plug on the coil was a bit sketchy looking. I replaced it and what do you know the truck started up like it used to, about 1-1.5 cranks and boom it came to life strong. So I got for a test drive…as you would and when I put in the clutch and let the revs drop the thing dies on me right is I’m going around a sharp corner. No power steering in a lifted truck is fun let me tell you! so I started it up again and just got home. It seems to me that about 75% of the time the truck will start and do that weird spluttery BS for a few seconds, the rest of the time it starts fine. It also only seems to want to die when I start driving it, put a load on the engine for a few minutes then let it idle again. Sometimes it catches itself and doesn’t die, other times it’s out like a light, very odd. I’ve been testing around and can’t find anything blatantly wrong with it, my thoughts are maybe the coil is on its way out or possibly the TFI module, I’ve replaced that before for other reasons and I remember how much of a pain it was. My mysterious “no spark” has gone away for the time being but honestly I haven’t worked on it much lately because I have so much other stuff going on. As a side note I noticed that the engine seems to run rougher that it used to. A bit of a shake and a noticeable shake in the shifter. I used to be able to balance a full beer can on the intake and it wouldn’t move. I was very proud of that after I rebuilt the engine. Lemme know what this sounds like to you.
So now fast forward to last week, the truck has been sitting since the winter and I’ve only moved it around the driveway a few times. I had some spare time so I went out and started messing with it again. I noticed that my connector plug on the coil was a bit sketchy looking. I replaced it and what do you know the truck started up like it used to, about 1-1.5 cranks and boom it came to life strong. So I got for a test drive…as you would and when I put in the clutch and let the revs drop the thing dies on me right is I’m going around a sharp corner. No power steering in a lifted truck is fun let me tell you! so I started it up again and just got home. It seems to me that about 75% of the time the truck will start and do that weird spluttery BS for a few seconds, the rest of the time it starts fine. It also only seems to want to die when I start driving it, put a load on the engine for a few minutes then let it idle again. Sometimes it catches itself and doesn’t die, other times it’s out like a light, very odd. I’ve been testing around and can’t find anything blatantly wrong with it, my thoughts are maybe the coil is on its way out or possibly the TFI module, I’ve replaced that before for other reasons and I remember how much of a pain it was. My mysterious “no spark” has gone away for the time being but honestly I haven’t worked on it much lately because I have so much other stuff going on. As a side note I noticed that the engine seems to run rougher that it used to. A bit of a shake and a noticeable shake in the shifter. I used to be able to balance a full beer can on the intake and it wouldn’t move. I was very proud of that after I rebuilt the engine. Lemme know what this sounds like to you.