86 ranger gets hot and dies!!!

[de5id1]

Alright, I recently bought this 86 ranger 4x4 s-cab with a 2.3, I had'nt driven it much since and today I thought I'd give it a good road test. so I get on road and it does fine till I hit stop and go traffic, the it starts spittin and sputterin untill it dies. It wont start back up immediately after it dies but if you let it sit for about 30 minutes it starts and runs fine again it did this to me about 4 time today anyone got any ideas?

 

[Dave R]

That's the classic TFI module failure mode.

When you replace it make sure you liberally apply dielectric grease/heat sink compound to the back side before attaching it. The distributor body acts as the heat sink for it. They fail rather quickly if not cooled sufficiently.

 

[de5id1]

thanks for the input I was kinda thinkin along the same lines until I talked to a couple friends and they had the same problems but it turns out it was the coil that was causeing the problems so,.... I replaced the coil and drove around for about an hour real slow (25mph).... trying to replicat the problem it worked just fine. I will do more extensive road tests this week and see if the problems really fixed and I will update.

 

[de5id1]

well its better but I think there is still a problem does anyone know if a tfi module from an 5.0 will work on the 2.3?

 

[Dave R]

I don't know of any 5.0 modules that would work.

Though any module from any '85-'88, or later for passenger cars, Ford 2.3 EFI motor will work.