At my wits end with fuel/ignition problem

[Horj]

Thanks for all the info, guys! I was dreading having to replace the regulator.

Could a partially blown head gasket cause it to run lean? I was told early on in the diagnosis that that could be some of my problem. I added some block seal stuff to the radiator right at the start hoping that might help.

 

[aspevacek]

who diagnosed it as having a blown head gasket?

Run a compression check on each cylinder ensuring to keep the throttle body wide open. Get the numbers and compare them across the board. you ar elooking for balance across the board more so then high numbers.

 

[RonD]

There is a simple and effective head gasket test.

With engine cold remove rad cap and overflow hose.
Place latex glove or plastic baggie over rad cap opening, use rubber band or ??, to seal it.

Start engine

Put finger over overflow tube, system is now sealed

If glove starts to inflate you got a head gasket issue, or cracked head.

Even the smallest leak will cause the glove to inflate.


A cooling system has no internal pressure, that rad cap pressure is caused when coolant gets hot and expands, so a cold engine can have no cooling system pressure.
If it does the only place it can come from is a cylinder, 150psi compression and 800+psi when firing.

No, I don't think you have a blown head gasket

 

[a31ford]

`
HI Guys..

Horj, remove the pasengers foot kick panel (in front of the pass door, under the dash).

Turn on the heater, and set to "hot" and "floor/def", crank the fan to high, go for a drive, if you are too warm open the PASSENGERS window (NOT yours).
Your drive should be at least 15 minutes at highway speed.

IF it starts to run better, let me know.

Trust me, this is NOT a joke,
What I'm doing is warming the connections to the computer, I'll explain the rest later.

Greg

 

[Horj]

Thanks Greg, I'll try that. Although I'm going to have to put my truck on the back burner for the next couple of days. My GF's mother who has cancer is being put into a hospice home today, so I need to be by her side.

Thanks again for everyone's help! You have no idea how appreciated it is

I'll let everyone know how things are going with my truck by the end of the week.

 

[Horj]

First off, thanks again for all your help in diagnosing my truck last week.

Second, I'm replacing the camshaft synchro and sensor. I'm leaning toward getting a motorcraft synchro, but the richporter has the synch, sensor and alignment tool for roughly half the cost. The guy at O'Reilley's said richporter is a really good brand, but I know that motorcraft is the brand for fords. If I go with the motorcraft, I'll need to make another loan, but if I go with the richporter, I can afford to eat for another week. So my question is, is richporter an acceptable replacement part?

Third, I'm waiting on a guy who is going to help me find the vacuum leak sometime in the next couple of days. Haven't had an opportunity to do the drive test that greg suggested yet. I've been driving my GF's car so I can save the worry of my truck breaking down.

Thanks again.

 

[Horj]

Update on what's going on now:

replaced the camshaft synch and sensor

Sprayed the brake cleaner on all the vacuum lines and such, no apparent leak

Truck is still running like crap.

Pretty much confirmed that the Meineke fuel system cleaner job I had done WAS a rip off. Put a can of Sea Foam thru the lines and smoke BILLOWED out of the tailpipe, still no improvement, though.

Any other ideas as to what it might be?