B2 will not start

[Broncopower33]

Have an 89 bronco ii. Was running fine, drove all day. Started and stop it. Was driving home and pull over to side of road for a min. Bronco was idleing and then die. It sounded like it ran out of gas. Trying to re start and will not start. Has plenty of gas. Got it home and checked fuel psi to the rail. Gas flow is normal, as well as psi. I checked the spark and it is good too. I un pluged the battery to reset the computer tryed to restart and all it does is crack. Also tryed started flued. So to sum up, has fuel, has spark, and will crack, but will not start. Any help

Thanks

 

[whocares]

Timing chain?

 

[Broncopower33]

If it was the timming chain, I should not have spark, right Beacause the distributor would not be turning?? Right?? Also I would have heard the engine get really ruff before it shut down if it was the the timming chain, but I could be wrong?

 

[whocares]

Timing chain was just a guess on my part. It could have slipped a tooth and still be giving spark, just not in the right order. I have never seen a timing chain actually break, gears get worn or the chain stretches and it slips time. Of course I'm basing this on GM experience, I dont have much Ford experience under my belt.

 

[Flat Toy]

Check all of your grounds. I have had both my 98 Ranger and 86 BII quit running while driving down the road because of bad grounds.

 

[Broncopower33]

Ok all check grounds today after work. And think about looking at the timming chain. I was trying to rule everything esle out before taking the front end apart to get to the timming chain...haha Looking for the easy fix button...

 

[whocares]

You dont have to take off the cover, bring the #1 cylinder to tdc on compression stroke then take off the cap and see where the rotor is pointing. But I agree, check all your grounds first, hopefully its something relatively simple.

 

[Broncopower33]

ok thanks

 

[Charles]

Easy thing to check but not sure if it's on the 89s, know for sure it's on the 87s and 88s. There is a small black connector that connects to the negative side of the battery. It looks like an inline fuse holder, but it's not.

If this thing becomes loose, get's some type of corrosion in it and won't make contact, then the vehicle will not start. It will spin like it wants to, but it won't.

I think it has something to do with the computer because if you unplug it and plug it back in, you can hear various electronic devices engage, think the key has to be flipped forward for that, been 15 years since I had that problem.


This problem drove me crazy on my 88 Ranger. It would drive fine, die. Would spin, never start. Everything was there, just would never start. I even noticed it when I went over railroad tracks. A local shop told me the computer was probably going bad and needed replacing. Just by luck I found the problem.

I removed that fuse looking connector and hardwired it and never had the problem since.

 

[Broncopower33]

You maybe on to something. The negative side of the battery has corrosion on it. I will clean that up. Did you say you cut the fuse out?

 

[Charles]

mine wasn't a fuse. More like a connector. It looked something simular to a fuse holder. I saw no purpose for it, so I removed it and put a piece of wire in it's place. I think I've seen it done on others.

Again, not sure what it does, but it's important and caused me some serious problems.

 

[Broncopower33]

Found what you were talking about. There are two of them on my b2. I got a new ground cable, and clean and tested everything, and still not start. Maybe a broken tooth on the timing chain, will have to check still.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

A quick check of the timing chan tension put a breaker bar and socket on the crank bolt and pull the dist cap move the crank a little both clockwise then counter clockwise while looking at the rotor. You can guess how many degrees the crank turns without without turning the rotor. just dont turn it very far backwards or it may skip a tooth in case the chain is ok. But even then if it skips a tooth the chain and gears are getting worn anyway. Did you check all the grounds pull them apart and sand them metal to metal and try to start it after each one so you know where the problem was. If you do a bunch of things and the problem gets fixed you have to do it again for future reference. Allways check your work.

 

[Flat Toy]

Look at ignition switch. They sometimes split apart and the contacts don't touch. It has a plastic part held on with metal tabs, the tabs get weak and let it separate.

 

[Broncopower33]

Grounds are all good. cleaned or replaced with new yesterday. Grinded all the paint and dirt away. So I would say the grounds are good. All look into checking the ignition switch.
thanks