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Bout to lose my.....poop....ideas??


rusty ol ranger

2.9 Mafia-Don
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2007
Messages
13,864
City
Michigan
Vehicle Year
1987
Engine
2.9 V6
Transmission
Manual
My credo
A legend to the old man, a hero to the child...
I know, wrong forum. But i need to figure this shit out fast.

3 trucks, none of them are operational. Rusty 2.0 was till last night when the front passengrr side tied up AGAIN, an hour from home, finally got it figured out it was the caliper, not the wheel bearing, limped it across the road to the green auto parts store, pinched off the brake hose, got ready to drive home....and.,.

The sumbitch wouldnt start.

Crank for days, nothing. Not a pop, not a bang bang, no signs of life whatsoever. It was fine when i shut it off, although i have noticed since this heat wave it would go to cutting out/missing after extended drives. But, it quit doing that past2 days, but i switched gas stations and wrote it off as possible bad fuel.

It ran shitty when i left pet supplies plus to go to o reiley but it came back as soon as i revved it, figured it was IAC related.

I tried snorting ether in the plenium, same deal, no sign of life. So its gotta be ignition. I dont recall ever reading here of a 2.9 jumping time? I suppose its possible, does seem to crank kinda fast.

I had a TFI go out on rusty #1 20 years ago, but as i recall it didnt give any symptoms till it just croaked. Truck would not restart after cooling off.

Im gonna pull the dizzy/coil from rusty #1 and try it. But the thing dont even smell gassy. Its like its getting no spark or fuel, but pumps are running.

Need help quick, got till monday when the wife has to go to work to get somethin figured out....
 
The TFI processes the sensor signal that tells the computer the engine is turning and it needs to do injector things. If the TFI goes you might not get any gas smell because there might not be any.

I'd check spark before doing anything. Also, you can get the TFI off without pulling the whole distributor.
 
You can? I pulled the whole distributor when i did it last time. I would rather just swap modules then screw with yanking distributors. Im gonna check for actuall spark this afternoon, but the way it wouldnt even huff on ether im guessing thats whats missing,

It has the grey module. I have one i pulled from a boneyard to try on my 460 but it has the black one, so will a TFI off a 93 302 work on a 87 2.9? Or does it have to be a 6 cylinder module?
 
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I have been told the TFI has to match the number of cylinders.

And yes, it is very possible to replace the TFI with the distributor in place. Unplug it, and then just lay up there and reach around to the back of the engine. You are going to be working blind, so you have to feel around for your bolt holes and stuff, but it's a Ford, you have to do that anyway.
 
I had a distributor that stopped distributing once. Took me awhile to figure out I could wedge my phone in the engine bay and click record while I cranked ot with the dizzy cap off.

I remember having the break through moment of

"Hey that thing is suppose to spin!"

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 
Alright, i seen autozone has a tool, a 20 min drive is worth not yanking the distributor lol. Ill pull the TFI off of rusty #1 this evening and swap them out...and prey.
 
I had a distributor that stopped distributing once. Took me awhile to figure out I could wedge my phone in the engine bay and click record while I cranked ot with the dizzy cap off.

I remember having the break through moment of

"Hey that thing is suppose to spin!"

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

So you must feel really silly now that I am going to point out you could have bumped the starter with a screw driver and watched it yourself.
 
For the record, according to autozone part numbers, a 302 TFI will not interchange with a 2.9 TFI lol. I thought they had to be the same cylinders
 
So you must feel really silly now that I am going to point out you could have bumped the starter with a screw driver and watched it yourself.
Huh..... I have never seen that done haha. Using the screw driving to jump the starter terminals? Sounds like I'm about to have a wild hair in the near future.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 
Yeah, all ya do is jump the two big posts on the fender solenoid, i usually use channel locks myself
 
Well, Rusty 2.0 is back to chewin up the asphalt....

I feel like a total dipshit...

Yesterday, in the parking lot after it died i was gonna yank the coil and replace it in the parking lot, after breaking the plastic tabs on the plug trying to get it off, the green ground wire broke off (rather easy) when i was trying to remove the plug..

That was the point i got pissed and called the wrecker.

Before i did anything today i knew i had to fix that, got the plug out, cleaned every thing up, did a lil backwoods engineering to get the wire back where it needed to be, hopped in, hit the key, and presto she fired right on over....

At this point, im thinking, ok, it cant be this easy...

I let it idle a good 1/2 hr, shut it off, fired right back up. Took it out (now mind you its 93* at this point) and romped the piss out of it on the back roads.

The hot sputter was gone, smooth power from idle to WOT. More overall power (i always though this truck felt weaker then rusty the original), and all seems to be well...

So, 155 bucks for a tow because of a 31 yr old wireing connection. Gotta love old fords.
 
ahhhh....bad grounds. its a constant.




i left my ranger at home a few weeks back.

you can hitchhike over to get it for a backup, but you have to take the 42's off and put a set of 37's or the 35's on.....i ran out of time...


but the first chance i get to go get it i will....cause i have a place with a garage down here now.


and even with new wiring....i have had a loose ground piss in my potatoes a few times.....


but my truck would probably scare you enough that hitch hiking would be acceptable....:D


probably make it to the end of the street and just leave it:icon_rofl:
 
You guys are making me feel bad for driving a Toyota. Like survivor's guilt.
 
ahhhh....bad grounds. its a constant.



.....


but my truck would probably scare you enough that hitch hiking would be acceptable....:D


probably make it to the end of the street and just leave it:icon_rofl:

Dude, have you SEEN the shit i drive down the road?

Ive spent my life motorinh around in haphazardly patched togther 30 year old trucks....

Aint skeered :icon_thumby:
 

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