Decided on a BII

[MJ'sBlkBII]

I picked up a '90 BII last night. So, any second thoughts I had are too late.
The previous owner had it on a deer lease for about a year before overheating it. He put new heads, radiator, and T-stat in it but left it sitting for a year after that, so I do have some issues.
When cold it takes a couple of attempts to get it stay lit. It used to idle down to 800 like it's supposed to, but I had a backfire in the throttle body from carb and choke cleaner and now only works down to 1K rpm. It vibrates awful at idle, smells like it's running rich, blows white smoke, and when the rpm's are bottomed out, tap the throttle and it stutters, stumbles for a split second then revs. I have replaced the air filter, tried to clean the throttle body and replaced the IAC. All of these were in severe poor condition. The throttle body and IAC were badly caked in oil deposits.
Anyone have ideas for these issues? I am wondering if the timing is off, but I am going to go through the typical tune-up points first. I'll see what happens.

 

[Will]

How is the body? Want to sell it?

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

I just bought it, why would I want to sell it?! And NO.
Just did the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Not good. The plugs must have been done with the heads (you never know). Lots of carbon and LOTS of oil all over them. The electrode wasn't wet but all of the threads were. Cap, rotor, and wires all in fairly new shape. White smoke is actually blue smoke, so I'm burning oil and lots of it. Have to do compresion test next.

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Wife says the 4.0 swap I had planned has to wait till she gets her new truck. LOL
Remaned 2.9 is more than a doner truck, so, have to look into having rings done.

 

[country0001]

You can do a 4.0 swap for under 500 bucks. Why wait?

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Basicly it comes down to fianances and time. In about a year my vacation time will re-up (this year is already planned out) to be able to get it done and the donor gone in a solid 2 week period. We were hoping the motor would last till then. Usable donor vehicles in my area are going for 1500! Used car prices just ain't what they used to be.

 

[deathbypsi]

Make sure you check the timing. That can make a huge difference in how it idles. I f you dont know how just ask.

Pull the PCV out and plug that line and see if the smoking gets any better. Could be sucking up oil thru the PCV if the motor has major blow-by pressurizing the crankcase.. Also start cold engine with rad cap off and watch for bubbling as it warms up to see if there is a internal coolant leak.

Pull off the IAC motor and clean it out good with brake clean.

A 4.0 swap is a good easy way to go but your still limited to garbage trannys. The a4LD and 55r5e trannys are weak and not to be trusted IMHO.

I did a 5.0 EFI and C4 trans swap in mine and couldnt be happier. No it wasnt the cheapest swap to do but still worth every penny.

 

[rockin86ranger]

how long have you run it, it's not uncommon for a vehicle to cmoke after sitting for a long time. my bII sat for a little over a year before i got it and it smoke for about 40 miles but after that it didnt burn any oil, and for about a week and a half i would get small puffs of smoke on start up, but it ran great and didnt have any problems

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Thanks for the info y'all. I have replaced the IAC, however, unpluging it does NOT make a fluxuation in the rpm. I ohmed the throttle position sensor and it is functioning, however, unplugging it does NOT fluxuate the rpm. I pulled the vacuum line to the MAP and it stalled. I am not getting a check engine light unless a sensor is unplugged. My code puller is not showing an codes, but that could be to diconnecting the battery and not driving yet.
I have done 3 full temp cycles so far, stationary, mostly at idle or pumping the throttle to about 3K rpm. The smoke smells very strongly of fuel, but the engine has evidence of a lot of blow by in the throttle body and intake. I haven't had a chance to drive it other than when I first looked at it since it has no tags. This will be remedied Monday. I am going to check the timing here in a short and at least I will know it is right. I did twist the dist. a bit back and forth just to check and the rpm increased and decreased, but I can't swear if I remembered to remove the SPOUT connector first.
The kicker is after it warms up fully the stumble is about gone and it smooths out at idle. Give it a little throttle to 1.5-2K rpm and the motor shakes a bit then up the rpm's a bit more and it smooths out. Thinking about replacing the MAP and O2, but I hate just throwing parts at problems. The O2 mostly because of all the carbon that was on the plugs and the blow by on the throttle body and intake.

 

[deathbypsi]

I have also seen in the past when somebody removes the heads with the engine in the vehicle that unless the block was drained of all antifreeze some will pour out of the rear deck of the block right into the exhaust thus filling the converter and muffler with antifreeze and possibly some oil. This can take FOREVER to burn or blow out of the system.

When its running take the oil cap off and see if its smoking out the valvecover. If it is not I would let it run for a long time or drive it and see if the smoking clears up. Obviously if its smoking bad out the valvecover you have bigger problems and most likely wont stop smoking out the tailpipe.

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Ah, thanks Deathbypsi, that thought completely eluded me! I replaced the map sensor and am working on the O2. I am wondering if this issue is why it was sold in the first place. The tune up was completely effortless and all ofthe parts minus sensors seem to be fairly new. Even the O2 has come off with out any effort. Almost broke my hand because I expected it to take much more effort than it did. It is very carboned. After replacing the MAP the IAC seemed to work like it's supposed to. I unplugged it and the RPM bogged! I am reseting the computer while I do the O2 so hopefull I see some improvement.
Here is a question though. The O2 I took off has a 4 wire setup. The replacement has a 3. Is the old one a universal? It has 2 white, a grey, and a black wire. Could the extra wire be causing the screwy readings?

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Checked my harness and matched it to a 4 wire O2. Got that taken care of. I think I have pretty much gone through all of the sensors except the pick-up, coil, and the module on the back of the dist. Fuel pressure regulator is not leaking out of the vacuum line. Timing will be tomorrow after I get done at the DMV getting it titled and registered so I can drive it. Stil has the same hard start, very rough idle, and stuble when blipping the throttle when cold. Still fumagates but doesn't smell like it is running as rich. There is no smoke from the oil fill on the valve cover. When disconnecting the TPS, IAC, or the MAP the idle drops and it lopes. From my understanding this is exactly what it is supposed to do under these circumstances.

 

[straycat]

So you bought a real FORD (Fix Or Repair Daily). This sounds like it is gonna nickle and dime you, Bro. That guy saw you coming. Are you able to drive it as a dd??

 

[rockin86ranger]

I would run it for awhile and see if it clears up, might also clean the throttle body if its dirty, but i had some "similar" issues with mine when i got it but they cleared themselves up after about a week.

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

It is just a project that I will run around town in, not something I have to rely on. It might get driven 1 weekend a month. I plan to run it as is, it just has to pass inspection. We are non emission so hopefully this won't be an issue.