Idle stalling and electrical issues

[BisonXLT]

Please help me!

I have a 2002 XLT 3.0 V6 RWD with an AT, its name is Frankenstein, or Franky, for short.

This was my brothers truck, who passed away about a year ago, and I’ve been trying to bring it back to life. I have done the following work:

• Tires
• Rear drum brakes (full rebuild)
• Brake fluid flush
• Front Wheel bearings
• Front pads/rotors
• Lower ball joints
• Upper control arms
• Valve cover gasket
• Heater core
• Coolant reservoir
• New radiator
• New coolant lines
• Coolant flush
• New thermostat
• New engine coolant temp sensor
• New upper coolant temp sensor
• Plugs/wires
• Power steering fluid flush
• Oil change/filter
• Engine/cabin air filter
• Transmission fluid flush
• New front shocks
• New rear air shocks
• New serpentine belt
• New alternator
• New fuel pump
• New idle air control valve
• New fuel pump relay
• New AC blower motor
• New battery
• Probably a few more that I can’t even remember.

After all that, she runs great. Until she doesn’t. It frequently stalls at idle, never under power. When it does, it takes upwards of five or more minutes to get it started again. Sometimes even without stalling it will still struggle to start. It never happens on a cold start, only ever after it’s warmed up a bit. I’ve taken it to a few mechanics and they all say that it seems like it’s just not getting enough fuel, but the injectors look fine and test okay. When they spray starting fluid in the air intake, it almost nearly starts. Finally, after putting in a new fuel pump just a couple days ago, she left me stranded in a parking lot. There are zero codes, and the only light on the dash is a persistent air bag light.

At this point I’m at the end of my rope, I’ve put so much time and money into the truck and I still can’t seem to fix the most damning issue with it. Please help me figure out what’s going on.

Additionally, if anyone might know why the backlights behind my AC controls and stereo, as well as my 12v plugs, all diminish in power when I turn on my climate control, that would be sick.

Thanks in advance, this forum helped me get this far, now I need a little more help.

 

[Curious Hound]

So, what is your fuel pressure?

And I see fuel pump on your list but not fuel filter or fuel pressure regulator. Let’s test fuel pressure first. Hate to see you spending more money just on a guess. It’s cheaper to troubleshoot and diagnose.

 

[BisonXLT]

I did a fuel filter too, just forgot to list it. Will a pressure test confirm pressure before or after injectors?

 

[Curious Hound]

I did a fuel filter too, just forgot to list it. Will a pressure test confirm pressure before or after injectors?

Before injectors. After injectors would be cylinder pressure which varies wildly depending on where it is in the 4-stroke process of suck, compress, bang, blow.