4.0L OHV Soul crushed and seeking advice on starting problems

[Li'l Work Truck]

Interesting

I had a Conquest TSi that had instructions on the shutdown process to avoid heat soak and engine damage. It said that if the car had been used intensively, it was best to sit at idle for several minutes while the engine cooled, then shut off the engine, where the fan would finish the job.

 

[gaz]

There isn't any insulation on mine.. I wonder if they did from the factory back in 91..
Either way I'll get some to put on it.

Sorry, they did not ..(

 

[gaz]

@TacoBelleGirl
Have you verified your base timing with the spout disconnect?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

@TacoBelleGirl
Have you verified your base timing with the spout disconnect?

Isn’t that only a distributor thing? The 4.0 didn’t use a distributor and the timing is “non-adjustable” on the 4.0

 

[Things2do]

Isn’t that only a distributor thing? The 4.0 didn’t use a distributor and the timing is “non-adjustable” on the 4.0

The 4.0 is distributorless, but it still has a SPOUT connector. Unplugging it forces the computer to a base timing so that you can check it and then plug it back in and check it again. There's also a similar looking timing retard connector up there in case you get ahold of some bad gas.

I might be late to the hot restart fuel discussion, but I crawled under my '94 4.0 one day after off-roading it in the heat in the desert all afternoon and I could hear fuel bubbling or squirting back into the gas tank through presumably the return line. I think I read somewhere that Ford started putting a thermal spacer between the fuel rails or something and the engine later in the '90's because of that issue, and that you can pull the spacers from a junkyard and put them on earlier 4.0s. Or just keep drawing funny looks as you act normal while your engine sputters and barely runs while in the middle of nowhere...

Oddly enough, mine had that problem in March in Moab when it was 80+. But it had no problems with hot restarts when I went back to Moab in early June and it was 100+.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The 4.0 is distributorless, but it still has a SPOUT connector. Unplugging it forces the computer to a base timing so that you can check it and then plug it back in and check it again. There's also a similar looking timing retard connector up there in case you get ahold of some bad gas.

I might be late to the hot restart fuel discussion, but I crawled under my '94 4.0 one day after off-roading it in the heat in the desert all afternoon and I could hear fuel bubbling or squirting back into the gas tank through presumably the return line. I think I read somewhere that Ford started putting a thermal spacer between the fuel rails or something and the engine later in the '90's because of that issue, and that you can pull the spacers from a junkyard and put them on earlier 4.0s. Or just keep drawing funny looks as you act normal while your engine sputters and barely runs while in the middle of nowhere...

Oddly enough, mine had that problem in March in Moab when it was 80+. But it had no problems with hot restarts when I went back to Moab in early June and it was 100+.

I’ll confess it’s been awhile since I really examined a 4.0 harness. I’ve been trying to ignore mine because it’s getting in rough shape and I’m not anxious to overhaul it.

I never thought of that, it would be easy enough to change, some 4.0 had a paper gasket and some had a thick plastic sort of gasket but the holes are the same.