1986 2.9 stuck on a repair and need help please.

[grizz3767]

Hello to all!
My son and I are new to the forum and I am in need of some technical advise. I purchased a 1986 bronco 11 with a 2.9 with automatic, this is to be a project car for my 16 yr old and we have had a great time working on it. Here is my problem. The bronco will start and Idle fine and will run at idle great. When she warms up and we shut her off and try to restart she loads up real bad and acts like she is flooded. If i put her at a little over half throttle and crank for about a minute she will restart chug and sputter then with more gas she will cough out of it and run smooth again. I get a real heavy fuel smell from the exhaust. From reading other forums i have check and changed several items and here is the run down of what I have done. New plugs
(the old ones were very black and carboned up), wires, oil, belts, air filter ( standard stuff) Map sensor, Air temperature sensor, replaced. Ohmed and checked Throttle position sensor as well as ohmed the idle air control sensor these are withing specs. I have check the fuel safety interlock switch it is ok, I can hear the fuel pump whirring and as I stated it seems as if it is flooding so i dont think its a fuel problem. I am at a loss here any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
My son and I thank you in advance!

[tekatlarge]

Fuel pressure regulator!!!

They are notorious for pin holes in the diaphragm letting gas leak into the vacuum line and into the engine. Pull the vac line from the fuel pressure regulator and if it has gas on it there is your culprit..

[grizz3767]

Thanks I will check this morning and let you know!

[grizz3767]

Fuel pressure regulator actually looks new. No fuel bypass thru the vac hose. Could the EGR cause these symptoms? Is there a way to check this the manual isnt real specific other than unplug the vac line and see if it runs better.

[grizz3767]

ok so here is a good one for ya. I went today to and bought a code checker plug it in turn on ignition and hit the test button low and behold no codes register. Still having the same problem lol. Is this possible? having a problem like this and no codes? Should i run the engine for a while then check the codes again? Is it possible to have erased the codes?

grizz

[grizz3767]

So after my last post i went back out to the bronco and was checking connector to the reader cussing for wasting 40 buck when my son comes up and says he was reading the code reader instructions and that I didnt have it connected correctly. Sure enough i missed a wire to connect the reader and low and behold i pulled out the codes. Shows my ECT sensor is bad which would explain the problems. I will buy the $20.00 part and put it in tomorrow hope that does the trick.
Moral of the story.
$40.00 for the code reader
$20.00 for the sensor
Having a 16 yr old showin up the old man ........... Priceless

[Master Knowitall]

Your son seems to be pretty smart. I bet he would know that you shouldn't put your bronco into nuetral when the tow-truck driver is still underneath the vehicle. I know a guy that did that.

[DBrown]

if what you are trying doesn't work I would borrow a fuel pressure guage and check what you have on the rail

[grizz3767]

Good News! Problem is fixed the sensor was the issue. Now if my know it all son will stop posting funny remarks i might let him actually drive the thing.

Thanks for the info guys!

Grizz