88 Bronco II 2wd, 5spd Manual with 2.9L V6.
Fuel Injected
Either 86,000 miles, or 186,000 miles haha. Hard to tell.
Ok, Here is what is happening. The truck starts hard. usually takes 2-3 times letting it crank pretty good and some gas to get it up and running. At this point, you usually get a strong fuel smell, which is normal I imagine. when it does finally kick over, the motor will immediately jump up to about 3,500 RPM and then settle at an idle of about 900-1000 RPM. after 5-10 minutes of running, the truck will not hold an idle, moving between 3,000 RPM and dropping as low as 500 rpm, eventually when it drops it will die all the way. A version of this problem occurs while driving as well. Suddenly, the truck will lose all power and feel like its 'missing' giving you the jerky, sluggish acceleration, eventually you get a really strong gas smell and it'll die. wait 10 seconds to start it, starts fine, same thing occurs... Rinse and repeat. Since this started happening I have been getting about 8-10 mpg in town >_<
I am getting some indication from my Check Engine Light. It'll flash about 3-4 times occasionally, which I am told is an indication that it is running in self test mode. The fellow I bought it from said there was possibly "something minor" with the ignition but it wasn't a big deal.
![wtf :wtf:](./images/smilies/wtf.gif)
My best guess right now is my ECM is failing. Maybe Ignition Coil? I am not a genius when it comes to Fuel Injection or Electronic Ignition. about this time I actually WISH I had Cap, rotor and good ol points lol Ignition Coil could be likely, given that it seems to do it more when it is wet outside (shorting and grounding elsewhere?) but realistically, I live in Seattle, its wet here more often than not.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Daniel