88 Bronco II stops running suddenly

[bceram]

I have a '88 Bronco II with reman engine. Runs great, when it does. Was doing fine for almost 6 months, then one day it just stopped running while driving it down the road. It would start again after sitting for a while. Have had new fuel pumps installed, as well as ignition. Have checked out the inertia switch. Very frustrating, not to mention costly. Am considering selling it to try to recoup some of my costs, but I really like this truck! Mechanics are going to start trying to follow electrical runs to see if they can find a short somewhere in the wiring harness. It had set for almost 5 years on a farm, undriven, when I got it, so anything is possible. Any suggestion would be helpful.........Oh, one more thing. When it quits, it's like you unplug it. Just dies........no fuel starvation or hesitancy. Not a fuel issue? My way of thinking is that it's something electrical?

OK, let's add some intrigue.........just talked with the shop and they say they can't make it quit running! Drove it 60 miles yesterday without it quitting once! And of course, no codes available if it doesn't quit running! Gonna pick it up and bring it home, maybe try the Ford dealership here to see if they can find the problem. Hate to drive it too far for fear of its quitting on me far from home, and sometimes it takes hours before it will restart again. Other times, just a matter of minutes.

[DBrown]

what in the ignition did you replace?

the mod. on the side of the distibutor is known for causing this problem.

[bceram]

Shop said they lost spark, so they replaced the module on the side of the distributor, drove it and lost spark again, so replaced the stator inside the distributor. That got the spark back and maintained it. Drove it again, and lost fuel pressure. Replaced the pump on the frame.......helped, but still not the pressure it was supposed to be. Removed and replaced the pump inside the tank, and got good pressure. Ran fine until I picked it up. Drove it to get tank filled, and was in process of turning onto my street and it quit. Few minutes later, it started and drove it to the shop, and there it is still, as they say they can't make it stop running.

Thanks for the quick response! Any other ideas?

[vabronconut]

replace eec relay, check all grounds especially the grounds for the relays for the eec and fuel pump. but loosing spark then fuel tells me something electrical also. sounds like a ground loose or coroded. or relay corroded. pull the eec connector and check that also.

[vabronconut]

forgot one other thing, pull the steering column cover and check the ignition module and switch.

[bceram]

Thanks. As it stands, it's up at the shop again. Drove it to my fishing hole yesterday. Got it there without a hitch. On returning, it quit again, only this time it wouldn't start. Tried to. Turns over fine, coughs and sputters, but won't catch and hold. Had it towed in to shop. Thank God for AAA. Now maybe they can get an error code on it and see where it leads them. I'll call right away, though, and give them your suggestions. I know the steering column is "loose", so maybe something there. My wife is insistent on my getting rid of it, but I doubt I'd get enough for it to compensate us our time and money spent. Plus this one still needs lots of things and the body is really rusted. So......?

[vabronconut]

with all the towing and a shop doing all the work i can see why the wife is upset. draw a line in the sand, say you spend x on repairs and will not go over it. or you can buy another bronco ii for cheap and have allot of spare parts for it.

[CBlue]

And again,,, Posted this for two other guys. I had this happen random for over a year and a half. 86 BII.

Always check the fuel pressure at rail. If your pressure is around 40 psi, your good for fuel.

Here was my fix. Took alot of time and money before I found the easy fix.

The TFI module on back of distributor is failing due to heat conduction from distributor.

I changed out multiple modules, yet still died at random times.

Here is the fix.
1. Pull off the module from back of distributor.
2. Go to radio shack and get two small heat sinks.. Cost about 50 cents each.
3. Mount the module to the fire wall using the heat sinks as spacers between. Apply the gel to get best conduction to the heat sinks. Air will pass around the module and heat sinks to reject the heat causing the module to fail.
4. The wiring... Make up extension wires with spade (male and female) ends to connect back to engine. I used larger spade connectors (female) and ground down the male ends to match size. You may find the correct ones available.

I never had a problem again, yet when ever I do have questions about TFI failures, It only takes a second to swap in the spare I keep in the tool bag.

Several mechanics had mentioned that the Taurus had a recall back in the 80's, which was corrected with this method. No kits were available, but this is easy to make as described.

Good Luck.

[CarbedNotch]

My friends '90 mustang would do the same thing. It was the computer.