'89 F-150 question for you Ford guys.... (engine dies)

[Richard]

I'm told it's 1989 F-150, early adoption of the fuel injection and maybe smog stuff. Has two fuel tanks, gas engine, straight 6 but I have no idea of engine size, if there were different engines.

My wife's cousin next door, bought this several years ago to be a farm truck. (go get diesel, mulch...) He had driven it a couple times and (ironically???) at the same location in town (happens to be at a stop light at the bottom of a tall hill) so at this same location, it simply died three different times. I don't know that it died anywhere else or not.

He said it's got something like 70K miles and when running, runs like a top. Interior is supposed to be in fantastic condition (for a 1989)

He's taken it to a shop, my understanding is he's replaced, distributor cap & button, fuel pump, fuel transfer pump (he listed a couple other items, I don't remember) Point being he's dumped 1-2 thousand into it to "fix" it yet, problem persists.

I asked if it dies like someone turning the key off or if it maybe sputtered a bit. He said like the key being turned off.....it shut down "right now".

So my speculation is he might have a short somewhere. NO clue if I'm even in the ballpark but dying "right now" verses sputtering suggests to me it's more electrical related than fuel delivery.

That's 99% of what I recall him telling me. Oh, he said these were "known" for having this kind of issue (if so, then I'd imagine the fix is also widely known.....but, I digress)

Any ideas of where to start looking?

Would this year even have (not sure what it's called) but a computer port for diagnostics??

I appreciate any thoughts.

 

[Richard]

Forgot to add..... manual transmission, again, if that might matter.

 

[ning]

Sounds like a loose battery terminal clamp, or bad ground strap.
(btw the straight six is a 300ci engine, not known for being high performance - good torque yes though not a diesel - but definitely for longevity)
Could be ignition module but definitely start with that low hanging fruit.

 

[K5lwq]

I would look closely at the crankshaft position sensor. Some of the earlier versions had a problem wire chafing on sensor wires so inspect them closely.

 

[Midniteoyl]

a stop light at the bottom of a tall hill

Look for a vacuum leak. Start at the brake booster and lines going to it..

 

[rangerfredbob]

I would look closely at the crankshaft position sensor. Some of the earlier versions had a problem wire chafing on sensor wires so inspect them closely.

That vintage the pickup in the distributor did it all, no crank sensor, signal converted with the TFI module on the side of the distributor (unless it was one of the somewhat more rare remote mounted units).From there the computer did the rest basing the fueling on the MAP sensor signal and engine speed mostly.

Early Ford fuel injection was very simple and didn't have too many issues but the TFI modules were definitely one of them... My brother has an '88 F150 with a 302 that behaves the same, has tried a different TFI module but they're a crapshoot apparently... has bigger fish to fry so haven't worked on that much in a while... on that it almost seems like there's a fuel supply issue but haven't spent time on it...

FWIW the available engines in that era of F series were the 300/4.9L I6, 302/5L V8, 351/5.8L V8 and 460/7.5L V8 for gas options or I think that was the first year of the 7.3L IDI diesel in the F250 and F350

 

[Williy]

Perhaps you can find how to fix your problem here:

1989 F-150, dies - Google Search

willy

 

[K5lwq]

That vintage the pickup in the distributor did it all, no crank sensor, signal converted with the TFI module on the side of the distributor (unless it was one of the somewhat more rare remote mounted units).From there the computer did the rest basing the fueling on the MAP sensor signal and engine speed mostly.

Early Ford fuel injection was very simple and didn't have too many issues but the TFI modules were definitely one of them... My brother has an '88 F150 with a 302 that behaves the same, has tried a different TFI module but they're a crapshoot apparently... has bigger fish to fry so haven't worked on that much in a while... on that it almost seems like there's a fuel supply issue but haven't spent time on it...

FWIW the available engines in that era of F series were the 300/4.9L I6, 302/5L V8, 351/5.8L V8 and 460/7.5L V8 for gas options or I think that was the first year of the 7.3L IDI diesel in the F250 and F350

I know some of the F150s with California emissions had crankshaft position sensors back to early 80s on 302 engines. I thought they expanded that in the late 80s to the 300 6s. I must be mistaken. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[dodge man]

Try the “f150forum”. Like a lot of forums it tends to be about newer trucks but there is also a lot of posts on the older trucks. It’d be a shame to junk an ice old F150 for what might be a minor problem.

 

[RustyA]

Typically if the tfi module on distributor dies there is no spark until it's replaced. Vacuum leak will cause rough idle/die condition warm. Idle air control valve (IAC) on upper intake by throttle plates can get carboned up and sticky. Easy to remove and clean or replace. Symptoms of sticky IAC usually are dying when returning to idle, having to push throttle to restart engine.