My Late Fathers 89 Ford.......It use to haul a tractor!

Im not worth a hoot on these newer models of engines, so my memory needs some refreshing! My late fathers truck is a 1989 Ford F150 with the 5.0 (302) EFI. I bought it back from my neighbor (Didnt know he had it) Make a long story short, I got running again, but heres the problem: It starts fairly well, and after running for a few minutes, at idle, the engine shakes back and forth bad like mulitple plugs are not firing. Ive pulled plug wires one at a time, and havent been able to tell any difference, BUT as I rev it up, it will spit a small amount of coolant out of the rad cap. I pressure tested it and it holds for about 30 minutes and only drops 2 or 3 pounds after an hour or so, even if I go higher, like to 25pds on the tester. (I think normal is 16 on this truck. Now, if I have a blown head gasket, which I thought it may be due to spitting water out the cap, then wouldnt the pressure drop if it was blown between the water jacket and cylinder, and would I not have some white smoke from the exhaust? I dont. Coolant level stays constant, and no water in the oil. Any body got a clue??

See if there's any bubbles in the radiator one of the head gasket's may be blown and letting some compression into your coolant. I have a 1981 Mercury Cougar XR7 with the 302 engine. I have this firing order for my 302 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8
you probably should check your firing order on your plugs. Hal

Once it warms up does it still do this? Gets up to normal operating temp?

When you say pushes out the rad cap? The cap is off?

Does it smooth out whe you raise the rpms up to say 2,000?

Sounds like a fuel problem to me? EFI mixture to lean? Hence the ? about warming it up.

Lloyd

Put your tester on with engine cold start engine if pressure builds fast bad head or gasket. Sometimes you need the compression of engine to check. Let us know what you find.

Hal, firing order is correct. I see no bubbles when its idling, but if I rev it up any, without thecap on, it literally "floods" the engine bay with coolant. My concern about it being a head gasket is it will hold pressure with my tester, and another tester since at first I thought mine was bad. If a head gasket was bad, wouldnt the pressure drop?

Lloyd, It doesnt get any better the longer it runs, but it doesnt get any worse either. The cap is on when it pushes coolant out, but only IF you rev it up. It acually runs better when its first started, the shaking occurs within about 30 - 45 seconds of first starting. Im not so sure its a fuel problem, since Ive already replaced everything, pumps, lines, filter, and both tanks. I know all of thats good and working right. (this started about a month after all of that was replaced, but Ive only driven it maybe 200 miles since then. Im slowly "restoring" this truck.)

Done that as well, it starts at 0, then start going up to the 14 - 16 point on my gauge. I let it run about 5 minutes when i did that, and the pressure never went above this point, with 2 testers. Im scared to let it run any longer than that.

If you are getting 16 pounds pressure in 5 minutes with engine cold your head or head gasket is bad.

Hello Johm M,
Cooling system test pressure should be ONLY 10% above radiator cap pressure. That pressure is enough to reveale any leaks. Do the test with the engine overnight COLD!
There is and idle air control motor that when faulty, will act as you describe. Cleaning it may help, for a awhile but a new one is the way to go.
Guido.

Guess I am not sure whats going on there for sure, but if you need more help or information working on it the Ford Truck Enthusiest ford truck site has a lot of information and people who know these trucks in and out.

Just a wild guess, but a plugged radiator core won't let the coolant go through the radiator, and a good water pump might be able to put out enough pressure to force the coolant out of the cap.

If it had the camshaft replaced from a HO 302(like in a mustang) they had the same firing order as the 351 windsor. Also I have heard of some water pumps on some motors that were designed to run the opposite direction maybe for serpentine belts vs v belts. or as mentioned previously a plugged radiator core or head problems. Good luck and keep us informed!

John, my '89 F-150(300-6) has an vacuume actuated Exhaust Gas Recirculating(EGR) valve. That valve is programed to open 30-45 seconds after the throttle is partially opened, but only when the engine is at operating temperature.

If your Throttle Position Sensor(TPS) is faulty, it might be opening the EGR inappropriately. That would give the motor the shakes. Try pulling the vacuum hose off the EGR.

Does the temperature gauge show overheating?
Best Regards,
Charlie

(quoted from post at 10:41:45 01/23/11) Hello Johm M,
Cooling system test pressure should be ONLY 10% above radiator cap pressure. That pressure is enough to reveale any leaks. Do the test with the engine overnight COLD!
There is and idle air control motor that when faulty, will act as you describe. Cleaning it may help, for a awhile but a new one is the way to go.
Guido.

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IAC is new. The old one worked, but I was told to repalce it, no help.

(quoted from post at 11:29:08 01/23/11) If it had the camshaft replaced from a HO 302(like in a mustang) they had the same firing order as the 351 windsor. Also I have heard of some water pumps on some motors that were designed to run the opposite direction maybe for serpentine belts vs v belts. or as mentioned previously a plugged radiator core or head problems. Good luck and keep us informed!

Click to expand...

Ther truck ran fine for a little bit, and I didnt replace the cam or the water pump. Thanks!

(quoted from post at 12:08:01 01/23/11) John, my '89 F-150(300-6) has an vacuume actuated Exhaust Gas Recirculating(EGR) valve. That valve is programed to open 30-45 seconds after the throttle is partially opened, but only when the engine is at operating temperature.

If your Throttle Position Sensor(TPS) is faulty, it might be opening the EGR inappropriately. That would give the motor the shakes. Try pulling the vacuum hose off the EGR.

Does the temperature gauge show overheating?
Best Regards,
Charlie

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TPS is new. fairly, EGR is working fine, temp gauge stays within normal range, but again, I dont run it much sincethis started.

Let me give you all the history, Dad bought it new in 1989. When he died in 99, I gave it to my stepmother, who sold in 2005 to her son in law. he had problems with it and couldnt fiqure out why ot kept dieng on him. It sat until I bought it in July. After repalcing the entire fuel system front ot back, new igniton parts, module, plugs, wires, etc, I got it running and drove it for around 200 miles before this idle issue came up. It was running fine, and I stopped at the store to get a drink, and I started it back up and this happened. I havent done anything else to it other than pull the codes, which I have none, and pressure test the cooling system, and have the problems of it spitting coolant out if the rad cap. Ive tried the Ford forums, but all they seem to care about is hot rodding it or parting it out. I just want it to be runnin g right!!!

drop the cat and see how it runs. had a 86 with the same problem turned out the catalitic converter was plugged up.

No cat! All of that was taken off before I got it back.This was done to try and stop it from cutting off y the previous owner. It has true dual exhaust on it now.

If it was a blown head you'd be losing coolant out the exhaust. But if you still think its a head gasket do a compression check or leak down test before you tear into it.

Is your expansion tank working corectly?
are you checking radiator fluid at the cap or tank?
Easy way to tell if head gasket blown is to remove rad cap and watch flow in radiator for bubbles. if not I' check the hose from top of rad to expansion tank and the level cold and hot.

it is normal to have the water level go down when you rev it up. but also normal for it to overflow when you let it back down to idle too fast.

Depending on how old the gas may be might need to run a couple tanks of newer gas Injector cleaner may help too. or parked because of dirty fuel filters.

Roy, it was parked origiannly because the sonin law couldnt keep it running, one day it would be fine, the next day it wouldnt start, or would cut off. He got tired of working on it, and didnt really have the money either. Turned out ot be the frame rail fuel pump. It has 3 pumps, one in each tank, and one on the frame rail. Anyways after getting it running, I replaced both fuel tanks, and each pump in the tank, the frame rail pump was alread new so I left it, new fuel lines from tank to engine, and new filter. I did all of that because each tank was rusty inside, and the lines lokked bad on the outside so I replaced them. Also while tracking down another problem, tghe pressure regualtor was replaced, and each injector was checked at a local place. I think I can rule out a fuel problem.

Im pretty sure the exp. tank and hose to it a re good to go, I cleaned all of them once before when I changed to coolant. There was some gooky slime in the bottom of it, but the hose was clear, but blew it out anyways. As I mentioned before, I cant see any bubbles, but by the time I can get it started and get to the rad cap, its shaking so bad I couldnt see in there anyways. If i start it without the cap, it will blow coolant all over the engine. I keep leaning towards a blown head gasket, but I have no white smoke from the tailpipe(s), and it holds pressure with my tester for an hour or so, so if it was a head gasket, why is it holding pressure? This is a basic deal I know, but Im not 100% sure that eveything is the same on this engine/block as the older 302s.

If the head gaskets are ok,

Id start by getting warmed up and checking injectors with the ohm meter.

Get you timing light out,, make sure the spout connector is pulled out and check the base timing with a light. It has to be set on 10 btc. set it then reinstall the spout connector.

This has to be set this way,,,, cant do it by ear.

You could have a vacuum leak,,, the guy who worked on it could have messed with the idle stop, which is a no no,,,, the IAC and the TPS will not record data correctly and it will cause it to do what you describe.

Ive had to get em warmed up and try to set the idle speed, then shut it off and start it to see if it idles around 800 rpm,,,, its a test and try proceedue.

Try this,, warm it up,, then set the idle speed up to about 1000 rpm on the tach (if it has one) and then shut it off, let it sit for 5 minutes then restart it. It will auto adjust the idle speed, you just have to keep doing that till it idles at correct speed. Then, if nothing else it wrong, the ecm can start to relearn to run the engine and smooth out the longer it runs.

Doe this thing have the tall plentumn?