Posted by NCWayne on March 07, 2015 at 17:42:26 from (173.188.169.54):
A couple of weeks back I was headed home when my truck just died about 4 miles out. It's an '87 F150 with the 4.9 (300 straight six). Given that it just shut off, no stutter, just running and then dead, my first thought was a bad alternator, thus a dead battery. I've has that happen before on the '88 F150 I used to have, so I knew the symptoms.
Thankfully I was able to coast down in front of a buddy's house, so I got a ride home and got another battery. Still no luck, she'll crank over, but still won't start. So, I trailered it home, and just got around to looking at it again today.
My next thought was not getting fire, so I checked that. It had a weak spark, but I did have fire.
So, on to fuel. I did as the manual suggested and jumpered the diagnostic connector and made the pumps run all the time so I could hear them. Both of the two low pressure, in tank pumps (dual tank with the pressure actuated selector valve)and the one, high pressure pump, run like they should. Both of the LP pumps are less than a year old, so I didn't foresee any problem with them, and had actually hoped the HP pump was bad, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
Checked the fuel pump solenoid, and it works. Even bypassed it and trued it, and still no start. Too I checked the inertia switch and insured it hadn't tripped, and was passing current through, and it was good. I knew the pumps were working, so I didn't foresee any problem with it, but checked it anyways, because nothing else had given any positive results.
I haven't been able to check fuel pressure at the fuel rail yet, but I did initiate the self diagnostic on the fuel system, and didn't get any codes.
Both tanks have at least a half a tank, and the gas in each came from different stations. In other words I don't think it's a water/contamination problem. I also went so far as to add about two gallons to the front tank just to make sure that there wasn't an issue with the sending unit (which were replaced when the pumps were, and have always been accurate since).
Given that it had a weak spark I checked the cap and rotor button. Both had some corrosion, and there was some wear on the electrode in the center of the cap, so I replaced them. I also replaced the ignition control module as I know that can cause issues if it dies.
I'm now sitting here with everything I know to check, or have a tool to check, checked, other than the fuel pressure. I'll probably get a guage and do that tomorrow.
Even if I have fuel pressure, is there any way to check to see if the injectors are getting a signal to fire?
I know many of you guys are more up on the automotive side of things than I am. I'm hoping someone has run into this problem before, and might have some idea of what I am missing, and need to look at.
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