New member from Vancouver BC

Proud owner of a manual 1984 f150 i6 4x4

  A little back ground. Bought the truck 3 years ago and drove it for 8 months before it started running rough. Took it off the road and its been sitting since. No clue on milage or previous maintenance.

  Im no mechanic but i have basic skills and the right attitude. The plan is to get her (Meghan) functioning excellent and take it to the bush to explore back roads and the odd day at work.  

  I started today with the carb as it was idling rough when i took it off the road. I have the intention of just getting a new one. To my surprise upon removal i found a vacuum line that was cut and melted shut and an insulated line that goes to the side of the engine totally rusted through and detached.

  I cant see the calibration code, and the parts shop doesnt have the specific one listed with the basic information about the truck. (Yet to search the site for this info).

  Needless to say i found this site and look forward to my build and having you guys and this site in my back pocket. Pardon my ignorance and cheers to the future.

Rowland

Rowland - As said in the New Members Start Here post, you may want to use this thread to troubleshoot your truck.  But, if so you will probably want to edit your opening post and change the title.

And while I'm thinking about your truck, I'll bet the problem is to do with broken vacuum lines, bad or modified wiring, etc.  So I think we can help you get it going.

However, it'll help if we know what we are dealing with, and a picture of the distributor would help.  (See Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's for how to post pics.)  That's because it is possible that your truck has a DS-II ignition if it was sold new in Canada.  But if it was sold new in the US it probably has the TFI ignition with a computer controlling it.  And we can tell that by looking at a picture of the distributor.

Hey Rowland,

Greetings from the other coast! I'm in Nova Scotia, amongst all the rocks, stubby trees, and fog!

I was just complaining about our gas prices the other day and found out that it's even higher (much higher) in BC, or at least in parts of BC. I heard some places are a buck fifty a liter, ouch.

In any case, you've come to the right place with your truck. Lots of great guys and even better help here with Gary and crew.

Welcome,

So what have you done to the truck so far?
Can you take a picture or 2 of the carb with the filter removed as we need to see the carb and the line you said was rusted off.
Also need a picture of the dist. does it have a vacuum can or just wires going to it?

I ask because after think 83 in the USA they went with a feed back system.
A computer controls the carb a little and the timing.
If any of the censors are not working the computer goes into limp mode and can run poorly and gets bad MPG.
Because there is a computer you can pull codes to see what it has to say its looking for and not finding.
Thing is you cant get some of the censors if bad or missing but dont worry we can fix this.

One of the first things to do is look over all the vacuum lines to make sure none are just sucking air causing a vacuum leak. Also on the rear of the intake manifold there is a vacuum tree with a few hoses & caps.
1 cap / port is really hard to see and is known to cause issues. Plug and you find openand if you can see where it may go maybe run a new hose to it.
There should be a vacuum line sticker on the radiator support you can follow to see if the vacuum lines are run right.

I dont remember how long the truck has been sitting but check the gas and it is does not smell like gas it has gone bad and will need to be drained, tank checked for sludge / rust and be cleaned or replaced.
If you want to run the motor before doing the tank get a small gas can set it on the inner fender and a long hose to the inlet to the fuel pump. I ran my truck like this for years when rebuilding andneeded to move it.

We can help!
Dave ----