Gary Lewis

Thanks, Chris. I have an '87 EVTM and will check in a while.

In this response Bill said "I also found that the CEL or MIL wasn't on even the first few years of the EEC-IV after the 1986 models." And to back that up I don't find an MIL or CEL shown in the 1986 EVTM - although I might have missed it even though I looked twice.

If the rod is not properly adjusted there will be no resistance or pressure until the slack is taken up. That's because you haven't yet contacted the piston in the master cylinder and aren't doing any work. The rod is two parts - the part to the rear that is pushed by the linkage and the part to the front that pushes the master cylinder. The parts screw together and you un-screw them to reduce the play in the system. But, as said, that is a critical adjustment. We guessed at it and that made a huge difference, taking the play out of the system. But we went too far and the brakes weren't fully releasing. So when driving they were dragging and getting warmer, which caused them to expand and drag more, getting even warmer - until they started smoking. I'll get the dimensions after while for you.

Heinz - There are really only 4 places the play can be: Rear Brake Adjustment: After you replaced the rear wheel cylinders did you adjust the brakes? That's necessary, and can be a big part of your problem. I jack that wheel up just enough so I can spin it, and adjust it using a tool through the hole at the bottom of the backing plate until I can no longer turn the wheel by hand. And then I hit the backing plate with a mallet to center the shoes and try again. Once I can't turn it by hand I then back off the adjustment 10 clicks. (Note that these trucks are supposed to automatically adjust the rear brakes as you back up and apply the brakes, but that mechanism doesn't always work well.) Master Cylinder Adjustment: Between the master cylinder and the vacuum booster there's an adjustment rod. If that gets changed when the master cylinder is replaced you can have a whole lot of slop. I recently worked on a truck where someone had messed that up and the play in the system was awful. But, it is a critical adjustment and if you go too far the brakes won't fully release. I can get the dimensions for you later, but you get to the adjustment by taking the master cylinder loose from the booster and pulling the master forward. Front Calipers: The pistons in the front calipers are sealed to the caliper by a square-cut o-ring. That ring both seals as well as provides the "spring" to pull the piston back from the rotor slightly. If the o-ring is bad it will let the piston slide back away from the rotor more than it should and then you have slop in the system. To fix that you have to replace the rotors. Worn Bushings: There are some plastic bushings in the brake linkage under the dash and they wear out and allow the metal of the linkage to wear. Check to see if they are bad and if you need to replace them or even replace the linkage or build it up with welding. You can see the bushings (#2471) in the illustrations here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/clutches-and-linkage.html

Mark - I've not had that washer fall off, but I know exactly the one of which you speak. And your temp fix is a good one to remember. However, I haven't figured out how that keeps the choke or fast idle from working properly. As long as you open the throttle enough to get the tension off the fast idle cam then both the choke and fast idle should work properly, regardless of how much slop you have in the cable. But, maybe I'm missing something in this equation? Anyway, I like the term "bull riders".

Brandon - I hate to tell you, but I'm pretty sure you put the dip stick adapter onto the pan backwards. It should be inside the pan and the bolts going through from the outside into the adapter.

Thanks, guys. Got a bit more done today. Fixed the wiring error to the brake controller. Turns out it does make a difference where you tap into the light green brake wire. I originally tapped in on the speed control side of the clutch switch, as shown below. And when I pushed in the clutch w/o the brake sometimes the trailer's brakes came on. Apparently the speed control module back-fed just enough voltage that the brake controller came on. Plus, if you hit the clutch while on the brake the trailer brakes should quit. I moved it today. And I connected the winch with the jumper cable, and it works perfectly. Then I turned Big Blue around and set up the hitch to get the trailer level. The range of adjustment was one of the reasons I went with this trailer as most others had far less range. Another thing to notice in this pic is the sliver of light between the trailer's coupler and the draw bar. Initially there was absolutely no clearance, but with a flap wheel I finally got 1/16". And, here's how close to level the trailer is. Obviously that will change with load, but Big Blue doesn't sit down much at all with a load on him, so it won't change much.

This user has been banned from the Bullnose Forum.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $22,500.00 DOLLARS! That's a pretty truck and it sure is clean, but that's a lot of money. Obviously I hope they get it, but did I mention that $22,500 is a lot of money? Is this truck clean enough to add to the picture gallery?

Added the last of Vinny's recent TSB's: 4.9L Exhaust Manifold Warping. This one is also OCR'd so Google will index it this evening and it should then be easily found. Also, I updated the Documentation thread with the books I got in today from Mark/Dyn Blin (thanks again, Mark!) and the microfiche I ordered because of a link that David/1986F150Six sent me (thanks to you, David). And, I included some cross-reference books/catalogs that Bill/Numberdummy brought me last fall. However, that leads me to something I recently added to the Documentation thread: "Note that this is not a list of documentation that is available to check out or share. Instead, it is intended to give us an idea who might be able to answer a question when it comes up - when asked by an active member of this forum." I added that because we aren't offering to give people the documentation as that would not be legal. Instead, we are offering to answer questions with the documentation. Further, my offer is to you, the members of this forum. I simply do not have the hours in the day to help everyone, so am limiting my offer to "active" members of this forum. But you can make your own call on whom you help.

There's a smart man! And, he kept the receipts! I'll bet that living room looks good. And, I'll bet the light switch fixes the problem.

The winch wiring is done. I drilled and tapped the receiver to take 1/4-20 screws and mounted the truck's connector, as shown below: And Scott brought me 20' of 2/0 welding cable last night (THANK YOU, SCOTT!!), so I got the extension cable made today. Here's one of the connectors after crimping with my 16 ton crimper. And, by the way, there's plenty of dielectric grease inside, and then the crimps were all protected with adhesive-lined shrink tubing. And, here's the extension cable: Then I installed the pigtail on the winch: And, with the spare tire on the connector is held pretty tightly so it won't bounce: But, the jumper cable can still be connected quite easily: Now all I have to do to get ready is rewire the brake controller () and load up. Oh, I forgot - and install the new shackle on the winch line when it comes in.

Yes, it is possible. On Page 29 you can see that the R/LB wire goes to the TFI module. So if it were connected to a ground or some huge load that the ignition switch can't support then that could cause it.

Hope you don't get too much snow. We need the moisture, but it seems to be going well north of us and it'll be 56F this afternoon with a bit of sun. So I hope to get my winch wiring done. Anyway, take care. And don't worry, I'm sure it is a simple problem. You just have to track it down.

Did you have the key in Start while you shifted between gears? (Be very careful there.) If so, then even if the registration is off between the shift lever and the transmission itself you should have at least passed through Neutral and it should have cranked. Now you need to do that testing I was talking about. I'd start with the R/LB wire at the transmission. Disconnect the wiring from the transmission and put the red wire of your meter to one of the pins and the black wire on a good ground. Put the meter on the 20 volt scale and turn the key to Start. You should see 12v, but if not you may have gotten the wrong pin, so use the other pin in that connector and you should see power. If you don't see power/12v on either pin when in Start then the problem is between there and the ignition switch. If you do see power/12v on a pin then the problem may be downstream from there. But it may also be in the transmission switch. So jumper between the two pins and see if it will crank - but watch what gear you are in as there's now no neutral safety switch.

No, not yet. That's to find bad connections. You probably have a disconnection or maybe you don't the tranny truly in Park or Neutral.

Yes, AOD is the tranny. But C6 will have the same connections. You need to use pages 29 and 30 here (1986 EVTM/Start) and use your volt meter to find the problem. The R/LB wire comes from the ignition switch on Page 29 and goes to Page 30 via the blue M triangle. Then it goes through the neutral safety switch and back to Page 29 via M. However, if you don't have the truck in neutral or Park it won't crank.

Good! But, are you asking me what the next problem will be? Or, how to troubleshoot the problem?

You should be able to force it to crank by connecting a small jumper from the hot terminal on the starter solenoid/relay to the small terminal that should have a red/light blue wire on it. Remove the r/lb wire and jumper to that terminal and the engine should crank - but don't be standing in front of the truck!

A very similar problem has been reported on FTE twice, 1/26 and 2/28, by "Marty Twombly"with no response from "him" since the original posts. And, since user Tannim has an email address of Twomblymarty@gmail.com I'm going to leap to the conclusion that s/he is the same individual. Therefore, in 24 hours I will ban Tannim from this forum and remove the post if we don't have an apology. And, in that case y'all can email him your appreciation of his post.

You are making good progress. The timing pointer isn't shown in the illustrations in the catalog. But I do believe it is on the passenger's side and under two bolts of the timing cover. But I'm not sure it needs to be painted to stand out. It really just masks the light from the timing gun, and it is the harmonic balancer and its marks that you need to see. Or, is my remembrance of the pointer on a W wrong?

Sorry. He and his posts are gone. But I don't know how he got in.

Added a couple more of Vinny's TSB's tonight: EEC-IV TSB's: This is a summary of all the TSB's for the 1983 - 87 vehicles using the EEC-IV system. This is a 26 page document that has seemingly every symptom you can imagine, a brief description of the fix, and the TSB # for the complete fix. Radio Ignition Noise: Were you aware that Ford had a multi-spark ignition module for 1984 - 86 4.9L engines? Check this out. And, by the way, apparently "if you build it they will come" is correct. In the previous post, which was yesterday, I'd just created the page on EEC-IV Diagnostics. And in the last 24 hours that page has been viewed 95 times.

Who was looking for the air inlet pieces? This one looks to have them.

And since brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, you should be good to go. That [Mobil 1 75W90] is what we put in my transmission at the GTG a couple of years ago and everything is still fine! Good to know, David. Thanks. As for what I did to my truck today, I cut the winch power leads and installed the 350 amp connectors. Tomorrow I plan to drill and tap the receiver right where the right/vehicle connector is and secure it there with two 1/4-20 SHCS's. Unfortunately the 2/0 that I have doesn't appear to be long enough so I have a text into Scott to see if he carries 2/0 welding cable. And when I get the cable, from wherever that is, I'll crimp on the other two connectors and be in business. Oh, and those 4 bolt heads you see are the new 10x1.5mm 10.9's I got the other day. I had 3/8" bolts in there, but was afraid I'd forget at some point and try to mount the winch with them. So I replaced them with the actual bolts that'll hold the winch in when the time comes to move it back over.