Bruno2

My son's 91 developed a loss of function in the reclining mechanism of his driver side Captain's Chair. The mechanism had been on the verge of being locked up since he had it. Operating the lever required a prybar or something of that nature. Being a Supercab this had to be done everytime he wanted to retrieve tools. One day the mechanism decided it was through locking making the seat back move freely and not ever locking in a position. So we had a pick n pull trip in our immediate future. I contacted Gary to see what the MPC had to say as far as interchangeability went. The MPC claimed.it was an F or E Series item only giving the part numbers E8TZ 13617C04-A (or B). So to add a little risk to the adventure I never looked at the part myself and was going soley by my 25 yr old's expertise. Which is very risky because he isn't as thorough as a lot of us who have been burned at the parts store or spent the best part of a Saturday at the JY in 103° heat in July only to discover we pulled a part that was similar, but different. So off we went. We hit 3 that had some I though could work, but the were in newer Rangers(little truck Ranger not big truck Rangers). At the third JY we found a 95 F150 with the Captain's Chair removed, but still in the cab. He looked at the mechanism and said "that's it!". So went to grab some tools. I was in my work truck and had a slim assortment of mechanic's tools. The part required a T50 Torx. I didn't know if I had one. However, I had an Allen key set which we know will work as a Torx in a pinch. Also, there was a slim chance I had a T50 in my bit box because a couple yrs ago I pulled an upper intake off of a 5.8 which required one. He began with Allen key accompanied by a Crescent wrench to assist with extra torque. Using the skill of a Tequila drunken surgeon whom had mild autism the first bolt broke. This made me nervous because I planned to keep them in case the bolts on his seat broke. The mechanism had 4 bolts which 3 were different. So I suggested we break them loose hit em with the juicylube and run them back down then slowly remove again. This was working except the Allen key tried to round one. Still frantically searching the bit box for the T50 I found it. I put it in an apex attached it to the trusty Metabo impact then proceeded to remove the others using the same juicylube technique. We got the part home and.luckily they were the same with the exception of his operating lever being chrome and the new one being black. Five minute removal and install the seat was fully functional again.

Replaced the Ignition Control Module (ICM) today or what Bill Vose calls the TFI module. I think this did the trick. Everything seems normal. Test drove it for several miles and about 30 minutes with no failure.

Not yet, I am going to install this Motorcraft ICM I have. Supposedly tjis.is the component that communicates injector timing and spark timing.

Well , here is my deductive reasoning. The truck is only doing this under a load. It wont do it running parked in the driveway. However, as soon as you put it in gear it starts to act up with poor throttle response, rough/poor idle and then dying with extended crank no start and then eventually starting . I dont think a faulty relay would cause anything except the dying and no re start. The "under load" condition is making me think ignition related. This is when the ignition system is stressed and I have had bad ignition components cause misses and poor idle in other vehicles. I dont necessarily think it's a spark ignition problem, but I do think it's probably based in the ICM since it controls fuel delivery also.

So... today we pulled the radiator because the new one is due tomorrow during the blizzard. While we were at it I pulled the throttle body to clean it up because the inside was filthy. I decided since it was off we should install the new Motorcraft TPS we had laying around. The old one tested to be in spec, but while we were in there why not. We also had a new EGR, actuator and gasket branded Motorcraft laying around. We had the piping that went to the exhaust as well. That came in handy because I had to take the air hammer to the old one to get it off. All of that went back together fine. I don't think this will solve the problem though. Funny story: I was rocking the crank while watching the dizzy rotor yesterday. I just had the cap laying willy nilly on the dizzy with the rotor exposed. I called Gary to discuss the events of the diagnostics. He suggested I do the fuel filter to leave no stones unturned. So I ran to the parts store to get one. Came back, battled with the retainer clips and it was installed. I turned the key a few times to prime the system. Then cranked away with no start. Primed again and cranked away with no start. Then it dawned on me I never put the cap on the dizzy. I looked under the hood to see the cap was in the perfect position to absolutely shred the rotor. So back to the parts store. When I put it in the truck fired right up.

The condition of the plugs like I stated is being caused by something either not mixing the air and fuel right or possibly bad ignition timing?? During some of the extended cranking the motor acted as if it was becoming hard to turn as if the timing wasnt being retarded? I need to test the ignition control module on the dizzy as well I suppose. I am going to look for some test procedures on it as well.

I am not sure how the injectors are operated. I havent tested the passenger side yet because they are extremely hard to get to. Those are underneath the upper intake manifold and it looks as though that will have to be pulled to get to the connectors. I rocked the crank with the cap off of the dizzy. The breaker bar I was using is about 18" long. It was traveling about 4" before I saw the rotor move. Gary doesnt think that was excessive. The part of the problem that is bewildering me is that the problem isnt constant. Mechanical problems are constant. A broken piston ring or a valve spring is always going to be there. It wont come and go like this problem is doing. So deflection in the chain rather it's there or not probably isnt causing this. The plugs looked extremely rich on all four cylinders on the driver side. That tells me not enough air like the fuel isnt being mixed correctly. Also, it only seems to show up under load. It acts completely different in the driveway. There is no throttle hesitation or cutting out and dying when I rev the motor in park. I have tested and changed a lot of parts on the fuel delivery side of things. The only thing that hasnt been changed or tested are the injectors. However, The plugs I pulled were all consistent. There wasnt an oddball. I suppose I need to pull 1234 just to be sure. I cant find the dang crank position sensor or the harness going to it. It's next on the test list. I ordered a radiator for it because this one has a leaky tank. I planned on replacing it . So I suppose I should go ahead and pull it to get all that crap out of the way to get better access to the CPS for diagnostics. I am about 90% certain it's electronic. Whatever it is acts up fairly soon when the truck is driven. Like the failing component is getting hot. Once it's hot it causes no start issues. However, after about 20-30 minutes of the truck being off whatever it is possibly cools off and then the truck starts normal again with no problems until it's underload again.

Ok, so new ECU and still the same thing. The NOID light showed 5678 were all getting.power to the.injectors. pulled plugs 5-8 all were extremely carboned up. No fuel smell which was weird. Throttle response is horrible. Falls on it's face and.poor acceleration. I guess it's time rock the crank with the dizzy cap off the see how much slop we have.

I hope it just runs...

May have it nailed down. Pulled the ECM and cracked it open. The big blue capacitors appear burned and looks like the oil has escaped. One of them has a broken leg too. Ordered a new one and some plugs because I am sure they're are caked with soot. Also, it was radiator time. We will know in about a week if this cures.it.

Mat, here is an observation about the fuel pressure test. It seemed as though I really had to get hard on the throttle to het the psi to come up. Like almost WO to get it to climb. Is that normal or is something causing parasitic fuel draw robbing the rail of the ability to pressure up?

No codes is sort of making me think pcm/ecm...

I ordered a cheap NOID light set . I guess I am going to rock the crank with the dizzy cap off today to see how that looks. My neighbor had a brick with a bad ecm. It was causing the cylinders to load up with fuel so bad.it would hydrolock the motor. I am not sure if the NOID will tell off on this or not?