1988 Ford F-250 Intermittent stalling

Tiny
YEARROUNDCAMPER
  • MEMBER
  • 1988 FORD F-250
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 300,000 MILES
I used to have a high pitched squeal that came from a vacuum leak. This squeal would come on and off intermittently. One day the squealing stopped. Did a component fail that was driven by vacuum? Anyways, the truck may have started stalling around this point. At first it was once a month or so. But it would fire up again right away. As time progressed, it became more and more frequent. No rhyme or reason to when it would stall. Sometimes cold or hot. Sometimes it would fire up right away, sometimes it would have to sit over night. Sometimes I would be going down the road it would stall, sputter, backfire and then fire up again. Here are the parts I have replaced so far: ignition coil, ignition control module and the TFI or DI distributor stator (PIP sensor). The last time it stalled, my headlight fuseable link was broken. Would this mean that the somewhere the ignition wire shorted out on the headlight circuit? This would mean that the wires would have to be next to each other somewhere. I thought a likely spot to check for shorts would be around the radiator. What color is the ignition wire that runs infront of the radiator from the battery area to the radiator reservoir area? Maybe replace that? I'm sure open to suggestions. Thanks so much!
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 AT 9:28 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,749 POSTS
Try wiggling the ignition key and see if you can get it to stall, sometimes it loses connection and you can see melt spots on the connector. The fusible links sometimes wear out and break. Has it broken since you replaced it? Very carefully follow wire harness and see if any chafe marks are present and then remove tape from harness and inspect for arc marks, this is a very tedious task but needs to be done, the wire harness on this truck is fairly all exposed so you should be able to trace most of it. But the stalling issue, if the ignition switch doesnt seem to be a problem then I would next find out what you are losing when it dies. Your either losing spark or fuel pressure or injector pulse. Check for spark by removing a plug wire and rest it near ground and crank engine and look for spark, if ok then spray starter fluid into intake and se if it starts, this will let us know if its a fuel problem.
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Sunday, January 25th, 2009 AT 7:13 AM

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