87 ford f150 efi 302

[grim]

having a prob finding the problem . i was always told that u dont have to touch the gas to start a fuel injected vehicle . well this one u do . to get it to start u have to tap the gas twice hit the key and it will start and shut off . then u hit the key and hold it about 30 secs and it will try to start then shut off . keep doing this about 10 times and it will start but u have to keep it running . now when the motor warms up it will start and run fine . i have changed the fuel reg and the filter ,took the tb off and cleaned everything but still nothing . dropped in a k&n air filter and put on shorty headers and knocked out the cats that was clogged and it still does it . any ideas ?

thanks
billy

[WVRampage]

check the fuel pressure,the pump could be bad.

[mech1nxh]

is this a single pump or dual pump system?
also single or dual tanks?

[DeckSetter]

+1 on checking the fuel pressure. Sounds like fuel pump to me too.

[turbovanman²]

Could be fuel related, could be plugged injectors, could be a bad tps, weak ignition system, bad ecm. Went thru the same type of ordeal a few weeks ago, turned out to be a whack of items including ECM and plugged injectors.

[Charger R/T]

check the air bypass for sticking. If they stick a ford won't start without holding the throttle open. Take a can of carb cleaner and put the hose on it and stick it in the hole in the throttle body with the engine running and raise the rpm to about 1500 and spray a little stop before it shuts off. Its a timing thing to keep it from shutting off. you have to get the rpm up and let it go down making the computer try to open and close it while spraying. Use about half the can and it should free it up. 90 and up air bypasses are coated to prevent sticking and ford says do not clean because it will take off the coating. But hey if its stuck why not clean it. Most of these early ones can be taking apart to clean.
Tim
Tim

[turbovanman²]

Good idea on the tb cleaning. That coating Ford puts on does nothing. This is what I do, remove the IAC, its two easily reached 8mm bolts, use a tooth brush and carb cleaner and clean out the two air holes. Now use the toothbrush and carb cleaner and scrub the throttle blades and bore, you have to manuall open the blades to scrub everything, and you will probably use at least 1/2 a can. Put it all back together and start it, it will be hard to start and will run rough for a few minutes, after it smooths out, just hold the throttle open a bit and finish cleaning it. I do this will all tune-up's, the dealers don't do this and it helps with off idle and idle, its amazing how all that crap affects it.

[grim]

new tps and cleaned the whole tb and by pass with intake cleaner . new plugs ,wires ,cap ,rotor . runs alot better but u still have to crank the crap out of it to start and keep it running a sec . then its fine . idles and drives great , just the start up . i bought a new fuel reg and filter . looks like i have to get a new pump . im just gonna stick with tm's for now on .

billy

[jre97]

Fords are terrible about the injectors going bad. I've had three different ford vehicles in the past five years that the injectors didn't work properly in. the first one I replace a bunch of unecessary parts for a long time with no results. I finally threw a brand new set of plugs in it, ran it for a short drive, and pulled the plugs. I had two cylinders that were very rich and the others were showing lean. I pulled the fuel rails and injectors and found the end caps cracked on the injectors in question. I made a rig to spray the fuel injectors with a pump ,some hose, and a switch to manually pulse the injectors. i sprayed them to see what kind of pattern the were spraying and one of the cracked ones would spray a heavy stream like it was stuck open and the other was clogged. Now you can replace injectors, have them cleaned and repatterned, or do it yourself. There is a rebuild kit available at partsamerica.com. Cleaning them is easy all you need is a spare high pressure pump, power source, and a good solvent. It's also a good experiment on the fuel additive cleaners because hardly any of them work, I had my best results with sea-foam, b-12 chemtool injector cleaners, and laquer thinner (most efficient for the price). Godd luck and I hope this helps.

[kwiksilver]

you still need to pull the idle speed motor off and clean it seperatly. using a small brush or Q-tip helps also.

its also possible the electrical part of the motor is faulty. A simple test you can do; while the motor is running, unplug the harness to the Idle speed motor, if the motor dies it's good, if the motor keeps running, it's bad and needs to be replaced.

Before you get to crazy replacing parts, it's important you check the ECM for stored trouble codes. Most 80s EFI Fords will set codes and never trip the check engine light.