Need some help, 1989 running rough and wants to die

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10ga

10ga

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jan 30, 2011
Threads
75
Messages
794
Location
Morristown, TN
So I'm driving home today and I'm a half mile from home when my 62 kept wanting to die every time i would give it gas. It died a few times but I got it back started and made it a few hundred yards each time. I finally got it limped home and in the garage. The tail lights are on and will not turn off. That's never happened before and never had any issues with it running bad. I took the battery cable loose so the lights would turn off. She has a little over 330,000 miles and never had a lot of trouble out of it. It was running rough last year and after trial and error I put a set of aftermarket injectors in and shes ran great ever since. It was making a heck of a chirping sound at idle the last 3 times I've driven it, sounds like the power steering pump but can't say that for sure. Anyways, I don't even know where to start. It's like it's starved for fuel but it did it all of a sudden, no symptoms before today.

Thanks for any help
 
Where you start is the Factory Service Manual. Here's a free download, thanks to @Cruiser Cult

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The manual walks you through the diagnostics for every system. Takes the guesswork out of things.
 
Bad alt might cause this, but those tail lights… and it was the tail lights, not the brakes???
 
Well the guy who normally does my mechanic work can't figure it out. Checked all the normal stuff and everything was working good. Checked all the injectors, fuel pump, plugs and so on. It starts right up but as soon as you give it a little gas, it wants to die and if you keep pushing, it will die. He thinks it a piston ring but the compression are all within 10%. I really need a good mechanic that know these old 3FEs because I just don't think it's a piston ring. The last thing I want to do if have it rebuilt and then it's still doing the same thing.

Does anyone have any other ideas? BTW, it has 340,000 miles on it.

Thanks
 
Does it die for the first second when you press down on the accelerator and then catch?
I've had that symptom before. I have to look through my threads to see if I can locate the solution.

Here's my old thread: Summary? OEM Coil, Plugs, Wires, OEM Cap & Rotor, new fuel, fuel/injector treatment. Don't go off brand.
NYNick

Thread 'Stumbling, stalling on way to work....help!!'

Truck was giving me some early symptoms, but today it died on the highway. It started again and I limped it to work and to a gas station across the street. Running very rough, stumbling, stalled twice, almost didn't start the second time. Seems putting under load exasperates the problem...I'm lucky to have gotten it this far, but here I am....help? Things to look for?

Thanks

Nick
 
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damn thats a lotta miles. I'm no expert mechanic but in regard to the taillights maybe check the grounds behind the fuel tank under neath the center of the tailgate on the undercarriage. The rear lights ground on that one or one of the ground points behind the rear cargo panels by the rear washer fluid bladder, i can't remember. Bad grounds have ruined many a night for me and I always check all of them before diving in too deep.

My brake switch came loose on me and left my taillights on constantly. So that might be something to check as well.

My one other thought is the rear harness wires that come through the rubber grommet into the rear qrtr pnl driver side has a connector with a fuel pump wire in it. That was completely corroded and was causing fp issues.

Even if none of these help it's a good sanity check I think

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My mechanic figured it out, I'll post it so maybe it will help someone else out. This is the text he sent me, "You’ll never believe what it was. Fuel tank looked great ( I asked him to make sure the fuel tank didn't have a bunch of rust in it ) so I just put it all back together and started from scratch. 15 minutes worth of basic checks after starting over and found the 2 Philips screws that hold the Mass Air Flow sensor in the intake tube had backed out about 1/2 turn and apparently letting a ton of unmetered air in." He said he drove it about 15 miles and it ran perfect again. He's a diesel mechanic by day and works on everything else when he gets home. I told him by them time he gets me sorted out, he'll also be a 3FE expert. I always send him text and tell him about what the guys one MUD suggested, I'm sure it pisses him off but maybe it got him to thinking.

Thanks for the help everyone
 
Thanks for wrapping this up. Something to keep in the file cabinet of the brain.
 
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