Sunday, March 6, 2016

Electrical Gremlins - Solved ... For Real?

Bronco was flat towed for most of the trip I mentioned in the last post.  The original idea was to use it to tow a Dodge W250 truggy but the Dodge front locker kept engaging on turns so we switched them around.  Bronco ran fine for about an hour but sputtered out and died at the foot hill of the off road park.  Towed it to camp, let it sit, and it fired right up.  Sunday it started to die on on a short trip into Gilmer to get breakfast on the way back to Dallas.

Since everything in the ignition was new decided to try a few high pressure fuel pump.  The low pressure was replaced previously.  Drove it all the way from Gilmer to Prosper with no issues.  However, the new issue seems to be an exhaust leak that is getting worse.  So it may be time for new headers.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Electrical Gremlins - Solved

A new $20.00 starter solenoid and some tweaking to the timing has apparently solved some of the issues I was experiencing.

I think due to the bad starter solenoid and hard starting the cables were getting extremely warm, increasing the required draw to run, exceeded the voltage the battery/alternator could maintain, and caused the stall.

I also tweaked the timing because I read that if it was off a little it could make it difficult for the starter to compress the cylinders to the point of ignition.  I used a combination of a timing light and driving to dial in the timing.  The 10 degree advance was a little too aggressive for the older engine and I found that about 9 was the sweet spot.  Be sure to cap off the EGR vacuum line because otherwise it will cause the timing to vary and make it hard to dial in.

I'm taking the Bronco on a nearly 200 mi trip each way to an offroad park this weekend so I will know for sure soon.