I think I have it figured out but wanted a few more opinions. Truck is an '89 D150 with 318 and TBI. The problem is that the truck will randomly die. No sputtering or stalling, motor just completely dies. That made me rule out fuel starvation but I didnt verify with a fuel pressure guage. Funny thing is I will still have electrical power everywhere, radio, dash, headlights, etc... its starting to happen more often and take longer to restart. Sometimes it will restart right away, sometimes it will take 15 minutes or so. Also, when this happens, it will crank and crank, but not fire. Ive also noticed that sometimes as im coasting to a stop, power will randomly kick back in, just like someone flicked a switch, and I can drive again. Wierd.

So this time when it happened, I popped a wire off of a plug and cranked the engine. NO SPARK! Eureka. Plugs, wires, rotor, copper cap, coil, all new. So im thinking dizzy is bad, maybe the pickup coil. So I order a new one for my truck, $130 since it doesnt have vac advance. Really wish I could have gotten the cheaper one with vac advance that was only $39 but thats another discussion. So I think I have it nailed down to the dizzy. But when I got home I thought about it and realized that I forgot to check for fire at the wire coming off the coil to verify that spark was being lost at the dizzy. Its too late now as Im at home and the truck is at work, so I'll just have to report back after the dizzy comes in tomorrow.

So what do you guys think? Am I on the right track. Do you think I should be looking at something else.

Thanks
roe

maybe?

I have read about this kind of nightmare on tbi trucks.

could be..

coil-start when cools down

fusable link going out

relays on fender spark/gas cash safty

pick up in dist /single or duel pick up? hall cell?

swaping a to a 85/carb wire harness may start looking easier now that it is acting up and not working LOL! I know it always does for me and I am so happy when done.

good luck with the new dist.

hi

look at the connectors where they go through firewall.

a coroded main wire that as a bad connection ere will cause random engine shut down !

I will check this too

When you've seen that wire corroded and cause the random shutdown, would it still leave power to the rest of the vehicle? Dash, headlights, etc

Ok, so I finally had a chance to work on the truck today and the distributor was the issue. Swapped it in, fired it and advanced the timing till I had the idle where I wanted. Went for about a 25 minute drive and no issues. Seems to run stronger as well. Will pull out the timing light at home and set the timing where it should be. I also pulled the harness plug from the firewall, peeled backed the rubber boot and did a nice inspection of everything. Wires were nice and clean and tight. The male and female connectors were clean and tight as well.

Now my NEW oil pressure sender stopped working so I need to replace it. And I also have an exhaust leak on the passenger side, sounds like its at the manifold but I need to pull out the stethescope and nail down where. I got three compliments on the truck in those 25 minutes too

roe

Good to hear!