Lately my '90 F250 with a 351 has been stuttering a bit when I try to accelerate from idle. It almost got me killed yesterday when I tried to turn left across a 4 lane road and the engine died. Then I held up traffic for a couple of minutes trying to get it started again. I finally got it started by letting is sit for about 20 to 30 seconds. Does anyone know what would cause this? Feels to me like it is getting too much gas at idle, and when I hit the throttle to accelerate it sends even more gas to the motor and kills it. Please help me out if I'm wrong here. What could it be, and what should I check out to fix it.

Thanks guys,
Hunter

p.s. Is this a great site or what?

 

how about a tune up for the old dog

 

Well so far I have replaced the fuel filter (which helped power quite a bit), replaced the plugs, wires, rotor cap, cleaned the throttle body, and treated with seafoam. Nothing really helped the stalling though. I was wondering if it might be exhaust related. The cat is bad and needs replaced. The previous owner told me up front that it was bad and that he had drilled a couple of 1/2" holes in front of the cat so it could breathe better. I got under there and checked and there were actually 4 holes drilled in it. Hopefully I just answered my own question. Let me know if I'm on the right track here. I guess Troyer has a new cat for about $90. Does this just bolt on, or does it need to be welded in?

Thanks for the help guys,
Hunter

 

remove the exhaust pipe from rear of cat, apply 1 BFH and 1 broom stick to inerds of cat, start engine, rev, put pipe back on for testing only. Warning if smog pump is still working remove belt or the muffler gets boom boom.

 

I'm not following you on the BFH thing??? Basically I am trying to scramble the innards of the cat? I have no problem with that. And why will the muffler blow up if the smog pump is still working?

Thanks,
Hunter

 

BFH= Big F**king Hammer
yes scramble insides
fresh air from air pump is normally burned in the cat, without it it will go to the muffler, mix with the fuel and when the mixture gets just right it will go off like a hand grenade. All gas engines have unburnt fuel, valve overlap for cooling.

 

Sounds scary! I think I will just spring for a new cat.

Thanks bro.

 

My truck does this also, but it's only a brief hesitation and since it's a standard I can just hold the clutch until it gets over it. Still a little annoying though. Will probably replace the fuel filter soon, that's my next guess to what's wrong. A fuel additive helped reduce the bogging, but as soon as that tank was gone it returned. The plugs and wires are both relatively new, only 10k or so miles on them and it runs strong through it's powerband, no misfires at all so it's not that.

It's not a daily driver so I don't really care, but the fact half it's exhaust system is rusted and long gone probably doesn't help things.

 

A few years ago my folks were helping my wife and I move. We had our truck loaded down, and my dad's 89 Clubwagon 3/4 ton van loaded down. He's got the 351W and a built tranny. We have the little 302 with the 5speed

Pulling a long steady grade, I kept watching my fathers rig fall back, as if he was running out of power. Finally the van just quite pulling.

Luckely, the town at the bottom of the grade that we had just attempted to pull had a ford dealer. The van still ran, just didnt have any power. We got turned around and headed back to the dealer.

Turns out the cat was plugged up real good. Bad news was that it was a friday afternoon, couldnt get parts ordered till monday, and couldnt get it in to fix it until the following wednesday, assuming parts came in.

That wouldnt work. I had to be to my new job the next day, and my folks had lives to get back to. So, with the van still on the lift, and the tech standing there, I pulled my dad to the side to talk to him.

10 minutes later I was in a hardware store, buying a 3 foot length of 3/4 galvanized pipe, some rust penetrant, and a few extra exhaust clamps.

We found the local park, and did the deed in the parking lot.

Its NEVER ran so good! He was chasing me up the hills for the rest of the trip!