I have a 1993 F 150 with the 4,9 liter 6. When cold, it will start and run fine, but when you drive off it will cut completely out a couple of times - act like it’s going to quit - then once it’s done that a couple of times will run normally. You can let it idle and warm up and it will still do it, but if you drive it somewhere and then get back in it a couple of hours later, it runs fine. I can’t figure this out. Thanks in advance.

 

Do you own:
a Haynes manual (PN 36058 w/light blue cover)?
a digital multimeter?
a fuel pressure gauge?

Start with the top 2 for now - that's less than $30. Read Ch.5 Sec.5 starting on p.5-5.

 

Thanks for your reply. I just bought the two-volume Ford shop manuals to help me with it.

I guess I’m just spoiled to the stone-solid reliability of Japanese cars and so am a little overwhelmed at how much trouble this pickup is. My Honda CR-V has nearly 200K miles on it and has needed only routine service. The Subaru I had before that now has over 400K miles (including several trips to the interior of Mexico, the new owners drive it down there about once a year) and running Pemex sulfur-laden gasoline, and it has only needed expendable parts like belts and tires.

I’ve posted twice here and not gotten any direct answers. I had high hopes for this forum but I’m afraid I’m kinda disappointed. Thanks anyway.

 

You want a direct answer? OK. Sell the truck & try to tow 5 tons with your Honda. Hell - try just towing ONE ton with it! Then see how "stone solid" it is. If you wanna play, you gotta pay. Machines wear - ESPECIALLY those that actually do work, like fullsize trucks. They're not designed or intended to be pretty toys that you can polish & show off. They're for towing, hauling, off-roading, & WORKING. And they NEED maintenance. If you want to do your own maintenance, then DO it. Don't expect to get some "magic bullet" of information off the internet. Yes, unfortunately, you WILL actually have to pick up a book & read a few pages to diagnose this problem. You'll even have to put your hands on the truck, and they might come away dirty (uuugh!). Or you can drop it off & pay someone else to get dirty for you.

You have a fullsize Ford truck that's more than 10 years old. Do you REALLY expect it to be like new???

 

Well, towing and hauling things is the reason I bought this truck to begin with. It has been maintained reasonably well, but I can say with absolute certainty (knowing the people who have owned it before) that it has never done any really hard work - no towing big trailers, etc. By way of example - there’s hardly any wear visible on the bed, the interior is original and there are NO tears on the seat (try doing that if you’re getting in and out of it a lot with tools and stuff) or elsewhere.

But lest you think I’m not aware of the necessity of maintenance - I WORE OUT a ’65 (Ford) ¾ ton that my grandfather bought new. I still drive it around some, but it’s had 2 engines in it and the transmission has been rebuilt twice, too. It has I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of miles on it, but now it’s just completely used up. I love that truck, but it’s just not practical to keep doing huge amounts of work to keep it going. This is why I bought the 93. Yes, it’s 13 years old, but it has less than half the mileage on it than a (light) 4WD SUV I bought (the CR-V) in 2001 in which I’ve hauled deer carcasses, all my shooting gear (I’m a competition shooter shooting muzzleloading weapons, requires a lot of bulky, heavy stuff) to shoots all over the country, and it’s never even hiccuped.

But, yeah, I understand where you’re coming from. I think I should have waited, though, and just bought a Ridgeline. I need to adjust my mindset, here, though, because I have made the investment.