I really hate to throw out a "could be this", but I'm gonna this time..with a story.
When I got my '87, it had a bunch of problems. Randomly idle to 1600 rpms when ever it felt like, rough idle, a bunch of stuff. I ended up going through all the sensors and replacing them all with new Motorcraft ones. All my problems went away...or so I thought. Every day I drove it, it would shut off on me once. Could be 2 minutes after starting, could be 30 minutes. It was so random, I couldn't trace the problem, and no codes. It would only do this once a day, and I'd have to turn the key off then restart and everything was fine for the day....until the next day when it would do it again. I also replaced the ignition switch because it was coming apart. One day, I was running errands in the car and it shut off a second time. Left me stranded and had to get a pull home. Pretty embarrassing.
When I got home, on a whim, replaced the ignition module with an old one I had laying around. Started and ran fine. The brand new Motorcraft module was junk out of the box. Since this, I got a bunch of Motorcraft modules from the scrapyard and have been running those and haven't had a problem again. Also, keep two spares in the car just in case. Since then, I did the remote mount for the module on a heat sink to try to keep as much heat out of it as possible.
I guess my point is new bad parts is becoming so common now days, you just can't trust them.....even Ford parts.
This car has 250k+ on the body too and I'd trust it anywhere, anytime now. There's no reason these cars can't be daily driven...just have to find new parts that are good.
Dave
ETA: This car also has the mass air upgrade with parts out of a '89 car.
When I got my '87, it had a bunch of problems. Randomly idle to 1600 rpms when ever it felt like, rough idle, a bunch of stuff. I ended up going through all the sensors and replacing them all with new Motorcraft ones. All my problems went away...or so I thought. Every day I drove it, it would shut off on me once. Could be 2 minutes after starting, could be 30 minutes. It was so random, I couldn't trace the problem, and no codes. It would only do this once a day, and I'd have to turn the key off then restart and everything was fine for the day....until the next day when it would do it again. I also replaced the ignition switch because it was coming apart. One day, I was running errands in the car and it shut off a second time. Left me stranded and had to get a pull home. Pretty embarrassing.
When I got home, on a whim, replaced the ignition module with an old one I had laying around. Started and ran fine. The brand new Motorcraft module was junk out of the box. Since this, I got a bunch of Motorcraft modules from the scrapyard and have been running those and haven't had a problem again. Also, keep two spares in the car just in case. Since then, I did the remote mount for the module on a heat sink to try to keep as much heat out of it as possible.
I guess my point is new bad parts is becoming so common now days, you just can't trust them.....even Ford parts.
This car has 250k+ on the body too and I'd trust it anywhere, anytime now. There's no reason these cars can't be daily driven...just have to find new parts that are good.
Dave
ETA: This car also has the mass air upgrade with parts out of a '89 car.
Nothing jumps out at me as a "yes you need to replace that" based on photo and lack of movement. Unplug the connector. How do the connections look? clean and free of burns?
I'd probably save my money for now...but keep it in the back of your head
For what it's worth, I just checked with Napa about their distributors and PIP coils. They told me that the distributors have a one year warranty, and the PIP coils have a 3 year warranty. I saw one of your previous posts about not knowing Napa's warranty on these..
I was having a pretty bad cut-out under load at around 50% throttle or more. It ran perfectly otherwise. I was switching out rotors, caps, etc and test driving it, then it just died on me and left me stranded.
I drug it home and I installed the closed bowl type of distributor (SN95) with a factory PIP in it, and butchered an old 92 Thunderbird harness for the TFI wiring and relocated my TFI to the core support. I used an old no-name brand TFI module from the junkyard and cut it in half to make a connector because my harness has been wrapped to where my TFI connector won't reach anywhere. After soldering I filled the "connector" with marine grade high heat epoxy.
It's been reliable so far, but I've only put about 200 miles on it. I will say the TFI module and heatsink, after being relocated, doesn't even get warm to the touch now.
Oh, and the rebuilt (Motorcraft casting) distributor I got from Napa about 1.5 years ago, the hole for the rotor shaft was drilled off-center in the distributor body/casting. To the point the rotor was hitting one of the terminals inside the cap and the reluctor wheel was hitting the pick-up on the PIP. The shaft wasn't bent and the bearings had zero play. So I ended up killing two birds with one stone by relocating my TFI and going to a SN95 style distributor. The wiring harness was easy to make once I sat down with the diagrams.
Wire harness in progress.. You can see the SN95 style distributor round plug.
I was having a pretty bad cut-out under load at around 50% throttle or more. It ran perfectly otherwise. I was switching out rotors, caps, etc and test driving it, then it just died on me and left me stranded.
I drug it home and I installed the closed bowl type of distributor (SN95) with a factory PIP in it, and butchered an old 92 Thunderbird harness for the TFI wiring and relocated my TFI to the core support. I used an old no-name brand TFI module from the junkyard and cut it in half to make a connector because my harness has been wrapped to where my TFI connector won't reach anywhere. After soldering I filled the "connector" with marine grade high heat epoxy.
It's been reliable so far, but I've only put about 200 miles on it. I will say the TFI module and heatsink, after being relocated, doesn't even get warm to the touch now.
Oh, and the rebuilt (Motorcraft casting) distributor I got from Napa about 1.5 years ago, the hole for the rotor shaft was drilled off-center in the distributor body/casting. To the point the rotor was hitting one of the terminals inside the cap and the reluctor wheel was hitting the pick-up on the PIP. The shaft wasn't bent and the bearings had zero play. So I ended up killing two birds with one stone by relocating my TFI and going to a SN95 style distributor. The wiring harness was easy to make once I sat down with the diagrams.
Wire harness in progress.. You can see the SN95 style distributor round plug.
I pulled my hair out for a year chasing down a hesitation in my car tha I thought was fuel related. Ended up buying a USED oem ford coil off eBay vs the new stuff out there today. I just don’t trust much of it for these old cars.....even motorcraft
Couple years ago i did tie rod ends on my daily. Within a month I felt something loose. Assumed it was the steering rack. Nope...my new Moog tie rod ends we’re junk.
Motorcraft just not like it used to be. Even the spark plugs all made by NGK now
Couple years ago i did tie rod ends on my daily. Within a month I felt something loose. Assumed it was the steering rack. Nope...my new Moog tie rod ends we’re junk.
Motorcraft just not like it used to be. Even the spark plugs all made by NGK now
I think new Motorcraft is fine. New as in a modern vehicle. A lot of it is the same supplier of parts for cars currently made
It’s old (decades old vehicles) motorcraft that I think has fallen off. Parts for a car that hasn’t been made in 30 years gets subbed out to the cheapest bidder as I imagine volumn is much lower
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I think that's just a quote error. I think he's asking you where you get yours.
It looks like he quoted you then overtyped your text.
So, a few thoughts. I daily drive the mildly built Black Jack, and I have reasonable faith in it, but it is the only Fox that's actually left me stranded to the point I had to call a friend to come get me. If you're dailying one of these cars, you've got to have some spare parts on the shelf ready to go:
- Distributor with TFI
- Coil
- Ignition Switch
- EEC
- Relays
- Plugs/Wires/rotor
- additional spare TFI with tool & thermal paste in the car at all times
Not only will you have replacement parts when these fail, but you'll also have a far simpler time diagnosing ignition issues.
You must also have the ability to bypass your MSD if you have one. BTW, the intermittent symptoms you're describing are identical to the ones I experienced before it left me stranded. I had the wires tucked into the fender and couldn't bypass it. I bought another extender from MSD so that the connector could reach the coil Before it totally died, it was impossible (for me) to diagnose, because by the time I was at my garage with the tools, the symptoms would clear up.
Now, if you have a multi-spark box, that's what I'd bet is causing your problems, but the right answer is to use Jrichker's lists and do the diagnostics in the manner & order he specified. Or, given the intermittent problem, replace the parts one at a time until your problem clears up.
One last thing, I would not personally daily mine if I didn't have an utterly reliable backup vehicle (a 2000 7.3 PSD F250 Super Duty). The dependable vehicle used to be my beater Saturn SL2, which was the most maintenance-free vehicle for 200k miles that I've ever owned while knocking down 40mpg & costing next to nothing for insurance. I couldn't have sold that car for much more than $500. I don't care how tight money is, you can afford one. Hell, I'd say if you're completely reliant on your Fox as primary transportation, then you can't afford not to have one. It would definitely take the stress off of you with regard to your Fox's unreliability.
- Distributor with TFI
- Coil
- Ignition Switch
- EEC
- Relays
- Plugs/Wires/rotor
- additional spare TFI with tool & thermal paste in the car at all times
Not only will you have replacement parts when these fail, but you'll also have a far simpler time diagnosing ignition issues.
You must also have the ability to bypass your MSD if you have one. BTW, the intermittent symptoms you're describing are identical to the ones I experienced before it left me stranded. I had the wires tucked into the fender and couldn't bypass it. I bought another extender from MSD so that the connector could reach the coil Before it totally died, it was impossible (for me) to diagnose, because by the time I was at my garage with the tools, the symptoms would clear up.
Now, if you have a multi-spark box, that's what I'd bet is causing your problems, but the right answer is to use Jrichker's lists and do the diagnostics in the manner & order he specified. Or, given the intermittent problem, replace the parts one at a time until your problem clears up.
One last thing, I would not personally daily mine if I didn't have an utterly reliable backup vehicle (a 2000 7.3 PSD F250 Super Duty). The dependable vehicle used to be my beater Saturn SL2, which was the most maintenance-free vehicle for 200k miles that I've ever owned while knocking down 40mpg & costing next to nothing for insurance. I couldn't have sold that car for much more than $500. I don't care how tight money is, you can afford one. Hell, I'd say if you're completely reliant on your Fox as primary transportation, then you can't afford not to have one. It would definitely take the stress off of you with regard to your Fox's unreliability.
A couple of nos ones showed up on eBay last year. I snagged one.... and I'd been looking for well over a year for one.
@Mindseye007 Keep your eyes open there.
I've got 2 squirreled away in my stash. One i got a deal on. One i did not
you need to buy this to check your TFI Module https://www.ebay.com/itm/2555371810...d=link&campid=5335821607&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
you also need to buy a 9volt battery, this TFI Module tester works amazing and comes with instructions on how to set it up and use it, 0nly 9 left in stock. no more buying dud TFI's, bring it with you while your at your auto zone parts store to test before you buy.
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