I've got a 1989 Ford E-150 conversion van has developed a stalling problem. It has a V8 5.0 engine. When the problem first occurred I felt the engine stutter and pulled off the road and as I rolled to a stop it stalled out. After letting it sit for a half hour or so it restarted and we were able to make it 40 miles into the nearest city, stopping about every 10 miles when we felt it start to die.

We took it to a mechanic and they replaced the MAP sensor and said that should fix the problem. About 3 miles from the shop the car stalled out again with the same symptoms we'd brought it in for. The shop looked at it and they said that it seemed like the catalytic converter was clogged and would have to be replaced. They explained that the bad MAP sensor was probably making the car run rich which had resulted in the clogging of the catalytic converter. This seemed to make sense and they said that they didn't do the cat replacement themselves but that they worked with a muffler shop that could do the repair for $385 which was a discounted rate since they sent them a lot of business. The owner of the shop himself assured us that the catalytic converter was definitely bad and that while he couldn't guarantee that would fix the problem it would definitely need to be replaced.

The next day we called them several times and were assured that the car was going to be fixed within an hour or two, etc, etc, until it was nearly closing time and they finally called us and told us that the muffler shop had looked at it and it didn't need a catalytic converter after all and that it was actually the muffler that was bad. They said the muffler had rusted out and collapsed inside and that the exhaust was trapped causing pressure to build up which was making the car stall out. We were a little skeptical since they had previously assured us the cat needed to be replaced and now they were telling us it was OK but felt like we had little choice in the matter since they had already cut into the pipe and removed the old muffler. They assured us that the muffler replacement would be cheaper than the catalytic converter anyways so we figured we might as well do it. They called us right before closing time Friday afternoon and told us that it was ready and had been test driven and everything was OK. When we arrived we paid the bill for the new muffler ($300!) and started the car up the idle did sound better and it was much quieter.

As we began driving out of the city I noticed that the car felt as though it had lost some power and it seemed to be struggling, especially on hills but I thought maybe I was just being overly sensitive. About 60 miles north of the city we felt the car start to hiccup and we immediately pulled into a gas station where it stalled out as we pulled next to the pump. We let it sit for 20 minutes or so and tried to restart it with no success. Eventually we were able to get it to drive a few blocks to a better parking spot where we left it for the night. The next day we had a mobile mechanic come look at it. When we told him the other shop had charged us $300 for the muffler he said “wow, they really screwed you” and that the repair shouldn’t have cost much more than $100 especially since they just replaced the muffler itself not the whole tailpipe assembly. He checked a few things and pulled the temperature sensor which should have made the engine turn off and instead it kept running which he said meant the car was probably operating in "limp home mode" which might also explain the lack of power. After spending around an hour poking around and driving it around the block we couldn’t get it to stall. Overall he said he suspected either a bad master fuel pump or a bad computer and suggested that we get those parts at a junkyard for cheap and see if it fixed the problem. The other potential suspect he mentioned was the fuel filter or a bad coil. Since the car seemed to be running we figured we'd try and make it back to Austin and deal with the problem there. Driving back the weather was much colder and although it felt like the van was running poorly and misfiring it never stalled out and we were able to make it back to the city.

At this point we don't want to put much money into the van but it seems like a waste to have to sell it at a big loss since it's only marginally drivable.

Any thoughts?

EDIT: Someone on another forum suggested the TFI Module as a potential cause of these issues. Any thoughts on the likelihood of this versus fuel pump / filter / ignition coil / or computer? Does anyone have a photo of where I can find the TFI module on the van? Also, is it significant that the van didn't cut out when the temp sensor was disconnected? Does that point towards a faulty computer?

 

When confronted with a problem like this , it could be one of many things.
If the fuel filter has not been changed recently its a good place to start and doesn't cost a lot of money especially since it is a routine maintenance item.
Among the possible things it could be are;
fuel pump or related wiring
Ignition coil
Ignition TFI module (mounted on the outside of the distributor)
Computer (ECA)
fuel pump relay
EEC relay
Plugged screen in fuel tank
Would like to think it is temperature related since it has to cool down a while in order to get it restarted.
Also, fuel filter that becomes plugged as you drive could just need to be changed.
What kind of routine maintenance has been done to the vehicle?

 

I had an 89 E250 with the exact problems. Turned out to be the fuel pump. This van was brand new. After returning it to Ford several times,being starnded on the side of the road several times, they noted that the fuel pump in that model had alot of problems, and that Ford was working on an "upgraded" fuel pump. Like Hanky stated...check the fuel filter first...but after that I would really look towards the fuel pump.

 

it sounds like the ignition module which is located on the distributer on most makes and models but on my f-150 it is on fender wall, it will prob. run about 45.00 it could also be either the ignition coil or the pick up coil the pick up coil is located in the distributer, but i would start with igniton module(TFI).the reason it may have ran further and made it home is alot of eletrical igniton parts have more problems as they get warm, and you said the weather was cooler

 

Unfortunately you are getting all sorts of suggestions, but it would probably be best if you had a good , experienced mechanic/technician check the vehicle. As stated previously it could be one of any number of the things mentioned earlier. You need to have someone who can "test and not guess" what the cause is. It will take some narrowing down to do this , but there are good techs who do this every day. You may pay a little more for this once , but it can be done. Be careful of the guys who know exactly what the problem is while guessing!