91 e250 won't start been sitting since 1996
 

Hello to all!

Recently I purchased a 91 e250 club wagon with 30,641 miles from a church where is had not had the doors opened on it once since 1996 until two weeks ago when I got it......waste of a vehicle. Anyway the van is the extended van 17 passenger with power everything, ac, cruise control, 5.8 engine and it is in super nice shape minus it not running.

So far here is what I have done, removed the rotted out tanks and fuel pumps, put fresh plugs in it, checked all fluids, it's getting spark, replaced fuel pressure regulator,injectors are getting power, all 8 cyl have compression, by passed fuel filter, and using an auxiliary tank and fuel pump I'm getting 37 psi on the fuel rail and clean fuel is comming out the return line, but I cannot get it to run, now it will run on starting fluid but shut off as soon as I stop spraying it and it will turn off immediately. From what I can tell and this is my best guess is that the injectors are clogged because the plugs are totally dry, I have a new set of injectors for it but before I go through the hassle of installing them I though maybe I should ask around for another opinion......any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Welcome to the site..

Might check for an injector pulse at the connectors prior to a replacement. Make sure their firing..

Thanks for the response,

We did check that with a noid light and it showed them working properly. My friends and i who have been working on it are all kind of suprised that all 8 injectors would be clogged up, but then again after seeing the slimy goo that was in the tank i guess it is possible and as i mentioned it will fire up instantly on starting fluid, but will not remain running with out it.

The gas that was in the tanks literally looked like tar, it had all turned from liquid to a black stringy goo mess that looked like hot tar. There is no hope in saving the tanks or the tank pick ups so I have ordered new ones for it.

Out of curosity the problem im having couldn't be EEC related could it? we have kind of passed off as not the problem due to it having spark and injector pulse, but again im NO expert.

Here are a couple pics of the old beast, my plan is to use it for hauling my motorcycles to the races and camping in. When i loaded it on that trailer i could not believe how heavy that van was, it literally lifted the back of my truck 3 feet off the ground as we rolled it on to the trailer :eek:. Im getting ready to paint it and it should look a whole lot better after that, im just going back with the original color for simplicity. The interior of the van is spotless head liner, doop pannels, carpets, driver seat, passenger seat all 4 rows of back seats are perfect, so all im going to do to the interior is take out 3 of the four rows of seats, install a wall then move one rear seat back against the wall as i have mocked up in the pic and i put 3 bikes behind wall and they fit perfectly. Im really excited to use this van, ive always wanted one for this reason.

Looks like a nice project, good job on the partition :)

Comp good, spark good, and a pulse, seems the only thing missing would be fuel. My neighbor gave me a really clean Dodge B300 Maxi van. At first i thought, don't really need another rig, but it has sure come in handy to haul weather protected goods..

Keep us posted..

Nice. I would love to have an extended van like that.

Thanks guys! Im going to throw Injectors and valve cover gaskets in it tomorrow and see if she will fire up on her own.........If not i will be a little confused on where to go from there, maybe change it to a carb set up for simplicity or give in and drag it to a ford mechic and tell them to return it to me running.

Those engines ran quite well and the vans were very dependable. Personally, I would rather keep the fuel injection system since they didn't give too much trouble. If the coil is original , replace it with a later production unit . The originals in 91 were quite troublesome. I know you won't forget the fuel filter, but until you get all the lines clear it might be a good idea to replace it once or twice after you run it a few miles.
If you have any grease or never seize don't forget to lube the 2 bottom bolts for the doghouse , it helps make them easier to remove up the road should you need to do that.

Thanks for the pointers, will do

Last night we dismantled it, took off all the emmissions stuff vaccum lines and everything else needed to remove the intake manifold, removed it, then removed the fuel injectors and they clearly had not been shooting out fuel, the nozzles were completely dry and i dismantled one just to check and it was full of old gas and as much as we tried to start the van prior to us dismantling it that fuel would have been long gone out of the injector if it was not blocked. I will probably start re-assembling it this evening or the next.

I do have a couple more questions, so I have replaced all the fuel system stuff (pumps, tanks, injectors, pressure regulator,ect), new valve cover gaskets, plenum gasket, thermostat and gasket, and the belt for the water pump. Is there anything else i should replace while i have it dismantled that is know for causing problems on these vans? I need it to be reliable as possible because I will be traveling with it long distances.
Secondly would there be any good reason and simple way to delete some of the emissions on it? Or are they needed for the EFI or any other system to operate properly?