95 ford pace arrow falls on its face

[d_whitworth]

hello folks, I'm new on here and am extremely frustrated and could use some help!!!! So I will start with my problem and then list everything done so far. Recently purchased a 95 Pace Arrow, super clean with approximately 55,000 on it. The mh had been sitting for several years and I'm very mechanically inclined so I thought no problem! Initially we had to put in a new fuel pump so I did the turbine upgrade, drove it home approximately 60 miles and no problem. Driving an additional 30 combined miles, while fixing a few minor things, it started this thing where it randomly. falls on its face while driving. It's almost as if it's starving for fuel, if a very small amount of throttle is applied it will continue on, anything more and it completely bogs down and has zero power. Now here is the kicker, after reading another post, I found that if I turn off the ignition and start it right back up it acts just fine for another few miles and does the same thing.

list of new parts:

ICM
New distributor, cap and rotor
plug wires
map sensor
fuel pressure regulator
egr(whole assembly)
upgraded turbine pump and harness
new relays
new battery and checked all grounds
new fuel filter

we put a fuel pressure gauge on today and drove, at fuel rail it is reading around 25, it drops to around 10 when it falls on its face. if left to just idle (which it does fine) the fuel pressure increasingly. drops.

did I get a faulty fuel pump? or is there something else that im missing

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The only aftermarket fuel pump worth squat is a CARTER. Other brands areiss or hit

OEM is great but the price may induce cardiac fibrillation

[MrWizard]

My 96 F53 460 chassis (97 Bounder)
Does not have a cat converter
It has a resonator
The OP 95 , might be the same thing
Also they do not have the universal OBDII diagnostic port
But the older first ? Generation OBD Ford port
Under the doghouse engine cover driver side up near Radiator,
Real pain to reach
I bought the correct code reader off Amazon $20 ( auto zone has them too), and a 6 ft OBD1 EXTENSION CORD
I leave the cord permmently plugged in, routed out from the doghouse, so i can connect the reader anytime easily
This because of my problem last spring, which was fuel pump, not ignition

[landyacht318]

I was thinking clogged catcon until the fuel pressure thing was revealed.

The voltage reaching fuel pumps is too low because of too long too thin, too old wiring, and too many connections in that ancient circuit which was never intended to last 25+ years.
My fuel pump now has a more direct and thicker wire feeding it, and spotless connectors and ground at the nearby frame. I did the thicker more direct wire a while ago before my wire joinery standards rose to the level I now employ. I had a few weird occurrences a few years back with some stalling, and redid those butt joints and redid the ground with no re occurrence in a few years now. Same fuel pump since 2006.

[T18skyguy]

One thing to check for the heck of it, is that big vacuum hose on the back of the intake manifold. They have a tendency to crack on the bottom where you can't see it and give you a vacuum leak. Measure the vacuum to make sure you don't have two problems at once.

[Chum_lee]

wnjj wrote:
Is there an issue with the tank vent? Try running with the cap loose or off temporarily.

Read here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1159072-vacuum-buildup-in-gas-tank.html

Yes! ^^^^^^^ I've seen this several times. Very easy fix. Your fuel pressure should remain fairly consistent over a wide operating range. I only use OEM quality fuel pumps, no cheap Chinese parts in my fuel tanks. If no help confirm that the catalytic converter is flowing free.

Any fault codes?

Chum lee

[wnjj]

Is there an issue with the tank vent? Try running with the cap loose or off temporarily.

Read here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1159072-vacuum-buildup-in-gas-tank.html

[DFord]

My previous MH was 2001 Residency on a 2000 F53/V10 chassis. I had problems with gas gauge. Dropped the tank to replace it only to find it was working to specs. The ohm readings were correct. I ended up running new wires for the sensor from a connector near the rear of the transmission to the tank to bypass the original faulty wiring.

When I though I was done, I went to start it. It fired up and died right away and won't hit a lick afterwards. Pressure test on the frame rail verified I had no fuel pressure. After dropping the tank again to pull out the fuel pump figuring it had failed, I discovered the Siamese connector on the fuel pump was bad. It had overheated and melted the plastic of the connector so badly, I had to pry it off. I checked the fuel pump with an ohm meter and it checked okay. I cut the connector off the wires and crimped two 1/4" spade connectors on in it's place. Put it all back together and never had any problems over the several more years and 10s of thousands of miles afterwards.

I had read on here back before 2005 of several Ford fuel pumps being replaced (on both the 460 and the V10) to the tune of $800 by shops. After finding my trouble, I wondered how many were just bad connectors instead of faulty pumps. The problem was a bad connection at the spade connector causing the heat that melted the connector and charred the connection. My pump never gave me any problems after redoing the connectors.

I got pretty good at dropping the tank. I found I could remove all the tank hangers except for those at one end and let the tank hing itself down with a floor jack which allowed access to the top of the tank to remove the pump with the level sensor assembly.

Much later, I had to replace the gas line to the generator and needed access to the top of the tank again. This time, I squeezed into the pass-through storage compartment right above the tank and cut a hole in the floor of it right above the tank. Wish I had thought of that to start with instead of dropping the tank. The biggest problem with dropping the tank is the fuel fill connector that goes through the frame. It's hard to get at. I ruin the hose - finding a 1-1/2 fuel hose was a problem - NAPA to the rescue.

[naturist]

sitting in storage somewhere does not halt aging

[jjrbus]

Watched someone go through this recently, horrible experience. Replaced a fuel pump because of issues, fine for a bit then similar to you, works, don't work. Checked, tested, rechecked, new this and that.

Wire to the fuel pump in the tank had bad connection! COPY AND PASTE HERE.

Visual Storyteller · September 18, 2019

We out cheaaaa

HERRROOOO! UPDATE!!!!
Well friends, as we suspected in the beginning, it’s the fuel system. Things were running fantastic then slowly pressure started to drop. Took 15 mins to get the problem to happen, which was when it his 10 PSI. So now, is it the pump or the regulator? I’m sure the pump, but I wonder what went wrong, maybe it had damage when it was dry outside of the tank or possibly the hose is cracked leading to the pump. Or the pump is seated wrong because the holes were hard to line up interchanging the fuel pump contraptions between tanks. Either way, it’s great to have answers and luckily we already did the fuel filter yesterday which on a 22re is a PITA! Glad we did it though, because we wouldnt have know which part it was! REAAALLLYYY not looking forward to dropping this hellacious tank again, but I’m just so happy to get back on the road!!!!

All in all, I feel this all happened for a reason. We are so much more comfortable with our rig and know how to test almost everything! There are silver linings all over this! Now time to fix this and then find some work$$!!!

UPDATE: I THINK WE KNOW THE **** PROBLEM!!!!!! there is a connection on the wire that just came apart when I was taking the pump off the fuel pump housing.... Clearly the wiring was getting hot and shorting out. Really lucky we didn’t blow up!

Got the tank out again! This time like 6x faster than last time ?????? stay tuned....

[theoldwizard1]

d.whitworth wrote:
... we put a fuel pressure gauge on today and drove, at fuel rail it is reading around 25, it drops to around 10 when it falls on its face.

Clearly a fuel pressure issue, but why ? Disconnect and plug the vacuum line to the pressure regulator (same as WOT). You should get a high (above 25 psi) constant pressure, even when driving.

If not, you have an obstruction somewhere.

[garyemunson]

Still have that 2 years old gas in the tank?

[DFord]

Come to think of it, my '97 Aerostar began running so bad it couldn't pull the hat off my head. I bought a spray can of Mass Air Flow Sensor Cleaner and gave it good spraying. It immediately began running correctly and I haven't had any problem with it sense. It was just downstream from the air cleaner. Not sure where that would be on your '95 (460?). It's well worth a try. I didn't believe a few squirts could straighten it out but I was very wrong. I never did replace the sensor and that was several years ago that I sprayed it.

[DrewE]

If you have a MAF (mass air flow) sensor, it being dirty or broken will cause exactly those symptoms. Often problems with them are simply being dirty rather than breaking.

[DFord]

Just wondering what chassis / engine we're trying to give advice about here. It's helpful to put that information in your signature (like I did).