1987 F 150 6 cylinder.... Problems........

[flwestpur]

Day 1
Ok I bought this truck. I drove it home and everything seamed to be just fine. The truck was cheap and did run so I figured why not.
Day 2
Went out to use the truck. The engine turns over really slow and a few puffs of smoke and nothing. Little back ground on the condition of the truck found. The engine was rebuilt with new rings and ect....Yada yada yada. According to the guy I got it from. Who had bought it from is Aunt when someone passed away. So there seams to be myths and fables about the truck. Well I was told the truck needed a new ignition module and it would run fine.
Day 3
So I picked up the ignition module and desided to go ahead and replace the old distirbutor cap and rotor and wires as well. The rotor was the wrong stlye. So I got another one. The big round one with the two screws holding it down. Wrong size. The man at the parts store said this is the wrong distributor for this eninge. But it was running I drove it home so I know it did run.
Day 4
So I put on all the parts and put the battery carger on the battery while doing the work. When I finished I put the battery back in hooked everything back like it was, and now it turns over really hard and slow. It will not start. So I called over some ford freinds to help me work out the bugs. Yada yada yada. Now it seams even worse. Turns over 2 or 3 times and the batter says no more. I checked the battery with the battery tester and it show fine.
Day 5
Your turn now.....Where do I start to figure out how to make this beast run again ?

[mechhound]

It's hard to say from here. If you're sure the battery is good. What about the battery cables and connections? The next step would be to remove the starter and have it tested.

[inafogg]

1st you need to get it cranking right.if battery cks good including load test &
your connections are good have the starter checked
then you can ck for spark,gas ect..

[dfordski]

The distributor on my 87' has spring clips & as mentioned, your Battery at rest, may read ok, but could be a different story under load. It should be fully charged prior to the Load test to really be accurate.

[flwestpur]

Day next...........
Bought a new battery with 875 cold cranking amps. Put it on the charger until the charger said full. Checked it with the battery load tester, and showed full load and good with the switch held for 10 sec. Put the battery into the truck. Checked and cleaned all the connections, battery cable ends, and all contacts. all cleaned and looks good. Turned the key and it slowly turned over 2 or 3 times , and no more. So I guess time to get a new starter ? Thanks for all your help............

[bunchacrappyfords]

Starter is weak. Have it rebuilt or replace it. Same thing happened to my 92 ford exploder 4x4!
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[flwestpur]

OK, I will buy one tomorrow and put it on. I will let you know how it works.

[bunchacrappyfords]

Make sure you have it tested first! I'd hate to have you buy something you don't need! If it's bad, personally i'd rebuild it before i bought a reman'd one. It's pretty cheap to do it yourself. Could just be bad bendix or a loose starter wire. Tighten the connections and try it again before removing it. It might just solve your problem! Advice: do NOT buy a starter from O'Reilly auto parts! Go to your local autozone, advance, or bumper to bumper!
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[flwestpur]

I bought another starter, and replaced the battery cables. The truck started up but is running rough. I need to keep my foot on the gas pedal to keep it running. I will replace the fuel filter tomorrow and add some injector cleaner. See if that helps. Is there some screw somewhere like a carb to tun to up the idle ? Thanks for all your help and input.

[inafogg]

check your vacuum lines a vacuum leak will cause idle problems
old cracked falling off... Good Luck

[flwestpur]

Well thanks you all for all your help and advice. The truck is running correctly now and time to put some miles on it. The final corrections was a broken vacuum line, once replaced it smoothed right out and growls like a ford f150 with headers and twin glass packs should.