1988 Bronco II 2.9L wont run - Ford Forums

jedi105 · 01-23-2003, 16:23

Please help. All of a sudden, today, My truck wont run. It will start without any problems. Everything sounds and looks strong. The problem occurs when I shift from park to either reverse or any of the drive gears. As soon as I shift, the engine just turns off. It actually sounds like it is being shut off as it does when you turn the key (engine noise stops immediately) instead of fluctuating and dying. It has been severely cold lately (about a week with temperatures in the teens and single digits) but it was running fine until I got to a stop light. I stalled and when I tried to restart thats when I noted the immediate stoppage of of the engine when shifitng out of park. If I stay in neutral, everything is fine (engine sounds powerful, all lights and gadgets are at full force with no visible drain on the battery). The engine just shuts off when I shift to reverse or drive.

Please, If anyone has every seen or heard of this, any ideas would be appreciated.

LoneRangerXLT · 01-26-2003, 18:31

Jedi, I think you have a bad neutral safety switch on the transmission. I forget where it is on the A4LD, but look for a loom of wires going to a switch on the side of the tranny. There is also a way to jumper the switch to make the engine run, but I don't know the wiring colors that you need to connect........?

jedi105 · 01-26-2003, 18:33

Status update: We think we may have found the problem. After spending hours looking at just about everything, we lifted the rear end of the truck. We then started the engine and let it get warm. We then shifted to drive and the engine kept running. As soon as we hit the brakes it shut off. We think that the Converter Lockout Solenoid is faulty or the Torque converter is bad. Hopefully its just the solenoid. A transmission tech we talked to actually had seen this problem before so he knew where to look. Next step is to tow to a tranny shop (thankfully the tow is free when the service is done at this shop) tomorrow morning and see if what we thought and hoped is it. I'll let everyone know what happened as soon as I know. Thanks for the ideas. Many of them led us in the right direction

jedi105 · 01-28-2003, 08:19

Tranny shop is done. They say its running fine now. Turns out it was the Converter lockout solenoid and the vacuum solenoid. Or at least the tranny shop decided the vacuum solenoid needed to go. 385$ including tax. I could have bought a rebuilt tranny for 625 but I guess well see how this goes. Cross your fingers people, dont things usually happen in 3's.....

Again, everyone, thanks for the help. I appreciate the quick responses and ideas.

Vlad_Padberg · 04-28-2003, 12:44

Never hurts to try.

LunaticSVT · 04-28-2003, 12:47

Hrmmm very interesting. Hopefully it solves your problem.