Can the coolant temp sensor cause it to act up like that... I brought that up to my friend as well and he didn't seem to think it would do that. I'm going to get some gas for it and put some injector cleaner in there just to make sure the gas isn't bad. I've gotten watered down gas at the local gas station before so I'll do that as well. How do I go about testing the sensor or do I just have to buy a new one?

 

I had one go bad on a trip and it would stumble on acceleration and then it finally quit. It started back up when it cooled down. Basically the ECM is sensing the truck to be cold and will richen the mixture to help warm it up. Since it's already warm it becomes too rich. Mine stumbled quite a few times (from North Carolina to Daytona, FL) before it finally shut down altogether. I had a family member come get me (we lived in South Florida) and by the time they got there the truck fired up and was able to be driven onto the car trailer.
Your situation is definitely different and I would lean towards a lack of fuel vs. this sensor, but you never know. Personally I would rule out fuel pressure first. Did the old motor run well before removal?

 

No, the old motor had bad head gaskets on both sides but so far that's all that I could find. I noticed the exhaust valves to be white and I thought that was caused by being too lean but is apparently normal... I'm picking up the coolant temp sensor tonight and getting some gas as I've went through a good amount of gas trying to figure this out. I will probably end up changing the fuel filter if this doesn't work and I guess worst case scenario would be a new fuel pump... In that case looks like it will be another month before she's running right

On a side note, I also found mounted down on the frame there is a ground and I have no idea where it goes to. My only guess would be to the starter but it really makes no sense to me. My friends truck is the same year as mine and same setup and he doesn't even have a ground there at all? Any thoughts on that?

 

Yeah that ground could definitely be an issue. Can you be more specific where it is located?

 

Its on the passenger side frame rail just hanging down right now. It's pretty much right below the front of the door... The only things it seems to be able to reach are the starter, exhaust, or the lower bellhousing... Doesn't fit on the lower bellhousing bolts and only just barely reaches the bolts holding the starter to the block.

 

if you need a location of where they are i have some pictures of the temp gauges on my profile

 

Does it appear to be a factory wire? Maybe it goes to the cab to ground it. The one that goes to the cab is usually a little further forward near the firewall.

 

It very well could be the cab ground. Since it has a 3" body lift it may have been too short. I will check it tomorrow and probably make a new one that will work. I put the new coolant temp sensor in and nothing changed. Also, I tried to drive it for the first time and couldn't give it any gas otherwise it would die. Runs ALOT worse when under load. Gunna check the fuel filter tomorrow along with the timing and possibly just try and drop the old distributor back in.

I think the distributor could be more of a factor than I had thought. The thing that sucks is Richporter's are the only ones Oriellys carries. May end up just taking it back and going to another place.

 

Well, it's definatly not the distributor. I took the new one out again and put in the old one and it runs worse even when timed. I am starting to think that maybe I didn't get it quite to TDC when putting the distributor in. I am going to take off the valve cover either tonight or tomorrow and reposition it again and drop the new distributor back in and retime it. If that doesn't work then IDK what the heck it could be... If I didn't get it quite to TDC and I've ran it for awhile like that, is there a possibility that it messed anything up?

 

Well, got it all timed right and it was doing the same thing... I stood their in frustration and re-checked over every sensor and found a problem that I've hopefully been looking for all along. The TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) Connector from the wiring harness is broken. The clip to hold it in is broke off completly and one of the four pins inside the plug is also broken off. I will be replacing it either way, but would this cause it to cut out and almost die everytime I give it gas? Please tell me YES!!! lol