1991 Ford Econoline stalling

Maintenance/Repairs
1

i have recently purchased a 1991 Ford Econoline E150 “San Juan” conversion camper cheaply but with a few problems.

  1. after 5 - 10 miles the camper will stall out and i have to leave it to sit for ~half an hour before i can drive it again.

  2. no fuel gauge or tank switch, both completely inoperable.

  3. no AC or heat.

  4. bad ignition switch, key sometimes wont start the fuel pump.

I’ve been told the best best is to junk the van but i paid $300 for a camper that blue books for $7 grand, as long as the repairs run me under ~$3000 i am ahead of the game as far as i am concerned.

2

You say that sometimes the key switch won’t turn on the fuel pump… The problem may not be the key switch. There are 2 relays in a bracket attached under the cowl. One relay powers the ECU and the other the fuel pump. Those relays can fail intermittently. The relays are externally identical and interchangeable except that the ECU relay has a diode in the circuit to prevent computer damage from current spikes. Don’t switch the relays. You can buy an ECU relay and use it at either location.

3

Also, there were problems with the fore/aft tank switching system and the primary/secondary fuel pump set up. You might get a good test light and a wiring diagram if you wish to get to the bottom of the problem.

4

after a bit or reading and discovering the TFI module problems with this particular model of van i spent the $80 for a new module and remote mount bracket.

800 miles so far and no stalling out yet.

changed out both relays and replaced with the diode type, no change there.

replaced the key cylinder and switch, fixed the rigged rail pump wiring back to the ignition and now both the AC and main pump works.

still no fuel gauge or tank switch, i have to replace both the main and aux fuel sender units after dropping both tanks to fix that problem.