Thinking about getting this for a daily 4x4 driver

The 79 F150 4x4 is pushed to the side for a project now.


I need something to get me to work and school.


I've found a 89-91 Ford 4X4 Bronco. V6 (300 straight 6). 5 spd manual trans. 200k+ miles on it. Automatic locking hubs.

Guy wants $1800 for it. He already has put a new clutch in it.


Think I should get it? I'm going to test drive it tomorrow.

That looks pretty decent for the year.

Thinkin' really hard about getting it.

I've always liked those bronco's
Only real "drawbacks" are the auto hubs cannot be trusted, and neither can the M5 transmission....
unless you drive it nice.

I never had any problems with my auto hubs on the 89 that I had, they just need proper maintenance like the regular manual hubs. All I know about the tranny is that I have a brand new one that came out from behind the I-6 that was in the mud truck. Told him he could have it if this one was bad, for the price of the shipping.

I'd buy it and run it till it fell apart. 300 i6 will run forever gotta 95 f150 with 386,000 that would still be runnin good if water pump hadnt gone out.

Is there any particular reason you NEED a 4wd that gets 15mpg on a good day for your daily driving? Do you drive a lot or have a large budget for fuel? Would you be better off to get by with a car that gets 25-30 and still be okay without 4wd?
Just some things to consider.

I dont want a car. I'm not a car man.

I like to have something with 4x4 due to we own a farm and I tend to go out and want to work on it some....gets wet too sometime.



You think this truck will get bad gas mileage even with manual 5 spd?

[quote="Dr.Ford"]I dont want a car. I'm not a car man.

I like to have something with 4x4 due to we own a farm and I tend to go out and want to work on it some....gets wet too sometime.



You think this truck will get bad gas mileage even with manual 5 spd?[/quote]
Doesn't matter what I think... do you think it will get good mileage?

Good gas mileage is relative.
I wouldnt expect 20.

But I bet its better than the 79 you drive now.

I don;t think that Bronco would ever see 20, 15 is probably more realistic.

12-15 is what mine get depending on where and how i'm driving. Like I said get it and drive it till the wheels fall off.

Spend the $1800 on a new shortblock and put it in your old truck.

My 89 with a 302 would do 15mpg all day long, never much better, but hardly ever got worse than that. I would bet this would be about the same.

longroofracer wrote:Spend the $1800 on a new shortblock and put it in your old truck.

Well I need a way of going and the steering in the 79 is completely gone. So I just bought this truck.



It drove nice.

But when you first crank it, it revs up to 1500-2000 rpm and the eventually idles down to 1000.

Also it smells like fuel when you crank it but the smell goes away....any ideas what could cause this?



Maybe I can find some stuff to get it to get better mpg but 15-20 isn't bad. I think it would be way better than the 79 with the 460.

The revving on cold start up is normal for the 300 6cyl. For the smell you need to check the pressure regulator to see if it leaks when you turn the key on. It wont leak when runnin just when tha pump is priming the system, at least thats why my 89 smelled like gas when I first started it.

Cool Deal.


Yeah, it wants to shake a little bit too when I first crank it. Its been sitting up for awhile. Might need some injector cleaning fluids.

Dr.Ford wrote:The 79 F150 4x4 is pushed to the side for a project now.


I need something to get me to work and school.


I've found a 89-91 Ford 4X4 Bronco. V6 (300 straight 6). 5 spd manual trans. 200k+ miles on it. Automatic locking hubs.

Guy wants $1800 for it. He already has put a new clutch in it.


Think I should get it? I'm going to test drive it tomorrow.

One thing you can check easy is the butteries where your beather tub hook up if it is gummed up it want idle smooth and will shake alittle on the cold idle up that is the way ford fuel injection does my 86 f150 with a 302 revs to about 1800 rpms when it starts cold and my wifes 98 windstar does the same thing ilde up to abot 1500 rpms they don't have a choke like the old carbed engines did and if the butteries is gummed up take some carb cleaner and spray on a rag and clean them with the rag do not spray the carb cleaner right on the buttery

Thanks Jim for the info. Will look into that tomorrow.

Well here comes my bad luck again. My truck was cranking up good today but now it won't crank up.

I just washed the truck underneath and stuff just take a note of that.


When I try to crank it, it sometimes sounds like it wants to crank but it don't. I push the pedal to the floor and nothing. Pat the pedal. Nothing. Smells like gas (guess I am flooding it or something).


It just doesn't want to start.


I cranked it up the other day when it did this....I floored the pedal but I did it today and nothing....




Any idea what it could be?

Sounds like a coolant sensor maybe.

schmitty wrote:Sounds like a coolant sensor maybe.

What does that do?

Sounded like it wanted to crank again but it didn't.


Now I try the turn the key and it don't want to crank now...battery must be low or I'm just having bad luck once more...I'm tired of it all.

Make sure you have a good charge in the battery with a battery tester, or replace it with a known good one. Could be water in the starter, starter cable, ground issue, the list goes on, narrow it down one by one. The gas smell tells me probably need a coolant sensor, this is part of the loop in the fuel management part of the fuel injection.

if it turns over but don't crank check the dizzy and make sure water didn't get under the cap and check the wires if the wires wet and are bad it want crank and that might be some of your ruff running when it cold just afew more things to check and also make sure the air filter didn't fill up with water.an one other thing you should never have to touch the gas padel when cranking it it not like the old carb engines.

Jim

69F100 wrote:if it turns over but don't crank check the dizzy and make sure water didn't get under the cap and check the wires if the wires wet and are bad it want crank and that might be some of your ruff running when it cold just afew more things to check and also make sure the air filter didn't fill up with water.an one other thing you should never have to touch the gas padel when cranking it it not like the old carb engines.

Jim

I hope I didn't mess it up by pushing the pedal and holding it down.


Maybe it will dry....will check later.