lots of smoke then dies

[itsmrbill]

Hello All,

The vehicle
---------------------------
'84 318 4-cyl
300k+ miles
5 speed
stock/same engine/tranny as far as I can tell

Had this for about 6 mos and purred without any problems right up to a few days ago.

While driving home on the freeway I was cut off and forced to brake very quickly to avoid an accident. Immediately following this the engine lost all power and then died. Couldn't get the car restarted after that. Also noticed that the check oil idiot light is on now when I try to start the car, prior to this was not on.

Couldn't get the engine to spark at all at first, but after checking everything listed below it now does start but just belches white/grey smoke and then dies after a couple of seconds. This requires me to apply full throttle gas even to keep it going for those few seconds. As soon as I let up it dies. Idle is extremely rough as well, sounds slow and belchy.

Checked the plugs (new -1k miles), wires (no visiable damage), rotor (new -1k miles), cap (new -1k miles). Oil is fine, coolant fine. Checked fuses noticed that the number 11 7.5amp was blown so replaced but no help. Think that was just related to my tach being dead (thats another problem). Did I mention this is a pretty well beaten ride when I got it.

I was also having a problem with higher than normal idle (1100 - 1200rpm at idle) a few days prior to this new problem. Decided to replace the water temp sensor with a junk yard part, thought this might be related (just a guess). Not sure if that helped as the engine is still producing smoke and rough idle.

That's where I'm at right now. Any thoughts, ideas appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Hmm, I've never heard of this before.

One thought that comes to mind is of some Ford cars that have an inerta-activated fuel cutoff switch that activates under extreme decceleration, perhaos someone had installed something like this at one time.

As for the smoking, white grey smoke usually indicates a coolant leak somewhere, however you say the coolant is fine and the plugs are fine.

Im guessing this is something to do with fuel. Perhaps the sudden decceleration has somehow blocked the fuel filter? I would take it off and check it to see if it is blocked.