Ford 460 vapor locking problem

[sparky]

We have a 1995 B190. Just returned from a week trip to Texas. While in San Antonio temp hit 85 degrees. Had the cab air on. Traveling about 40 in traffic and the engine died. I was able to pull over to the side of the road right before a gas station. Had a 1/4 tank of fuel. Tried to start and it would kind of run but die. Got a gallon of gas at the station and dumped it in. Van had been sitting for about 15 to 20 minutes. It started up and seemed to run normal. Pulled up to the gas pump and filled up. Took off and everything worked fine. Drove and stopped a couple of times and van ran perfectly until we got back to the camp gorund. Died again. Would start sputter and die. Next morning it ran fine just about all the way back to Houston. Pulled off of the interstate once. It died had to wait for 15 20 minutes and it started back up and away we went. I started thinking that this was vapor lock. Fuel injected engine with the pump in the tank how could this be? Drove back to Wisconsin, 1320 miles and never had a hicup. It got colder as we went. (Saw another B190 on I35 in Kansas or MS. on 2/28 headed south about 4 or 5 pm.) Talked to a mechanic friend of mine who works on 1 ton trucks this type of vehicle. Said yep its vapor lock. Interesting. Did a little internet research and find out that yes this a problem with the Ford 460. Seems that Ford has a better fuel pump to fix situation. My mechanic thought that there was 1/2" fuel line replacement to help cure this. Don't know about this though. The fuel pump sounds better to me. If the existng fuel pump is the original and mabe not putting out the pressure any more, the boiling point of the fuel is now lower and the fuel could boil in the line, vaopr lock. I would be suprised if no one else here has had this problem what with all the 460s we have. When I get a solution I will post it.

[skater]

Good info - keep us posted. I've moved this thread to the Drivetrain forum.

[craigmar]

On a trip about two years ago in Nevada, my wife and I had almost the same problems while enroute to Laughln, Nev. We were on the strip in Vegas, New Years eve day and the van stalled out causing quite a traffic problem until we could get it off the street. I too, felt that it was a vapor lock and was trying to cool the fuel line with cold water but to no avail. We called a towing service but had to wait quite a while because of the traffic and the fact that because it was after working hours nothing was really open. During the wait however, the van cooled down and started right up at which time we decided to get a room and take the van in for servicing after the holiday. The next morning it started right up and we were able to drive into Laughlin with no problems. I took the van into a ford dealership and asked them to fix whatever and suggested it acted like a vapor lock and was told that fuel injected engines could not vapor lock. The dealership did some tests as far as the fuel pump and decided that was not the problem, they replaced the fuel filter and we have not had a problem since. I would check that first before pulling the fuel tank etc.

[sparky]

Well, I finally got around to checking some things for my vapor lock problem. First I checked the fuel pressure at the test point on the fuel rail. About 40-45 psi at an idle. This falls within specs. So I am not going to change the fuel pump at this time. Have done a lot of internet search on this problem. I really only came across a couple of references to fuel pump upgrade. I finally changed the fuel filter. Whenever I have had fuel filter problems on my other vehicles the fuel that drains out of the filter is dirty and those vehicles would sputter under a load. The fuel that drained out of this filter was clean. A service tip from the auto parts store's search indicated it could be the fuel. Winter fuel is different blend than summer fuel. It aids in cold weather starting. I would not have thought that Texas would have the winter blend. I will not find out anything untill this summer when it gets hot. Live in Wisconsin.