My trial and tribulations with TBI(not tramatic brain injury, I think)

[channingd]

So, 3 years ago I bought my 1987 and it ran okay, not great. But good enough for me to think minor tuneup. I did all the body work all the interior new wheels tires bedliner you name it. Truck looks and smells brand new. I love it.

The trouble is, with the help of you good folks on this board, I have tried to my wits end to get this thing to run 100%. I started with a lopping idle. Vacuum leak, solved. Now it's running pretty good, infact real good when you first start it, but as it warms up, it looses power and is very sluggish off the line. Plus the idle would drop sometimes coming to a stop sign and trip the oil pressure switch, shutting off my fuel pump. You can figure the rest out.

I have change every sensor. When coming to the MAP sensor, I noticed that the vacuum line running to it was removed and capped. Hmmmm. I plugged it back in. Truck would not run. Need a new MAP sensor. Got it. Installed. Still, will not run with MAP vacuum line plugged in. TPS, CTS, O2 sensor, everything. So, I finally throw in the towel and the guy at O'reileys suggests that I call a friend of his who is good with TBI.

Next chapter.

Charles, very nice guy, asks all that's been done, where is the timing set, 0 degrees, and what it's doing and how it's running. He seems pretty confident.

4 hours later.

Charles calls and says come pick this truck up, there's not much I can do and I'm not sure how the hell it's even running. He claims there is no communication to the computer and that the wiring harness has been so butchered that he doesn't even want to mess with it. Says that's probably why nothing has worked. Catalytic converter has been removed and way too many sensors being bypassed. He suggests starting over with either carb or new everything.

Enough crying. I got the notion to put a new wiring harness into it and see what happens. Upon searching ebay and such, I took a look at Craigslist and there it was. Wiring harness and TBI with brand new fuel pump and ECM all for $250.


Here's the question: it's out of a 1991. Will this all work on my 1987? And do you think this is the correct direction to go?