My 1987 Bronco II XLT

[daviiplague]

i found this B2 on craigslist in Colorado recently with 121k original miles, carfax verified that. the paint is two toned red with white underneath, and has almost every optional extra available for the year, i have added an armrest with dual cup holders from a 96 explorer, fit like a glove. 5 speed 2.9L V6 with manual HI-LO selector on the floor and manual hubs, runs like a champ and starts up quicker in the cold than the warm.

 

[daviiplague]

...aaand for whatever reason, a security token is missing, so the admin has been contacted, il post as soon as they let me...

 

[ab_slack]

Sounds cool. Manual everything trans, hubs, transfer case is the way to go.

my 87 starts great when engine is cool regardless of outside temperature. Warmed up, it also starts immediately. If warmed up and I let sit 15 minutes is cranks a little bit but never seems to struggle to start once it gets past those few extra seconds.

 

[daviiplague]

and the wonderful admins fixed that bug. more to come soon!

and @ab_slack, when i start my truck it makes a screaming sound for the first 20 seconds or so and then goes away, and it takes a second of cranking it for it to turn over. this makes me think it needs new belts, could it also be a starter issue? i have the original owners manual and it says it supposedly is normal for the truck to take up to 30 seconds of cranking to turn, and that this was normal, and i find that very hard to believe..any suggestions?

 

[JerryC]

Looks good. I'd take a machine polisher to it and see if i could bring the paint back to life.

The starting issue, go through all usual stuff. Check the vacuum hoses for leaks and cracks. Clean the IAC, throttle body (use throttle body cleaner not carb cleaner) and ACT.

Might as well replace plugs. wires, cap and rotor they are pretty cheap and easy to do. Check the air filter and the air box for junk.

 

[3rd Petal]

Squealing is most commonly a belt issue, either they could be old, or just too loose, but it is possible it could come from something else like the starter. Take a good look at the belts and it should be fairly obvious if they are loose or worn.
As far as the long cranks to start it, as mentioned above, a good tune up (plugs, wires, cap, rotor, filters) would be the best place to start, and would probably fix the issue

 

[ab_slack]

I tend to agree that squealing right after startup would be belts.

Owners manual says 30 seconds of cranking to start? Sounds like covering their base, normal to crank 30 seconds? I never experienced that.

I've own three B2s. My original one I got brand new in December of 87, it was an 88 model year vehicle. I loved it and put 192K miles on it when combination of massive rust and failed oil pump ended its life. I then got a 89 model year used (I was like 5th owner) and had that for quite a while but eventually sold it when the shock absorber mount rusted away. Now I have an 87 which is pretty clean as far as rust.

None of the three ever took that much cranking to start. All started almost immediately. In fact the longest starting delay is what I experience now when it has been sitting off for 15 minutes after having been up to temperature and that is just a few seconds.

I remember with my original 88 B2 there were a couple times when battery was getting towards end of life. I would routinely jump start it. At one point I didn't have money for a new battery and I put off battery replacement a month. I have a steep driveway and I would just roll start it in reverse every day. A short driveway and it would always start before I hit the bottom. Work had a totally flat parking lot and I would just push it to get it fast enough to roll start it. The engine was so loose on that 88 (probably had 150K miles by then) that it was very easy to start it that way.

 

[daviiplague]

@JerryC @3rd Petal @ab_slack thanks for the responses guys. i will do a full tune-up and check/replace any of the mentioned parts. its been about 14 degrees out for the past few days and snowing here, so once i find a garage/portable heater il get right to it. upon further inspection the belts do look worn, so i will likely replace those as well.

earlier this morning i had the truck in 4x4 and pretty much the whole drive the rpm's stayed normal, but the speedometer needle was going haywire, bouncing between 65mph and the bottom of the gauge, despite the fact that i was only going 50mph. any ideas?

 

[JerryC]

My speedo bounced like crazy below about 40. I bought liquid graphite at NAPA and tried lubing the cable from the speed end. Helped some at first and is slowly getting better. If it bothers me enough I'll just buy another cable, they are cheap enough that I'd replace rather than pull it and try to lube it.
Yours could be a sticky cable, speedo head or maybe even a broken gear. Jeffs Bronco Graveyard has all of the parts except for the speedo head, but there is usually at least one on ebay at any time.
Oh, I forgot to say to put some good fuel injector cleaner in the tank, the injectors could be dirty. It's another cheap and easy fix. Techron also has side benefit of cleaning up the fuel gauge sender. Autozone puts them on a 2 for 1 sale pretty regular.

 

[daviiplague]

@JerryC since this has never happened in 2x4 could there be something wrong with my 4x4? il try the liquid graphite and fuel injector cleaner first and see where that takes me

 

[JerryC]

I don't know enough about transfer cases to say but that sounds odd to me. If it works in 2wd, it's not the gear, cable or speedo head, it's seems to be in the transfer case.

 

[3rd Petal]

I would still think its the speedo cable making it fluctuate. Mine does it sometimes above 60 mph. The speedo picks up off the rear output, so in theory it shouldn't matter if the front output is spinning or not. Maybe it is possible some kind of harmonics while it is in 4wd transfer through the case and up the speedo cable, which makes it worse in 4wd compared to 2wd. Either way it probably has something to do with the speedo cable being worn

 

[jwiseman&barb]

Owners manual top speed for being in 4 wheel high I think might be 55mph. I say stay outta 4x4 at highway speeds, it's a whole lot less stress on your front driveline