YotANo0b

88 p/u 3vze 4WD.. 5spd 155,XXX miles
new battery
new grounds (except one that i didnt replace cuz it was cramped underneath the intake plenum.. and i wired an extra ground and all grounds were upgraded to 6gauge wire)
new spark plugs-spark wires look good(OE i think)
new rotor cap O-ring(OE one was crap)
cleaned out gunk in distributor and cap's contact points look great! same with rotor
new fuel pump and fuel filter
looks like a new alternator as well.
new starter too. and ignition coil

BUT

I will be driving the truck and it will start and run fine for a day or so, then it will randomly cut out at random as though i had simply killled the engine..
almost like it used to when it had a bad ground..
all intake hoses are tight and no cracks. (actually had to replace a section becuz it was cracked thru..
anyways i cleaned out the dist. and replaced the o-ring today after it stalled on the road and i was towed home by my father for the second time.. but im scared it may just start cutting out again..
Any ideas as to where to look next? should i replace the spark wires?? how can you tell if theyre bad?

Any help much appreciated! ive put a lot of time and money into this truck and even taught it new swear words..

yayfortrees

To test plug wires, use an ohm-meter. There should be a spec on them, although I don't know what it is.

From the description, this isn't the problem, but it's still worth looking into. I assume the V6s have the same fusebox setup as the 4 cylinders. Have you inspected / replaced the fusebox supply wire yet? (Search: fusebox supply wire) If everything is going dead, it could be related to this, but it sounds like only the motor is dying, so it's probably fine.

When you replaced the ground wires, the connections are at good locations aren't they? I.E. not attached to rusty / painted surfaces? All of them tight? That one ground you left, can you get to it to test it? (Ohms, or resistance)

It's not something really simple like the distributor / ignitor wire coming loose is it?

Lex.Luther

Are you getting any diagnostic codes from the ECU? The beautiful thing about that model is you can short two leads on the diagnostic connection and the engine light will blink out any codes stored in the ECU. This process will identify a bad ignitor in a New York minute, for example...which could be your problem. If you don't know which leads to jump - surely, you can find that information on the web somewhere. I think I may have even posted it somewhere a few years back, along with a copy of the codes from the shop manual.

If you can't find it, let me know and I will dig up the information.

I have identified bad ignitors this way two or three times. In one case, there were several codes stored, indicating the ignitor missed quite a few times before it died completely.

My first guess based on your description would have been the fuel pump, but I see you have already replaced that.

YotANo0b

thanks for the help! I have replaced the fuse box supply wire too! i did that with the other wire replacements.. (6gauge) and last night after cleaning out the distributor and putting a new O-ring in place it started right away first turn.. then on the following start attempts it cranked for a few seconds trying to start then fired up.. i may replace that ground under the intake plenum today because this is driving me bonkers.