Idle problems

The reason i'm looking is because my car has stopped running. It won't idle. I am able to run it for 5 mins and it runs perfectly, but once the engine is warmed up, it starts missing and rpms jump from 300-1200 until it stalls. If I give it any gas during that time it will backfire. It might be the TFI but my battery just went dead from sitting so long so I can't really pull the codes.
I replaced the plugs and wires and the plugs were in decent shape but did smell like gas so i think it's electrical. I also just put a new O2 sensor in.
i don't mind replacing these parts because they're cheap and probably needed it anyways, but I want to trouble shoot as much I can before putting down 130$ for a Ford TFI.

I also hooked up a FP gauge and i get 40psi with the engine off, which i think is ok. when i do have the engine running for those few moments, i get 18in/hg vacuum wich is the same as the rest of my birds.

Sounds like a classic TFI / PIP problem. Either a failing TFI or failing PIP can cause your symptoms. Sometimes they set CM codes, sometimes they dont.

Only foolproof test is to substitute a known good part and see if the problem goes away. One option is to find a distributor with a known good TFI and PIP and put the dist in and see if the problem is gone.

Ford recommends replacing both the TFI and PIP at the same time if either one fails.

If you can wait a few days for shipping, Rockauto sells Motorcraft TFI and PIP, and you can get both for around a total of $130.

Wouldn't it be easier to buy a new distributor if the PIP is going out?
and if Both are going out, some reman dizzy's come with the TFI aswell. Though it seems that it's a big no-no to go for non motorcraft parts.

I might just try a cheap Napa TFI.
though their dizzy is only like 20$ more which is very tempting...

A reman dist from NAPA is a reasonable choice. In general NAPA stuff is high quality, but I seem to remember that Pete D once got a NAPA reman dist had a dead PIP in it right out of the box.

the Brand i found for the dist is NRD 482495MA
I don't know what NRD stands for but the price is 100$ which is think is super cheap, especially when it comes with the TFI. anyone familiar with this part or manufacturer?

and i'm willing to take the risk of driving back to the store to exchange it if its bad.

I say go for it.

I just bought the echlin TFI module. i'm going to try that fisrt (it has a 1 year warrenty so I should be ok for at least a year, lol!)

Small correction, The bad dizzy I got was from Autozone. It was a Cardone reman with a dead PIP.
I then had NAPA send one of mine in for a rebuild and it came back and worked fine.

I just put an Echlin TFI (from NAPA) on a spare dizzy but I haven't had time to try it out yet

Well I just got the Echlin TFI in.
It turns out the TFI that was in there was NOT a ford and looked like one of the cheap ones.
I also found out that the chasis was poorly grounded, so I ran a new wire to the chassis and sanded down the paint to make a good connection. Before it was 15 ohms, now it's now to 0.4 ohms. I'm sure that caused some problems too.

The car now runs great and it doesn't backfire or miss or anything.
I don't think I will be getting a new dizzy if the car is working good right now.
Thanks everyone!

Glan to hear you got it fixed!!