hate to ask, but please post if this is a bronco one or two, as they have much different engines and powertrain etc. Though they have similar electronics environments, the engines and strategy are in some ways much different. also, not that it matters much, but if the bronco 1 is it a 5.0 or a 5.8? i saw miesk5 posted a code above indicating a 5.0L? the 5.0/5.8 electronics are pretty similar though.
In short, i feel this could be an electronics issue, or an intake air induction issue (large intake leak)
either way, it sounds like it just died randomly as you were driving and never started after that. so i'd perhaps lean toward an electronics issue. this is a tough one for sure though.
Ok so, lets go down the list of things done...
#1 I've got 40psi at the rail.
got fuel pressure. good. I think this is on the lower side of what's specified, but not a concern right now in my opinion. Perhaps a clue to a stuck open injector? ehh. it wouldn't cause it to just die on the road IMO. would prob cause hard starts, extreme bad mileage etc. we will call this good for now.
#2 The ignition coil has 6,500 ohms
on the secondary high voltage side? the primary side should have much lower impedance, try testing that side. (closer to 10 or less ohms ish.) i'd have to read up on actual impedance of the E-core coil... That being said, you said you had spark when cranking on all eight, so ehh. seems fine.
#3 I pulled the valve covers off to check if my valves were closing correctly. Both intake and exhaust valves were closed on tdc compression on number one/ compression check says 150psi across the board.
Good. not a compression issue. rules out mechanical valvetrain stuffs.
#4 I put a inline spark tester on it and I was getting a good spark across all 8 cylinders.
you have spark. good.
#5 I'm not smelling anything weird around the pcm.
They can fail without smelling weird but good. often if it gives codes it means the pcm is mostly there. not a total win, but it means it's not a brick. don't rule it out though.
#6 It wont even run on starter fluid.
Interesting, as it seems you have spark and compression? hmm.
#7 Starter solenoid...
as mentioned above would not be the problem if the engine cranked but not started. Not the issue here.
#8 transmission range sensor out of self test range
this (pretty sure) pertains to the potentiometer side of the sensor (for E4od transmissions) and it's ultimately a way of the computer determining the commands of the driver via the gearshifter. It has another side of the sensor which is more of a hard switch which detects park/neutral position and interrupts the start signal from the starter relay. Not our issue here as it cranks but won't start...
that being said, a computer fault internally, or bad grounding, or shorted 5v reference from the computer may cause this and the tps to have both these faults as the computer probably uses the same 5v ref signal for each one. interesting note. hmm. you could break out the multimeter, but perhaps we are still barking up the wrong tree and these have been issues separately for a while. did they come up only after this happened? if so i'd check to see you have 5v at the throttle position sensor. if it were shorted somewhere it'd prob cause a no start condition as this 5v reference is what powers most sensors on the engine. without this 5v, the computer wouldn't be able to tell whats day or night, sort of speak. dunno if the computer would be able to throw a code for lack of/shorted 5v ref.
we have tested a lot of basics here and still are not very sure what's going on. hmm.
When it died the first time on the road did it immediately shut off, or did it spudder to a stop?
when you crank does it give any signs of wanting to fire or is it just crank and that's it? (no backfiring via intake or exhaust for example)
the distributor has been replaced and it's super important to ensure it's close to it's correct position (rotor aiming at no1 cylinder at top dead center COMPRESSION STROKE) after the rig does run again, it's important to put a timing light on it and set it exact to the specifications so that the computer may control it's anticipated range of advance/******.
did it have the same symptoms after you replaced the distributor?
I like the bad fuel theory, but spraying starting fluid seemed to do nothing. interesting some plugs seemed fouled though. after enough cranking with no start, you will see fuel fouled plugs. not gonna keep the engine from starting like what you seem to have.
checking battery connections is always a good idea, especially when someone puts on aftermarket battery connectors, which never seem to last long. that being said, the final revision (1996) of electrical for those rigs was much more robust and redundant than the early ones which were basically a computer wire harness laid on top of the legacy wire harness.
hate to ask, but please post if this is a bronco one or two, as they have much different engines and powertrain etc. Though they have similar electronics environments, the engines and strategy are in some ways much different. also, not that it matters much, but if the bronco 1 is it a 5.0 or a 5.8?
i feel i have left a lot of questions unanswered here, but keep up the work. troubleshooting this stuff's a little cryptic with these aging electronics, but there's info out there and a bunch of people too. get back to us. hope all my nonnsense helped a bit. haha.