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howl from under the hood - possibly with intake tract?


92 5 oh

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Hello,
i've got a 98 ranger with a 4L OHV, recently i've noticed a somewhat loud howl coming under the hood. it's worse at idle, if i bring the RPM's up to ~1200+ it seems to go away. it really sounds like air turbulance to me, when i open the hood it sounds like it's coming from around the airbox. if i put my hand on the air box i think i can feel a small vibration that (as best as i can tell) is only there when this 'howl' is present. everything is stock on the truck. i'm assuming it has an air silencer on it. has anyone had this happen to them before?

thanks
steve
 


ranger1999xlt

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My 1999 4.0L does that too. Mine only does it right after you start it when the engine is hot.
 

Loanranger

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MAKG

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Well, the second post is normal fan clutch behavior (it's SUPPOSED to turn on when it gets hot; cooler air through the radiator will turn it off). The first one is either a broken part in the airbox or somewhere else in the intake, or the aforementioned fan clutch. If it roars all the time, the fan clutch is probably locked up. It will cool fine this way, but makes noise and may steal some tiny amount of performance from the engine.
 

92 5 oh

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ya i've had a locked up fan clutch on my car. it's not quite the same whurling sound. i'm gonna have to pull the airbox, check the air filter. something else just occured to me, maybe i'll try to spin the air sensor on the intake tube-kinda like indexing spark plugs and see if that does anything. maybe i'll mess with the idle air control tooo....?? :-|
 

wa2be

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Hello,
i've got a 98 ranger with a 4L OHV, recently i've noticed a somewhat loud howl coming under the hood. it's worse at idle, if i bring the RPM's up to ~1200+ it seems to go away. it really sounds like air turbulance to me, when i open the hood it sounds like it's coming from around the airbox. if i put my hand on the air box i think i can feel a small vibration that (as best as i can tell) is only there when this 'howl' is present. everything is stock on the truck. i'm assuming it has an air silencer on it. has anyone had this happen to them before?

thanks
steve
If it sounds like a vacuum cleaner or something similiar, it's probably the Idle Air Control Valve. When these go bad, you get a loud howling sound that sounds like it's coming out of the airbox. The IAC valve is mounted on the outside of the upper intake manifold, just behind the throttle body. I bought a new one at NAPA a few years back and it took care of the problem.
 

sun417

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I have the same noise seems to come and go on my 97. I thought it might have something to do with the cold air intake I installed it seemed to start around that time. I know I am going to try the IAC valve sounds logical. I'll let you know if it works out or not.
 

PhdNPrerunners

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I have the exact same problem. Its pretty embarrasing being at a light and my truck is howling really bad. Is the IAC an easy fix?
 

PhdNPrerunners

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Also would it makes the truck jerk under acceleration?
 

wa2be

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Also would it makes the truck jerk under acceleration?
When my IAC valve went bad, I did not notice any changes in performance. It was just the annoying vacuum cleaner sound. Everything else seemed fine.
 

wa2be

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I have the exact same problem. Its pretty embarrasing being at a light and my truck is howling really bad. Is the IAC an easy fix?
Yes, very easy fix. It's mounted on the outside of the intake manifold, right behind the throttle body. Two screws hold it in place, and there's one wire clipped to it. Takes all of 10 minutes to change.
 

timmah

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my 95 just started to do that aswell, i took mine off and sprayed throtle body cleaner in it, let it soak awhile, cleaned the inside with a q-tip and no more howl out of mine
 

92 5 oh

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haha i forgot about this thread. i still haven't replaced the IAC. i did clean out real good once and the howling went away for a while. it does it intermittenly and it is embarassing when at stop light or especially a drive through lol. as mentioned above, it's really easy to replace. 1 wiring harness and 2 bolts. i've replaced a bunch of these on different ford vehicels, i've never noticed a performance difference or anything. just occasional stall when idling down or with the AC on. sometimes the idle will fluctuate as well.
 

StepsidePumpkin1998

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Holy cats, I've got the same problem... a howl SO DAMN LOUD that (I'm not even kidding) a drunk came up and knocked on my window in traffic the other day to ask me what that awful noise was.

Have taken it to my mechanic several times and he claims he can't "find" the problem. Will go back to him with this IAC info and see if he can find it now. Thanks!
 

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