johndoby
New Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2009
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Vehicle Year
- 1996
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Manual
My dad's ranger was in desperate need of a good tune-up, so I took on the task of getting it tip-top for him. First and probably most importantly, the truck has over 200k, so it's not very fresh to begin with.
The idle is hit or miss...sometimes it wants to idle ok, other times it acts like it wants to go dead. There's a slight hesitation once you begin feathering the gas and clutch, then the rpm's pick up and it does ok. Throughout the rpm range (although there is a sweet spot), the engine misses and surges very slightly. It's not bucking, mind you, just slight inconsistencies. Just like the idle, sometimes it is better, sometimes it is worse.
Here's what I've done -
Installed a new clutch kit (unrelated)
New plug wires
New plugs (gapped to .044" per manual)
New air filter
New fuel filter
New O2 sensor (pre-cat)
Cleaned MAF sensor
Cleaned Throttle-body/IAC motor
Doing all of this gave the motor a noticeable increase in power, but the miss is still there. I should mention that unplugging the MAF sensor during idle improves the idle significantly, but the miss is still there under acceleration and cruising (w/MAF disconnected). I'm not sure if this is a sign that my MAF is bad, but I sure wish there was a better way than spending $100 to find out. Unplugging the IAC at idle almost kills the engine, so unless it is just out of spec, I don't think it's the culprit. Could the TPS be causing this kind of behavior?
I really hope someone is not as stumped as I am at this point.
Thanks for reading!
The idle is hit or miss...sometimes it wants to idle ok, other times it acts like it wants to go dead. There's a slight hesitation once you begin feathering the gas and clutch, then the rpm's pick up and it does ok. Throughout the rpm range (although there is a sweet spot), the engine misses and surges very slightly. It's not bucking, mind you, just slight inconsistencies. Just like the idle, sometimes it is better, sometimes it is worse.
Here's what I've done -
Installed a new clutch kit (unrelated)
New plug wires
New plugs (gapped to .044" per manual)
New air filter
New fuel filter
New O2 sensor (pre-cat)
Cleaned MAF sensor
Cleaned Throttle-body/IAC motor
Doing all of this gave the motor a noticeable increase in power, but the miss is still there. I should mention that unplugging the MAF sensor during idle improves the idle significantly, but the miss is still there under acceleration and cruising (w/MAF disconnected). I'm not sure if this is a sign that my MAF is bad, but I sure wish there was a better way than spending $100 to find out. Unplugging the IAC at idle almost kills the engine, so unless it is just out of spec, I don't think it's the culprit. Could the TPS be causing this kind of behavior?
I really hope someone is not as stumped as I am at this point.
Thanks for reading!