I can't believe it! I don't know what I did, but now my Ranger idles good!

[Hardwareman]

For those of you that know I've been having a little bit of an idle problem. Whenever I came to a stop light or stop sign my Ranger would idle good for about 20 seconds or so and then drop in rpm's badly. Then when I would drive it to the next light or stop sign it would do it over and over again.

Well yesterday I removed my instrument cluster to replace three burned out bulbs and had to fix my light switch because the screws holding it from the backside have plastic female ends that broke. I just through bolted them and now you can see screws from the dash.........oh well, it works. Haha

While I was there I blew out A BUNCH of dust and dirt that has accumulated under/behind the dash with my air compressor. This was at night so I went to bed because I had to get up early for work. The battery was disconnected while working on it as well.

I got up this morning at 5:00am and took off at about 5:20am or so. I guess at first the computer was relearning because it seemed like business as usual and the truck was'nt going to idle right and randomly misfire at idle.....BUT when I arrived on the job the Ranger's idle stayed the same this time. Not just over the 20-30 second period but over 5 minutes! The Ranger has been running like this all day too! I had to lower my idle with the set screw I had previously turned up! The IAC still does'nt make the engine idle go lower when I disconnect it nor does it increase the idle with the A/C on but the Ranger DOES idle now. Am I on to something?

My temp gauge has'nt worked right in ages and does'nt work at all now, so I just manually moved it to where it should be when the engine's operating at normal temperature. I'm wondering if a bad cluster could make a Ranger run bad or effect engine performance now. What do you guys think?

Maybe it's just as simple as getting a new IAC valve? I mean, this one that I swapped out with the other was a used one as well so in essence it could be bad too right? The reading on my voltometer did show it to be "slightly" out of range (open circuit) but I thought it could still be good. I might just try a new one out and see how that goes now. Still not ruling out the PCM at this point though. Sorry for the long post.........rant over.




Allen

 

[Joelzme]

Well you can come over and clean out my instrument cluster anytime! Sheesh, I wish it would work on mine!

Glad to hear your running better. Perhaps I should try cleaning min out. BTW, when you are fully warmed up where is your temp sensor pointing? Mine is usually on the "N" in normal.

 

[rickcdewitt]

i know!,you must have fixed it during that drunken donut fest at 1:00am when you were completely frustated with your f!%&&*$# truck and was trying to kill it.
oh wait, that was me in high school.....

 

[Bryan22]

I've got a feeling if I fix my temp guage id have less problems too... hmmm i think i'll rip the dash apart on mine today too.

 

[BobbyB2300]

The battery was disconnected while working on it as well.

Did you disconnect the battery when you replaced the DPFE? Oh, congrata things are better now by the way!

 

[Hardwareman]

Hey Joel, I don't know about where it is when completely warmed up because it does'nt actually work.



NEVERMIND, it acted back up today. I took off to work this morning and everything seemed good but after I was done working and went to leave the job it idled like only one of the coils were firing. It's actually running good now, but it's an intermittent problem I guess.

I'm changing out the PCM and if that does'nt do it, I'm buying a newer Ranger.





Allen

 

[Booncha57]

Mine always seems to run better after I disconnect the battery for a little while, but that doesn't last very long. I was reading somewhere about fuel trims and if you have a bad mass air sensor that it will learn a lean mixture or something.

 

[Hardwareman]

Yeah, I'm just going to try out a new/rebuilt PCM from AutoZone. They want $127.00 plus an $80.00 core. I'll probably pay for the whole thing up front because it takes two days to get it. Then I'll get my core back after that.

If that does'nt fix it then I'll probably try the coil packs after that. I'm getting to the point now where if I can't fix it soon it'll be up for sale and I'm going to have to get a new truck, not brand new but like an 03-04. It's my work truck and I can't be playing this game with it for very much longer.

I stopped at a shop this morning tho get a quote and he said $85.00 to look at it, and that only covered an hours time! At that price I'll be paying about $400.00 or so to fix it so I think I'll throw a few more parts at it before completely giving up on the old girl.

After all, she's been good to me for a lot of years......haha




Allen

 

[Joelzme]

Hey Allen,

I paid the $85 and they said it was my MAF and I canged it. It's running much better but not perfect. That said, have you tried cleaning the MAF? It might help out. Sorry you're still chasing this. It's annoying, I know. Still trying to get my gremlins worked out. If you have no CEL on, then I don't think that the coil packs would be the problem. I'll really be interested in the PCM change out. I have not had good luck with autozone tho. You might want to try rockauto.com as they have the OEM part numbers listed for specific replacements.

You seem to have all the symptoms of a MAF problem: No CEL and intermittent idle problems.

Good luck bud and keep me informed!
Joel

 

[Joelzme]

Do you have a ODB-I or ODB-II on your truck?

 

[IDontCare]

pre 96 obd 1.. you should try cleaning out the maf sensor if you have one. it measures the air to calculate air fuel ratio by a wire if its got alot of carbon build up its probably not sending the right info to the computer causing the low idle.. worth a try and it wont cost u nothing http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/?p=26 dont clean it with carb cleaner use ELECTRICAL CONTACT CLEANER. and dont touch the wires or break them because replacing it is expensive..

 

[Mark_88]

I'd just change the MAF with one from the wreckers...it won't hurt and probably cost you much less than buying a new one...

 

[Hardwareman]

Yeah my Ranger is OBDII.

I've cleaned the MAF sensor, the IAC valve, and the entire throttle body as well. I also do have a CEL on but I don't know right now what the code is. Last time it was P0301, which means a misfire on cylinder #1.

I fixed that problem by switching out that coil with another used coil I had laying around. I threw the misfiring one in the trash. That temporarily fixed the problem but it's still missing at idle, even more if I mash the pedal off the line or let the motor slow me down. Like when going down a grade and letting the engine keep your speed down, the engine pops out of the exhaust when cold and doing this too. Does it when warmed up but barely.

I was thinking other then trying a PCM could it be my coils? There's a silver barrel thing bolted onto the coil tower and there's a wire that plugs into the harness. Does anyone know what this is?

I just got paid today so I'm really deciding if I should buy coils or a PCM. Which woulod you guys try first?




Allen

 

[Joelzme]

I know what silver coil you are taking about. It looks like a capacitor or something. Have no idea what it does tho.

Autozone will test your coil packs so get them checked out and if they are good then you could go for the PCM. While they are at it you should really get your codes pulled too. The misfire on 1 and a faulty coil pack seem like it would make sense, but who knows and you dont want to spend a ton of money throwing parts at it.

Do you have a dual coil setup or just one coil pack? If you have 2, you could switch them and see if the problem moves to another cylinder.

 

[Hardwareman]

Yes, it's a dual coil pack/plug motor.

AutoZone will no longer run the codes for you so that's been a major issue for me as well. I've actually checked the coils with my voltometer. It's a cheap one but it works. I'm just wondering if it's a temperature related problem with the coils you know, like when it warms up it runs better?If I swap the coil packs (which I've done) the problem is still there but I really don't know if the misfire has moved to another cylinder because I cannot get the codes without the scanner. Maybe I'll run out to the garage and check them again here in a minute.

That's why I was considering a PCM, because there's also the issue with my IAC not working right, the A/C will not turn on right away when I switch it on, the gauges are acting funny in my cluster as well. Could be that the engine's not running right but a PCM seems like the culprit.

I'm actually considering buying a scanner at this point. Just an "el cheapo"......hahaha

Does'nt Harbor Freight sell one?




Allen