Intermittent Rough Idle

[GrumpierGrunt]

Hi All,

Long time ranger owner, first time poster.

Own a ‘99 Ford Ranger 3.0 Flex Fuel Automatic Single Cab. 119,000 miles

I’ve been experiencing an issue lately with intermittent rough idle. When I start up the truck cold, it’s fine, runs as normal.

However, when I drive around and let park it for twenty minutes or so, it’ll start fun but run really rough. Like whole truck jerking and bouncing around. Once I hit the accelerator it smoothes out to a point where it feels normal until I get back to an idle position. If I drive it like this for long enough, eventually I’ll get a check engine light, pulled code P0302. Misfire Cylinder #2. Also smell gas. Once it’s cold and has sat for a couple hours, it’ll start up like nothings wrong again.

Plugs and wires haven’t been changed in about 10 years ~ 40,000 miles. Not sure about the injectors. Should I start with plugs and wires? I need to replace the valve cover gasket, so I could get to the injectors when I do that, but was going to wait until the spring.

thanks,
Chris

 

[franklin2]

Yes I would start with the plugs and wires. If you do not want to spend the money, you can inspect the wire and the plug on #2 and see what they look like. You could also swap #2 plug and wire with another one that would fit and see if the problem was still there and if it moved to the other cylinder.

 

[GrumpierGrunt]

Just wanted to follow up on this, changed wires, plugs, ignition coil, and air filter. Problem solved