1986 ford ranger

[thejdman04]

I have a 1986 Ford Ranger, 2.9 v-6 4x4, 5spd manual. The truck has right at 184,000 miles on it. I am currently unemployed, so I am not looking at getting a new vehicle and I have already spent way more on the truck then what it is worth trying to fix it. All within a week (this all started happening at the same time). The motor would run rough going down the road,it would shake and shutter and have a miss to it, no power, and then it would run fine. It might run fine for 5 minutes or 1 hour with no problems, then it would act up. It might act up for 5 minutes of 1 hour. That problem got fixed when I put a new oxygen sensor on the truck. The fuel gauge quit working (which I have narrowed down to it being the fuel pump). The problems I am still having are:
-The truck surges when the truck is just sitting there idling (the tach doesn't work so I am not sure how much it is surging not a lot, but some)ie truck revs up, goes back to idle, or slightly below factory idle then revs up.
-When you are pulling up to a stop sign, and you push the clutch in to stop, the truck idles very low, idles normally, the truck idles very low and then dies. (oil pressure light comes on) It does this at most every stop sign, the truck dies when you push the clutch in an come to a stop/coast. The truck ALWAYS starts up right away and it surges a bit (revs up/idles down), but the truck runs pretty smooth(no missing just inconsistent idling speed).
-When you are driving down the road and let off the accelerator, the truck pops and sounds as if it is back firing, I do have an exhaust leak between the Y pipe and the tail pipe (where it goes back to the back of the vehicle. )
The mechanic I have been taking the truck to, says that the popping and "backfiring" I am hearing is just cold air getting sucked into the exhaust system with the hot air when I let off of the accelerator. (I dont know if this is true or not.)
-Whenever it is cold outside 32 or colder and the truck is cold when you first go to start the vehicle, the starter motor just whirls and doesn't engage into the flywheel. If you bump the starter 2 or 3 times it usually engages and starts the truck just fine. After the very first time you get the truck going in the morning, the starter works fine the rest of the day until it sits again over night.

What I have done to try to correct the starter problem: (the truck acts the same before as it does now after all these repairs):
-First I put on a re manned starter from advanced auto. My old starter tested fine but the guy at advanced told me that sometimes they test ok on the stand because they have "unlimited" power coming from the wall, when you put the starter on the truck in the vehicle and they just have a battery to work off of, they don't work properly.
-Brand new starter solenoid on the fender by the air box
-Brand new battery
-Brand new battery cables from the battery to the starter solenoid, from the solenoid down to the starter
-I also ran a ground cable from the battery down to the frame, and from that point on the frame to the engine block. I have double triple and quadruple checked all the connections to make sure they are clean, tight, and bright. I have went through the entire system. I have made sure that there is 12 volts coming from the ignition system to the starter solenoid, which to me rules out the clutch safety switch and the ignition switch itself.
-While the starter was off I turned the motor over with a pry bar and checked the teeth on the flywheel, all look good.

-For The dieing at stop signs issue I have:
Put in brand new Bosch 2 spark plugs
Brand new Bosch Wires
A new fuel cap
The mechanic have have taken it to has
put in a new distributor the whole distributor, he said the other one the gear at the bottom was wore out, but the came is fine (300 bucks for that)
I put on the new oxygen sensor (which did correct the problem of it running rough while accelerating going down the road)
The mechanic has hooked up a fuel pressure gauge and the fuel pressure holds fine while driving down the road and when you shut the truck off he stated
The mechanic has checked the timing
The mechanic has checked for vacuum leaks, ting into the system and using a hand held pump to check for vacuum leaks. He said the truck will hold vacuum sitting overnight.
No offense to any one, but I am just stating that this is a bona fide mechanic, not just some shade tree mechanic, which, like I said no offense to anyone, but just saying this is someone who has a mechanic business and all the diagnostic tools and he is stumped as well.

Since this all started happening at once, the thought was it is maybe one thing causing everything (a ground problem) etc but as I said the fuel pump is performing properly, the timing checks out ok. I have spent more then 800 dollars trying to get this truck fixed and am completely stumped, as is my mechanic. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[piotrsko]

the crappy idle at stop signs: don't stop.

OR: you COULD take the throttle stop screw and give it no more than 2 turns open, OR (better still) you could clean out the IAC thingey on the passenger side of the manifold with a $1.99 can of carb cleaner. I 'd also spray the intake and check to see if the throttle position sensor has gone bad (skips and stuff when tested) the two turns open thing gets you past the worn spot and not usually too far into the weird idle stuff.

for the starter, I would jump the two big posts on the starter solenoid with a big steel bar when it is cold and see if that makes it work 1 st time. they do go bad sometimes. I'd also take an old one out and spray the kicker mechanism with WD-40, but you did say you had a new one.

if the fuel gauge reads empty then the sender in the fuel tank is worn out. you can fix those if you pull the unit out of the tank. if it reads full, then the problem is in the dash.

Any black stuff on the exhaust pipe? if it is really black and thick then the backfire is from being way too rich, other wise leave it alone, or fix the leak.

there I've spent about 5 bucks of your money, but that should start fixing stuff.

 

[thejdman04]

I turned the idle up as far as it would go, there is a idle screw with a spring, it is idling pretty fast, and the surge hasn't gone away. The truck still pops and shudders and back fires even in the driveway , if you rev it up and let all the way off. I cleaned out the iac and throttle body(which was pretty bad) with simple green, which was recommended by the parts store, they say it will dry without leaving a film on anything. I jumped the starter solenoid with a screw driver and the starter still whirls. That would lead me to believe that the problem is with the starter, but as I said the remanned starter I put on the truck acts the same as the old one, and both tested fine. I appreciate your help