94 Ford ranger V6 - Help us please.

[CoreyJon]

Hey guys, Not new to the forums, but havn't really been around since the whole forum fiasco. We have had a 94 ranger parked out side, and in the garage for various phases of work. Lift kit, brake work, few other odds and ends. Well, needless to say, it wasn't started regularly like it was supposed to be, and the icing on the cake is the gas isnt great and the throttle cable sticks. Got it started, it was running very ruff, kinda going between 2500 RPMs and back down to 500ish, and very ruff, then back to a higher rpm, and runnning "better", but it kept fluctuating...all by itself. Pretty black smoke comming from the exhaust. My father had been revving it, and the like, trying to clean it out, when all of a sudden, the throttle cable stuck wide open and the rpms shot up to 5k or so. we quickly shut it down, but now she wont start. tried jumping it to no avail. When we turn the key we hear the selonoid clicking,and the lights dim. Possibly did the starter somehow get damaged....or worse. This truck is going to be for my brother who has been driving around a 89 jimmy that is litterally falling apart, and none of us think its very safe. Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys. Help us raise this truck from being dead.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

black smoke is sometimes a sign of a bad oxygen sensor. that would also explain the rough/erratic idle. i would pin this problem on a sensor of somesort.

 

[94 Rangerkid]

Hey man. My 94 did kinda the same thing to me one time and i had blown some of the vacuum fittings off of some of the lines. It was giving me a fluctuating idle like you said and it smoked too. But mine had not been sitting for a long time it was just a mess up on my part. Just a suggestion/something to look into.

 

[CoreyJon]

Ok, definately gonna check out the oxygen sensor and for any disconnected vaccuum lines. Anything else that we should check? Definately gonna make sure the battery is charger. Is there any way the starter got damaged by revving so high then being shut off while still revving being so high.

 

[fordman49450]

I would do a fuel pressure test, could be the regulator gave out and it's dumping like 90psi of fuel into the rail. also, pull the vaccum hose off of the regulator and see if it's full of fuel, if it is, thats your problem.

 

[Ditchdr]

First off lets get the starting issue fixed before we try to fix the running issue. Sounds like the started selinoid(sp) is stuck. Take a smal hammer and "gentley" tap it. If you dont know where it is, follow you postive battery cable it will lead you to a round thing on the inner fender, thats it. Now tap that and see if the truck will start. If thats not it try jumping it across the seinoid term's.. I have a feeing this will fix the issue.


Next the running issue. The throtle sticking is most likely a dirty throtle body. Rememove the air inlet hose going to the throtle body. spray some foamy carb ceaner in there and let it soack for 5 min or so. Now take a ole tooth brush open the throtle up wide open and scrub the blade and the throtle body its self. See carbon will buid up in there and make the throtle stick..

Next the running rough, it could be a o2 sensor, it could be a stuck EGR valve, or it could be fouled plugs. Befor you go throwing parts at it, try to scan the computer and get any codes. I am sure you will get a few cylinder misfire codes as well as some others.

This shoud give you a start.


I dont feel it is a vacume issure mostley due to the fact you said it had black smoke comming out of the tail pipe. If it had a vacume leake it would be getting air in the engine that the computer does not know about therefor leaning the engine reducing the smoke due ot the extra air in the engine.


Matt

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

Also check the IAC valve. The revving from 500 to 2500 all by itself is a classic symtom of a bad IAC. And I doubt it's the O2 sensor, the computer doesn't even use the input from the O2 sensor until the engine is warm. Since this seems to be a cold start issue, I'd check the engine coolant temp sensor.

 

[Psychopete]

My friend had a '96 2.3L with a jumping idle, sometimes it would hang at 2.5k, others it would drop to 500 and almost die. CEL was present. I thought IAC or EGR first, I told him to have the codes pulled.. He did replace the IAC with no luck. Turned out to be a cracked/broken ground wire. If the starter is not getting a good ground either, it may not be getting enough current to do anything with the starter. I ran into this issue with a V8 swap I did last year, had a not so decent ground to the motor and I thought the battery kept dying when trying to start it for the first time. Just a thought, it could definitely be something else, have the codes pulled. +1 to jumping the solenoid with a screw driver and go from there.

Pete