New to me Ranger - idles bad - tranny probs

[bryanb]

Hey all,

I just brought home the inherited '89 Ranger. its a 2.3L dual plug head, with the A4LD tranny.

Had some work to do before I drove it 1000+ miles home. Replaced the spark plugs, wires. Changed the oil/ filter. Changed the differential fluid. Purred like a kitten...

About 1/4 the way home, it started to idle real bad. Down to about 600 rpm, and sounds like its missing a cylinder, maybe. chug - chug - chug - chug - chug - chug.... Seems to run fine off idle, and at cruising speed.

Don't know if its related, but it also started to shift in to D, and R real hard. The whole truck twists, and with the brakes held on, it will still chirp the tires going into D.

Any quick easy things I can try to look for here?

 

[srteach]

Sounds like a vacuum line fell off. Check your vacuum lines to make sure they are on and tight.
Did you replace the PCV valve? That is sometimes a hidden vac leak.

 

[bryanb]

Sounds like a vacuum line fell off. Check your vacuum lines to make sure they are on and tight.
Did you replace the PCV valve? That is sometimes a hidden vac leak.

As far as I can tell the vacuum lines look good. But I don't know much about them. A friend has a vacuum gauge, but is still looking for it.

I pulled all the plugs out tonight, and they all look pretty much new, with only 1000 miles on them.

The compression is 90-90-90-130 on cylinders 1-4, respectively. thats kinda odd, I thought.

The PCV valve isn't new, but it looks good. Not all full of gunk, and fairly dry, and jiggles like its supposed to.

 

[feellnfroggy]

MAF could have gone bad, or the coils could be going bad. start teh truck and pull the wires off one at a time right at the coil and keep it about 1/4 inch away and see if you have spark on each wire.