No Idle and Black Smoke

[VAFordman]

Hello friends, a couple of nights ago our 2003 4.0 5 speed started acting up. On the third stop of the night I started it and it just wouldn't idle. The idle bounced around and then it died. It would restart if I gave it a little gas, and would run enough to drive, but would die at stop lights.I could see smoke in the headlights from the cars behind me. It also didn't want to rev past about 3,000 rpms. I messed with a little when I got home but it was dark, so not much I could do. The next morning everything seemed back to normal. I walk to work so i haven't driven it since. Plus I'm a little reluctant to trust it. We are going to our cabin in the mountains for the Labor Day weekend and don't want to be stuck. Any thoughts as to what to check?

Thanks!

 

[RonD]

Drive it and see if it acts up again, could be a fuel injector stuck open, or ???, just need to drive it to see what happens.
Short trips but make sure it gets fully warmed up.

And there is no "gas pedal" on fuel injected engines, it's an "air pedal" so when you have to press down on the "gas pedal" to keep a fuel injected engine running it means it needed more AIR not more fuel.