Seriously...what the heck.

[Mforrest327]

'92 Ranger 2.3L and stick...USED to run just fine and now she is acting up....again. A little while back it started running a little rough when first starting and cold...just kind of stumble a little bit but cleared up in a minute or 2. It has gotten worse and worse as the weeks have passed and now it will die as soon as I start it. Will run for a few seconds and will die unless I get on the throttle. Takes a couple revs to keep her running once I start it but once she starts idleing on her own and I try touching the throttle, it will stumble die unless I give it half of more peddle. Valves have been clattering more and more lately so dont know if its related. Just dont know what to do to fix it. I have read these other posts but its not running bad after a few minutes...its right when it start and once she starts warming up, it will run just fine.

 

[Daedalus]

Check your throttle body and IAC for gunk and clean them up

 

[BlackBII]

Yes, I would first pull off the IAC and clean and inspect it. The plunger inside should move freely back and forth, also check your engine and body grounds, make sure they are all free of corrosion.

The IAC will look like this:

 

[Mforrest327]

I know this sounds dumb, but what is an IAC? I get lost with all the initials parts have floating around.

 

[Daedalus]

It's the Idle Air Control valve

 

[Mforrest327]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Where is this unit located at so i can check it? I looked for a few minutes yesturday but didn't see it.

 

[Daedalus]

Its on the side of the throttle body

 

[Mforrest327]

Well i took the two phillip screw out of the middler and opened it up to see the plunger. It was clean inside and the plunger was still springy. wasn't sure if I had to take it off from the throttle body or just sperate it in the middle. After playing with it, i started it up and tried to go but it was stumbling and trying to die. Couldn't even take off unless I eased the clutch out at around 3k. Not cool. I have also notice now that Im listening to her better, that I have a slight miss. My timing is correct and brand new plugs. Higher rpms and she runs like a striped ape. This is my first truck with DIS so can the coil packs be a factor?

 

[steve63]

its possible,also check youre MAF sensor ,the little wire in there could be dirty and sending the wrong signal

 

[Mforrest327]

I was thinking about that yesturday and will be cleaning it today. But wouldn't it do it wether it was warm or cold?

 

[Bryan22]

check the fuel pressure.

 

[Mforrest327]

Thats what Im doing tomorrow. I'll be headed to the parts store...again, and need to get a code reader, some MAF cleaner and a fuel pressure guage. Now if it was my fuel pressure, would't it do it even when its warm and I let it sit for a couple of hours?

 

[Bryan22]

misssed that part of ur original post, but fuel pressure guages are handy and testing is easy. Is the chack engine light on? if you don't want to spend the money on a reader there is a nice write up in the tech section on pulling codes with a test lite.

 

[Mforrest327]

No, I can get a OBD I ford code reader for 30$ at Kragen. I did, however, decide to clean my MAF this morning right after my last post. That turned into cleaning all the air intake piping...which turned into taking off and cleaning my throttle body which lead to taking the upper plenum off and cleaning and doing a little dremle work to it. Ya, i get great ideas when I've been up for more then 24 hours but I tell you what, after the 7 cans of parts cleaner and hours of scrubbing and grinding...she runs like a bat out of hell! I was just expecting it to run a little smoother with all that black crap cleaned out of there and wasn't really expecting my crappy grinding job to do anything but boy does she run now. Not sure if it solved the cold running problem, i'll find out in the morning. Oh, sorry to ramble, but yes I do get a check engine light after about 15-20 minutes of just normal grandma driving or about 3 minutes if Im pretending its a race car....need to get the reader.