Stalling when going into gear

[Fishin4dang3r]

1991 ford ranger XLT 3.0 2wd 112,00 miles

Went fishing and when I was done, truck stalls going into gear. Towed it home. Starts and idles great still, neutral is fine, can feel transmission engaging when putting it into drive or reverse, but immediately stalls and dies.
Checked vacuum hoses, sensors etc.
Looking to see what else it could be. During my search I did find one snapped wire and a bunch of frayed wires coming from the power distribution box. Any tips would be great, hoping not to have to tear into the transmission quite yet.

 

[franklin2]

Can you "help it" with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake and keep it running?

 

[Fishin4dang3r]

Can you "help it" with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake and keep it running?

Negative

 

[franklin2]

Sounds serious. I hope it's not the transmission. What happens if you shift to neutral? Can you start it in neutral? if you can, what happens when you shift to drive instead of reverse.

 

[Fishin4dang3r]

Sounds serious. I hope it's not the transmission. What happens if you shift to neutral? Can you start it in neutral? if you can, what happens when you shift to drive instead of reverse.

It will start in neutral, same thing happens going into drive, immediately stalls and dies. I got it to go into gear without stalling for about 15 seconds this morning. Going to order an IAC valve and see

 

[pjtoledo]

ah, go over your post 3 again.
if throttle does not help it I'm guessing the IAC won't either.

during this mornings 15 seconds did the truck move?

 

[Fishin4dang3r]

ah, go over your post 3 again.
if throttle does not help it I'm guessing the IAC won't either.

during this mornings 15 seconds did the truck move?

Yeah it moved, RPM seemed to be the issue, and during that time the throttle did help, but afterwards throttle didn’t help at all

 

[pjtoledo]

cheap/free test, what's the fuel pressure?
any chance the air filter is clogged?

does it rev up to 2000-2500 rpms in park and neutral? the computer will not allow it to rev past 3000 in park/neutral to protect the torque converter.

 

[Fishin4dang3r]

cheap/free test, what's the fuel pressure?
any chance the air filter is clogged?

does it rev up to 2000-2500 rpms in park and neutral? the computer will not allow it to rev past 3000 in park/neutral to protect the torque converter.

Air filter is good, haven’t tested fuel pressure yet, and I honestly didn’t pay attention to how high it would rev. I’ll test it when I have time this week. Are you thinking torque converter ? If it does rev higher than 3k would that be indicative of a torque converter issue?

 

[pjtoledo]

let's clarify a couple points.
if it revs up in neutral or park it is getting fuel and air. maybe not a lot, but at least some.

by factory design the computer will not allow the engine to rev past 3000 in park and neutral. that is to prevent damage to the torque converter.
what I'm saying is that if you try to rev it up to 4000 in park or neutral it won't do it.
if it does rev higher the computer is not doing its job to prevent that.