Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Dragonclaw
Member
Weird Idle issue...
Hi ladies and gents, although this is my first post asking for assistance here i have been using this this site for years to get info on my ranger, and i thank you all for your great info.
Ive run into a problem that I can not seem to fix and would like some assistance, but first I guess I should give some info on how i got to this point.
Back in 2005 my engine started to run badly so I took it to a mechanic that is a friend of mine. He checked the coil packs and found that the pack was not firing on one of the cylinders and told me to run to the napa down the road and buy another on and put it on. Problem solved or so I though. It seems that it may have not been firing for longer then I had known and had probably been messing up my valves on that cylinder, because a week or so later I blew the intake valve. I pulled the head off and since i had never changed a valve handed it to my uncle who is a mechanic. He replaced the valve and cleaned the head and brought it back to me. Everyone told me since i had the engine tore apart I should install and new timing belt, and there is where my nightmare started.
I put the engine back together, and of course installed new gaskets. I looked up the timing info on the Internet and also in my friends mechanic book, so I knew how to line it up. Once everything was back together it fired right up and seemed to run fine. I took it for a test drive and instantly realized something was wrong when my top speed was only around 50mph. Of course the first thing everyone tells me is the timing is wrong so I recheck it and its lined up properly, so I adjust it one notch clockwise and try it like that. It was no help. Well to shorten this a bit I proceeded in changing the timing a few more times going 2 notches both ways but nothing worked. Well then some one said it was probably the Cat so I dished out the 300bux and bought a new one because i was told it wouldn't run correctly w/o it since it had a O2 sensor after it, but this was also no help. Not being able to fix the problem and needing this vehicle to get to work i just drover it anyway, and since after all my messing around it finally was able to achieve 60mph I was OK as long as i didn't need to get on the freeway.
Well then when we where expecting our 3rd child and since my truck would never run right i figured i would just buy and new truck, also to make a long story shorter I no longer have that truck so im trying to get the ranger back running. Anyway the Ranger was parked for 3 years because of this and I have recently started working on it again.
Well i took it to my mechanic friend and he knew instantly that the timing was wrong and told me to tear it down. Just for the info he also proved this by finding TDC, doing Compression tests, and visually looking at the valves opening and closing. He then proceeded to time it manually ignoring the factory marking and found that it was 3 teeth off counter clock wise, and that the factory markings where just wrong. After that the truck ran like its old self, well almost and that is what brings me here.
First off I would like to thank you for reading this far and apologize for the long introduction, but I figured this info would help in diagnosing my problem.
Here is the problem. On occasion my idle seems to get stuck at 3k RPM. It seems to be a completely random problem and I have yet to be able to fix it. So far i have done the following things:
Changed the Idle Air Flow Sensor
Inspected for vacuum leaks
Cleaned the TB
Run Seafoam through
Still the problem persists. The problem shouldn't be old gas left from it sitting for 3 years as when I first got it running I added 5 gallons of fresh gas and left it running in the field for a few hours until it ran itself out of gas. Also the only CEL code i am getting is the old Purge Flow Sensor HO which i was told by many, some of them ford dealers, not to even worry about fixing.
Anyway I hope this is enough info to help me figure this out if anyone has the time. And I thank you in advance for any help given.
Hi ladies and gents, although this is my first post asking for assistance here i have been using this this site for years to get info on my ranger, and i thank you all for your great info.
Ive run into a problem that I can not seem to fix and would like some assistance, but first I guess I should give some info on how i got to this point.
Back in 2005 my engine started to run badly so I took it to a mechanic that is a friend of mine. He checked the coil packs and found that the pack was not firing on one of the cylinders and told me to run to the napa down the road and buy another on and put it on. Problem solved or so I though. It seems that it may have not been firing for longer then I had known and had probably been messing up my valves on that cylinder, because a week or so later I blew the intake valve. I pulled the head off and since i had never changed a valve handed it to my uncle who is a mechanic. He replaced the valve and cleaned the head and brought it back to me. Everyone told me since i had the engine tore apart I should install and new timing belt, and there is where my nightmare started.
I put the engine back together, and of course installed new gaskets. I looked up the timing info on the Internet and also in my friends mechanic book, so I knew how to line it up. Once everything was back together it fired right up and seemed to run fine. I took it for a test drive and instantly realized something was wrong when my top speed was only around 50mph. Of course the first thing everyone tells me is the timing is wrong so I recheck it and its lined up properly, so I adjust it one notch clockwise and try it like that. It was no help. Well to shorten this a bit I proceeded in changing the timing a few more times going 2 notches both ways but nothing worked. Well then some one said it was probably the Cat so I dished out the 300bux and bought a new one because i was told it wouldn't run correctly w/o it since it had a O2 sensor after it, but this was also no help. Not being able to fix the problem and needing this vehicle to get to work i just drover it anyway, and since after all my messing around it finally was able to achieve 60mph I was OK as long as i didn't need to get on the freeway.
Well then when we where expecting our 3rd child and since my truck would never run right i figured i would just buy and new truck, also to make a long story shorter I no longer have that truck so im trying to get the ranger back running. Anyway the Ranger was parked for 3 years because of this and I have recently started working on it again.
Well i took it to my mechanic friend and he knew instantly that the timing was wrong and told me to tear it down. Just for the info he also proved this by finding TDC, doing Compression tests, and visually looking at the valves opening and closing. He then proceeded to time it manually ignoring the factory marking and found that it was 3 teeth off counter clock wise, and that the factory markings where just wrong. After that the truck ran like its old self, well almost and that is what brings me here.
First off I would like to thank you for reading this far and apologize for the long introduction, but I figured this info would help in diagnosing my problem.
Here is the problem. On occasion my idle seems to get stuck at 3k RPM. It seems to be a completely random problem and I have yet to be able to fix it. So far i have done the following things:
Changed the Idle Air Flow Sensor
Inspected for vacuum leaks
Cleaned the TB
Run Seafoam through
Still the problem persists. The problem shouldn't be old gas left from it sitting for 3 years as when I first got it running I added 5 gallons of fresh gas and left it running in the field for a few hours until it ran itself out of gas. Also the only CEL code i am getting is the old Purge Flow Sensor HO which i was told by many, some of them ford dealers, not to even worry about fixing.
Anyway I hope this is enough info to help me figure this out if anyone has the time. And I thank you in advance for any help given.
Last edited:
