Ford - Explorer :: 1998 - Rough Idle Sometimes / Dies Completely Without Warning
Dec 13, 2003
ok, 3 times now I've been extremely close to being hit head on by oncoming traffic due to a seemingly uncurable stalling problem. It idles rough sometimes, and other times it seems fine. BUT when sitting at a light, waiting to turn left after the oncoming traffic has a quick opening, I start to go, I get halfway across the intersection and then without warning, it dies completely. Now its too late to stop and back up- and the cars are flying head on towards you locking up they're brakes. One time I would have been killed by the 18 wheeler that was coming if I hadn't gotten it started and moving again just in time.
I replaced the IAC, the plugs, filters and wires, and the EGR valve. I checked everywhere for intake leaks and found nothing. Changed the O2 sensors since they had plenty of mileage on em. It idles like crap still, even after 30+ tanks of every kind of injector cleaner they make. We used the snap on scanner tool to monitor things and it never acted up then. The TPS seems to move smoothly, and fuel pressure was checked and found to be around 25-30 psi. Don't know if that's normal. The intake air temp was reading a constant 120 degrees F. I also checked the fuel cap to make sure it was closing completely. The dealer checked the TB for excessive clearance and said it was ok.
It seems to only stall like that after driving on the highway and then stopping at the first light after that.
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I have an 87 ranger that has started having problems over the last week or so. I had a similar problem a year or so ago. I put a new fuel pressure regulator on and it fixed it. So it started acting up again so I got another regulator and it didn't work at all. It won't idle at all without dying. The motor revs up then cuts out completely and dies. It's like I'm repeatedly pressing the gas pedal when I do get it to idle but I'm not touching it at all. It runs fairly well on the road until I let off the gas then it goes to shaking and jumping up and down till I get back on the gas.
A guy told me to unplug a little cigarette pack shaped plastic box and see if it changed anything. I think he called it a map sensor? But that didn't do anything. I was thinking maybe the fuel filter was clogged up but I don't really know. It is fuel injected 2.9 4x4 regular cab. About 110000 miles. Not sure if filter has ever been changed. It doesn't smoke or smell like gas so I'm thinking it's starving for fuel.
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Ive been having a problem where the engine cranks and idles, sometimes rough, then I try to accelerate and the car shakes and accelerates very slowly with shaking. I replaced plugs coil and leads and fuel filter with no effect but put on a new egr valve and that fixed the problem for 2 months. The same thing happened again and I cleaned the evr solenoid and that fixed the problem for 1 month. Then the same thing happened while I was out and while limping home it fixed itself. Now a month later, the same thing happened, but when I got home and shut it off, the engine won't idle properly (very rough) for 6-9 seconds then dies. I don't know what to check at this point. Thinking it may be vacuum related or possibly a fuel injector or magic gremlins at this point.
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'1999 F150, 5.4L, 85K miles ....
Fuel pump failed last year, had it replaced. Ran fine for a week or 2, then one day went into limp-home mode. Mech replace fuel pump relay, again ran fine for a month or so. Now when the ambient temp gets above 80F or so (yeah, it has already this year - I'm in Central TX), engine at full op temp, I'm experiencing some sort of heat-soak issue. Engine runs fine when cold, and at normal op temps on the road, but if it is parked for 15 - 20 minutes then restarted, the idle goes all funky - nearly dies, surges, etc. for a minute or 2, and then it seems ok.
I would go back to the same mech, but he had to close his shop due to health issues, so I'd like to see if I can resolve this. So, it is definitely heat-triggered, and "seems" like a fuel issue, but of course it could be some electrical contact having difficulty above a certain temp.
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I have a 98 ford explorer just changed the alternator and now its running rough also it sounds louder than normal from the muffler. I am clueless, what the problem can be?
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I have a 98 sport 4.0 i bought awhile back and its been running rough.. When driving it seems to cut out.. I had it scanned and it has code PO453 which is pressure sensor.. I was told they replaced the fuel pump when i got it.. After driving and i get out i can smell gas on the drivers side.. I replaced the gas cap but no change.. I was just wondering about this code and what i should start with first..
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I have a 1999 B4000 4.0L with 160K miles on it. Bought the truck new. Up until about a year ago it ran perfect but has developed an idle, stalling and occassional jerky ride problem. It occurs at any temperature, engine hot or cold, A/C clutch on or off and in Park, Drive or Neutral. When you start the engine it will not idle unless you keep your foot on the gas. The idle speed will drop to 200-300 rpm and the engine dies. Sometimes you can barely tap the gas pedal and the rpm will shoot up to normal idle speed (about 900 rpm) and stay there a few seconds then begin to drop again. If the engine is cold it will often die a couple times after starting even with the foot on the gas and then about the 2nd or 3rd time run with your foot on the gas.
At stop signs and red lights you have to keep your foot on the gas to keep it running. If you are approaching a stop sign and take your foot off the gas to coast to a stop and brake, the engine rpm will drop and the engine will die. It always starts fine though. Once you are driving it generally runs just fine at low or high speed. You can generally set the cruise control on the expressway and cruise right on. However, sometimes all of a sudden the truck will start bucking and jumping as if it has a terrible misfire. It usually lasts a few seconds and quits. Often if you step on the gas it quits. Even less occasionally the engine will begin to slow as if it is starved for fuel and slow down. You can press the pedal to the floor and it sputters a bit then picks up and runs fine.
I have read about all the threads in this forum and others and tried some of the suggested fixes but it still has the problem. I have tuned it up with new plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter and PCV valve. Based on some of the forums advice I have replaced the IAC valve, the EGR valve and EGR Pressure Feedback Sensor, and cleaned and inspected the MAF sensor with MAF cleaner. I have checked all my vacuum lines and no leaks there and checked the engine timing which is fine. Fuel rail pressure and engine compression are also fine. Spark plugs show no clues, exhaust is clean and the engine uses virtually no oil. There has been no tear down on the engine like removing the heads, cam, timing gears or any of that and the engine is completely stock.
It shows no codes related to the problem. Two or three months after the problem started I showed a code that indicated an injector problem, traced the problem to a bad injector, replaced the faulty injector and it was fine. That took care of that code but didn't solve the idle problem. In my younger days I was into drag racing and I rebuilt engines, swapped transmissions, etc. and still do my own tune-ups today so I am fairly familiar with auto repair and have most of the tools for testing newer cars but this one stumps me. As a last resort I'm about to take it to the dealer.
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I just replaced the water pump and put it all back together, now it won't run well enough to drive. Checked vacuum system, all sensor connections, hoses, gas cap, changed fuel filter, I can hear the fuel pump kick in, reset system with battery disconnected and have looked at everything I can think of so far.
Now - starts fine, idles about 10 seconds and then begins to idle rough and dies. If I use the throttle I can often keep the idle up, but then backfires or acts like no fuel and again dies. Used fuel cleaner and made sure there was plenty fuel in tank.
I am looking at replacing sensors at this point but which one first?? They get a bit expensive real quick.
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I just bought a used 98 chevy metro. I drove it over a total of 30 miles on test drives. Every thing was as it should be. Now it dies at idle and is difficult to restart. I have to wait til it cools down completely to get it to fire again.
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My 06 currently has 296k miles. 3 years ago I put a lot into her. Dummy plugs, stand pipes, STC, hg,studs, oil cooler, bpd egr cooler. Cleaned spool valves and fresh o rings in injectors. (Alliant) plus a lot more that I can't remember. Ran very very well after all that.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Driving down road and truck died as I let off pedal to slow down for turn onto my road. Took about 7-8 tries to get started back up. Icp was reading in the 300's until it finally started. Made it home. Shut it off. And started right back up.
Few days later truck died again same way. Let off to make a turn. Several attempts to restart icp was in the 300's again. Once it started building 420ish it sounded like it was firing a few injectors and slowly started running. The next time it happened the same way but when I got it back running I eased to my inlaws like less than a mile. When I got to their house and pulled in and went to back up to turn around the display on dash said low oil pressure and started missing a little. So once I got home started researching.
A few days ago I pulled out the low pressure oil regulator to check it out. It was clean but did have some mild scaring. I used some fine scotch rite and smooth it out a a little. It moved freely in the bore so I put it back together. Then pulled the oil filter cap off to check the little black valve. I noticed the filter was not dripping with oil like normally when I change the oil. And yes it's motor craft filter and cap. It checked out ok. Press it down and turned engine over and it filled and held. Let off of it and it drained.
Next I air checked the high pressure side. Applied air and waited until I could hear the air (IPR still open) then closed the IPR. Couldn't hear any leaks. Just a very very minor his and couldn't pin point where. So I went ahead and went to dealer and got new stand pipes and plugs. And ordered new print set for injectors. Pulled injectors and didn't see any smoking guns. Replaced prongs, stand pipe and dummy plugs and put it all back together. Cleaned the injector cups and hold down bolt holes. Torqued injectors to spec.
Got it all done and rotate motor by wire next to heater blower to assist prime system. Tried to start it up and it took two tries but fired right up and sounded smooth as hell. After it idled a few minutes I saw a haze from exhaust. It smelt just like fuel. A few minutes later started idle a little rough. Gave it some go pedel and it was rougher at about 1600-1800rpms and couldn't feel it above 2k. Got my laptop out with AE and done balance test. Did not show anything. No codes either.
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I am currently working on a 97 ranger with a 4cyl and 5 speed. its having some idle issues that i cant seem to pin point, you can start it and it will idle rough then when you rev it up it chugs real hard then dies. used my scan tool and all the sensors are good, fuel pressure is good, good compression, all 8 plugs are firing good and no codes. The other deal that has me a little confused is when I unhook the hose that runs from the air intake tube to the valve cover, I get a lot of vacuum at that port on the valve cover that the hose hooks to. Also when I plug it and pull the dipstick, I get vacuum at the dipstick tube. never seen this before but at the same time I've only messed with very few of these trucks so I don't know whats normal.
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Getting these lean codes P1131, P1151, P0171, P0174. I was getting a knock sensor code before but not now. It will not idle it just dies and runs rough till I get at higher rpms gotta feather the brake and gas to go anywhere.
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When I start the truck it hard to start and the idle is rough but when it warms up it seems to get better but still miss fires now and then so i was thinking could it be a bad O2 there is now "CEL" because the battery was dead (installed a new one) and the truck has not been on the road yet (want to get everything fixed first) and update on the door alarm will be working on that tomorrow almost forgot 2002 explorer 4.0L "E" for the vin 4 wheel drive 124k on it.
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I have some major problems with my explorer. The idle is rough and accelerating is rough also. If I nearly put it to the floor it almost seems like it studders the power. it will feel great for a second that feels like it's less power for a second then more and less and more and less. When I'm sitting at idle, it will idle fine then after a minute or so it will bog way down and shake the whole vehicle. when that happens I give it some gas and it comes back to normal idle then it does it again after sitting for another minute. I've replaced spark plugs, wires, alternator, oil change and some tires. I've been told by many mechanics it could be the IAC Valve or the fuel pump or the fuel filter or a vacuum leak.
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My explorer has been running a little rough, particularly at idle. When I take off from a rough idle, it'll run rough until I hit 25-30mph. I ran by O'Reilly's hoping to pick up a pack of spark plugs and be done with it, ended up leaving with a new MAF sensor. It ran better for about 10 miles (I'm a delivery driver, so I did a lot of stop and go immediately), before it ran even worse than it did before, but at least my CEL finally came on. Took it back to O'Reilly's and they read a MAF sensor code and a catalytic system code (didn't ask for the codes, and now realize that was a mistake).
So today I took it to a muffler shop to have the catalytic system diagnosed. They looked at it for 10 minutes and told me they didn't think it was the converter. They said it seemed more like the EGR valve or solenoid, or the IAC. He scanned the codes again and got multiple "running lean" codes (0171, 0174, etc). The guy said I didn't have a vacuum leak, so I think I can rule that out. Unfortunately, the truck idled fine the whole time so he didn't feel comfortable giving me a definitive answer. He told to to leave the EGR valve hose unplugged for a few days and see if anything changes. I'm thinking about running a bottle of fuel cleaner through it or taking off the IAC and/or EGR and cleaning them myself.
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99 explorer 4.0 automatic, lately been running weird. Starts up but will stall out unless you let it warm up. And idle drops below 500 rpm. And is really rough feeling. To like 2 or 300 rpm, then will stall but will start right back up. When I changed spark plugs and wires problem stopped for about 2 weeks and now is back. And has no engine code.
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What can cause my 99 explorer xlt to have a rough idle on initial start ups?(Its worse in the winter time) And sometime after driving places when i put it in park the truck will cut off. It has the 6 cylinder SOHC if that's useful.
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Bought a used 2003 Explorer 4X4 that runs like crap.... All I know is it has new upper and lower radiator hoses, new battery, new brakes, 2 new tires and new belts... suspension seems great and body is nice too. It obviously needed a new radiator and complete exhaust, so I did those. Now it is running better ( I can actually get the RPMs over 1500) but still running rough and will stall if I let off the gas. It will surge and dip in RPMs. Very suspicious of vacuum leak.
Unplugged the MAFS and it roared upon start but within a minute started the sputtering etc. Currently pulled the IAC and check continuity between pins and it was 10 ohms so that passed but there is no continuity between either pin and the case. So this seems to indicate I need to replace the IAC which I will do tomorrow. I would love to find a diagram that displays the vacuum system so I can make a thorough check of it. Also seems to have an oil leak on drivers side valve cover gasket.
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I understand there is not much adjustable on my 98 Ranger (2.5L) as far as idle speed and mixture. It runs rough when started cold. Is this a sign to replace spark plugs?
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A couple of days ago (Friday, Sept 14th), I noticed my 98 V8 5.0 liter Mountaineer was idling rough. I had the codes pulled and got P1401, P0455 and P0308. I did find a vacuum leak and fixed it (changed the air filter and cleaned the MAF while I was in there). I also replaced all the plugs (based on the P0308 misfire). I cleared the codes after that with a neg battery pull.
I'm still running slightly rough at idle, but not as bad. However, I have found that when I get up to about 45MPH (1500 RPMs) I started to get a worrisome shaking/ vibration. It's difficult to tell where it is coming from. If I let off the gas, or give it more and go up to about 50 mph, the shaking stops. It is only when I'm pressing the pedal in this range (like it is having trouble switching gears, perhaps?). Over the past two days of driving it and testing, I have been to autozone and had the codes checked. Nothing comes up, and no CEL.
I just had a new trans put on about 6 months ago. The only thing that preceded this issue was I got an oil change the day before this started at a place I don't normally go to (unlikely, but since they didn't write the type of oil they used on my window tag, I figured I'd mention it). I've read some suggest it to be a tire issue; but that strokes me as odd, since the shaking only happens when applying gas.
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My 98 Chrysler sebring has a fast idle at about 1500, occasionally dies but will restart, and has been making the garage smell like gas. Can't seem to figure out the problem.
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