Idle problems with '97 Ford Explorer

bmilla35 said:
Thanks! I did try that. I even joined explorerforum first. It received little attention which my prompted my posting here.
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I would only resort to asking questions after I had thoroughly searched the forum. Try as many key-words as possible and browse through the most popular threads.

Actually, of all the problems I had, every one was already posted about and solved, usually more than once.
Whenever I could not find an answer, I did more research to make sure I was searching for the right answer.

Though, there have also been times when I had money and just paid someone else to solve it. ;)
 
Nullity said:
I would only resort to asking questions after I had thoroughly searched the forum. Try as many key-words as possible and browse through the most popular threads.

Actually, of all the problems I had, every one was already posted about and solved, usually more than once.
Whenever I could not find an answer, I did more research to make sure I was searching for the right answer.

Though, there have also been times when I had money and just paid someone else to solve it. ;)
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You'll have to trust me on this one--I researched problems with it for HOURS. At work, after work, before work was ALL spent looking for what could be wrong. I compiled a list of what it COULD BE. By far, number one issue was MAF sensor; well, we can cross that off the list. But you're right, I found a lot of people with the same issues as me. Unfortunately, a lot of people seemed to forget to post what actually fixed their vehicle.
 
I had a 95 ranger with the 4.0l engine. I bought it in 2000 and had it till 08. I remember having isues like this several times, my 4.0l had the plastic air intake and had problems with vacuum leaks, check lower intake plenum for loose bolts... and if you guys are sure the iac is the problem... dont clean it, just replace it with new or refurb. I know its not cheap... but I had mine cleaned half a dozen times just to have it foul again and in the end had to replace it, but I only had to replace it once.
 
Sometimes pulling the battery is needed to reset certain components once installed. Couldn't hurt.
 
Tremec said:
I had a 95 ranger with the 4.0l engine. I bought it in 2000 and had it till 08. I remember having isues like this several times, my 4.0l had the plastic air intake and had problems with vacuum leaks, check lower intake plenum for loose bolts... and if you guys are sure the iac is the problem... dont clean it, just replace it with new or refurb. I know its not cheap... but I had mine cleaned half a dozen times just to have it foul again and in the end had to replace it, but I only had to replace it once.
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He replaced the intake, so it's possible that some bolts or something else is loose. In regards to the IAC, he just found a refurb for around $25! Hopefully that fixes the problem. If it doesn't I am leaning towards finding a place that has a smoke machine or something to see if there are any leaks.

cchu518 said:
Sometimes pulling the battery is needed to reset certain components once installed. Couldn't hurt.
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Worth a shot. Thanks for the idea.
 
Horrible news..

I went to advanced to check out if I had any codes. They told me their machine wouldn't give any unless the check engine light is on (which it wasn't). I explained to him what was going on, and when I said how my brakes are kind of spongy he was instantly convinced it is a vacuum leak. So we sprayed some carb cleaner. He thinks he found where it was and I left feeling good my mechanic could figure it out. I drove less than a mile when my check gauge light comes on. I go a little farther and pull into a parking spot. There is smoke coming out from under the hood and it was leaking oil..
 
Horrible news..

I went to advanced to check out if I had any codes. They told me their machine wouldn't give any unless the check engine light is on (which it wasn't). I explained to him what was going on, and when I said how my brakes are kind of spongy he was instantly convinced it is a vacuum leak. So we sprayed some carb cleaner. He thinks he found where it was and I left feeling good my mechanic could figure it out. I drove less than a mile when my check gauge light comes on. I go a little farther and pull into a parking spot. There is smoke coming out from under the hood and it was leaking oil..
 
My advice to you atty this time is to bite the bullet and pay a visit to the dealer. You might pay more up front for diag but they should get you squared away with no more guessing or throwing parts at it blindly.


Odds are the techs will know exactly what the problem is when they read the repair order.
 
I feel for you. Toyota in their effort to compact the Rav4 they stuck their vapor canister right underneath the car instead of in the engine bay like a normal car. They then put in a cheap stamp metal skid plate on it. Anyhow I crushed it at some point and went through two junkyard canisters trying to fix it turns out it was a hose issue. Ended up having to bring it in as there were some hoses that I couldn't get to to get the CEL to come off. Vac Leaks are the hardest to deal with.
 
Had the explorer towed to Pep Boys last night. They called me this afternoon and told me that they found a vacuum leak which should have taken care of the high idle problem and the leaking "oil" was actually coolant leaking from a cracked lower thermostat housing. It's a dealer part so he is going to call me tomorrow and see what I want to do. I must say, i'm definitely impressed with their service thus far.
 
bmilla35 said:
Had the explorer towed to Pep Boys last night. They called me this afternoon and told me that they found a vacuum leak which should have taken care of the high idle problem and the leaking "oil" was actually coolant leaking from a cracked lower thermostat housing. It's a dealer part so he is going to call me tomorrow and see what I want to do. I must say, i'm definitely impressed with their service thus far.
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I hope everything works out. :)

You have reminded me of the troublesome days with my current vehicle. It has been trouble free for a few years now, so I guess something is bound to happen soonish... hmmm
 
Nullity said:
I hope everything works out. :)

You have reminded me of the troublesome days with my current vehicle. It has been trouble free for a few years now, so I guess something is bound to happen soonish... hmmm
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Haha thanks! You better knock on wood.
 
bmilla35 said:
Had the explorer towed to Pep Boys last night. They called me this afternoon and told me that they found a vacuum leak which should have taken care of the high idle problem and the leaking "oil" was actually coolant leaking from a cracked lower thermostat housing. It's a dealer part so he is going to call me tomorrow and see what I want to do. I must say, i'm definitely impressed with their service thus far.
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Hope they get it resolved for you!
 
bmilla35 said:
Hey fellas, this issue has been plaguing me for over a year now and I desperately need help.

Here is my situation!

In brief: for over a year I was having problems starting my explorer (4.0L SOHC) from cold. Revving the engine for a few minutes or simply unplugging the MAF sensor for a few miles fixed the issue. We attempted to fix the issue by changing the Intake Manifold Gasket and Intake itself and it's worse.

If you're still interested in helping, I'll go in more detail below (fair warning, I know nothing about cars. My mechanic just suggested I try asking someone online)

Ok, here we go!

The rough idle issue has been around for a while. My dad initially thought it was the MAF sensor and tried several at the junkyard; none worked. For around a year I just warmed her up in the driveway. I wasn't a big fan of unplugging the MAF as the brakes felt funny and that scared me. Anyways, this summer I worked with a new employee who, after a long day, heard the explorer start up from cold. He had the same exact explorer and it had the same problems. He suggested a quick fix could be the MAF being dirty, and we proceeded to clean it. That didn't work. He then told me it's the Intake Manifold Gasket. I decided enough was enough, and before school I was going to have my mechanic fix it. He put in the gasket and it was worse. He said he found two cracks in the lower intake manifold so he put in a new one, and guess what? No improvement.

Now warming up amounts to nothing. The kicker according to my mechanic is when you unplug the MAF sensor it doesn't miss at all but idles very high (close to 3,000). You can try to run it, but it stalled on him randomly. With the MAF plugged in, forget about it. I would have troubles backing out of the driveway without stalling.

So, the obvious problem(for him at least) would be the MAF sensor itself just needs to be swapped with a new/refurbished one. It's very possible that the ones my father got from the junkyard were just that--junk. We have two in possession now and he isn't sure which one is the original. From my research I know that the numbers have to match up EXACTLY. I'm going to check on that tomorrow.

In the meantime, what is everyone thinking? Again, he wanted to emphasize the high rpm when MAF sensor is unplugged. The fact it runs smooth I guess rules out any vacuum leaks or problems with the fuel injectors.

I've read countless threads online and did research for hours and hours and hours but would love to know what you guys think.

Thanks for any input!
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first of all do you have throttle body injection?? if so then you have a computer that runs how much gas to feed the truck. I think you need to go somewhere that can hook up a computer that will look at your and tell you what it going on. that is what I would do.
 
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