1996 Explorer XLT 4.0 OHV - Stalling.. ?

[m4dioses]

Hey guys,

My wife has a 1996 Ford Explorer XLT. Today when she went to work she was backing in to her parking spot and the truck stalled and the battery light came on and check gauge light came on. She started the truck to go to lunch around noon today and the truck was in drive and moving forward and just turned off completely, again the battery and check gauge lights came on. As she was coming home driving down the road the car again stalled and both lights came on.

She said also while driving some times the truck will start to chug and act like it wants to stall but it will not..

The truck was stalling at start up for awhile and was sluggish going up hills fuel pump had only like 8PSI of pressure at the time so I recently had the fuel pump replaced on the truck and the EGR disconnected because there's a vaccum leak I can't find the source of.. after disconnecting the EGR there was a noticable performance increase. I also replaced the MAF at this time thinking it may be faulty and causing the stalling. This was roughly two months ago.

There's also two noticeable coolant leaks - one at the head (think it's just the gasket) and one that I can't identify but I think has to do with the intake manifold gasket. We need to add water/coolant roughly every 3 weeks. (Can't pressure the system because I'm pretty sure it'll finish off the head gasket leak and that's an expense we just can't have right now.

Is it possible these could have to do with the stalling? I'm pretty sure coolant has not made it to the oil yet from what I can tell, the oil is still pretty much oil and doesn't look milky or frothy.

I was in a bad wreck back on Easter and I'm wheel chair bound right now and have a hard time getting under the car or the hood without a ton of help and manipulating since I have over 30 pins in my leg up to my thigh right now but I'd like to fix this myself/test what I need to test if possible.

Thanks in advance for any advice/direction! Anything I missed please let me know.

 

[deweyville65]

Hey guys,

My wife has a 1996 Ford Explorer XLT. Today when she went to work she was backing in to her parking spot and the truck stalled and the battery light came on and check gauge light came on. She started the truck to go to lunch around noon today and the truck was in drive and moving forward and just turned off completely, again the battery and check gauge lights came on. As she was coming home driving down the road the car again stalled and both lights came on.

She said also while driving some times the truck will start to chug and act like it wants to stall but it will not..

The truck was stalling at start up for awhile and was sluggish going up hills fuel pump had only like 8PSI of pressure at the time so I recently had the fuel pump replaced on the truck and the EGR disconnected because there's a vaccum leak I can't find the source of.. after disconnecting the EGR there was a noticable performance increase. I also replaced the MAF at this time thinking it may be faulty and causing the stalling. This was roughly two months ago.

There's also two noticeable coolant leaks - one at the head (think it's just the gasket) and one that I can't identify but I think has to do with the intake manifold gasket. We need to add water/coolant roughly every 3 weeks. (Can't pressure the system because I'm pretty sure it'll finish off the head gasket leak and that's an expense we just can't have right now.

Is it possible these could have to do with the stalling? I'm pretty sure coolant has not made it to the oil yet from what I can tell, the oil is still pretty much oil and doesn't look milky or frothy.

I was in a bad wreck back on Easter and I'm wheel chair bound right now and have a hard time getting under the car or the hood without a ton of help and manipulating since I have over 30 pins in my leg up to my thigh right now but I'd like to fix this myself/test what I need to test if possible.

Thanks in advance for any advice/direction! Anything I missed please let me know.

I also have a 96 with the 4.0 OHV, or to be politically correct, cam in block. Buy yourself some time by using some good quality stop leak in the cooling system. Drain down the radiator to make room for the stop leak, do NOT put it in the reservoir. I have been doing this for a year and a half. Haven't needed to add any in the last 5-6 months. If you buy the large bottle, DO NOT use the whole bottle at one time.
As far as the stalling, sounds to me like fuel filter. I just recently changed my fuel pump, and could not believe there was NO dirt in the fuel tank. Truck is from Nebraska. They must be exceptionally clean there. But rusty.

 

[m4dioses]

What product did you use for stop-leak? There's one at wally world that's like $35 that looks decent but I've also seen K-Seal HD which is supposed to work well. My thing is putting that **** in there and winding up with more problems. Never been too big of a fan of the stop leak items.

Fuel Filter was replaced when I did the pump, should've mentioned that, my fault. Alternator tests a little low @ 12.4V. I've been wanting to replace the battery.. so we'll see.. I filled up with 50/50 89/93 Octane and we're at about a half of tank now and it's still running good. Hasn't stalled or chugged at all. Took it down to GA today (about 45min each way) with the wife and didn't notice any issues. I just don't know if it's electrical or not.. time will tell, damn money sink!!

Thanks for the input.. any advice on stop leak products would be greatly appreciated!