91 explorer stalls when you press gas from stop, difficulty restarting | Ford Explorer Forums

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91 explorer stalls when you press gas from stop, difficulty restarting

starla79

New Member
Joined
February 8, 2006
Messages
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City, State
Omaha, NE
Year, Model & Trim Level
91 XL
As a bit of introduction, the explorer in question has been in my family for some time now... it was purchased in 1990, been halfway across the country a few times, went into semi-retirement a few years ago, and I recently purchased it from my sister and sold it to my sister-in-law. It's had a few problems over the years (4WD, radio, gone through a couple of radiators) but nothing too serious recently.

SIL has suddenly started having problems with the car stalling at red lights - when she presses the accelerator, it will stall, then take 4-5 tries to get it started again. The problem is fairly random, occurs on full tank of gas or partial tank, regardless of whether the weather is cold or warm. In fact, the first time it happened was on one of our warmest days in the last couple of weeks - it got up to 72 that day. I don't know too many details, but every time she tried to start it that day it would stall, and after 4 or 5 tries start running without a problem. Problem has gotten steadily worse since then, but only seems to occur in the mornings on her way to work. I've been searching around online but haven't gotten any good leads. My best guess is that it has to do with the fuel lines or fuel filter, but if anyone here has any insight into the problem, i would appreciate it. She's going to take it to a family friend who is a mechanic and have it looked at soon, but I would like to have an idea of what might be wrong (or a way for her to mitigate the issue in the meantime) before she goes.

Any help you guys can give would be appreciated. :) Thanks much.
 



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Welcome to the board!! Is the check engine light on? If it is, there is a code set in the computer that might help to diagnose the problem. If not, one of the possibilities might be the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve going bad. Fords are known for his problem, and it would cause issues like you are seeing.
 






JDraper said:
Welcome to the board!! Is the check engine light on? If it is, there is a code set in the computer that might help to diagnose the problem. If not, one of the possibilities might be the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve going bad. Fords are known for his problem, and it would cause issues like you are seeing.

Yes, is the check engine light on?

Could be the IAC, PCV, a dirty MAF. Or a loose vacuum line.
 






Might be a combination of things. When I had my 91' the brake booster vacuum line kept coming off while i was driving, and if I gave it gas with that off, the RPM dropped pretty good, before rising back up. Yours might be the same, but you'd definitely notice/hear the brake booster line off. It could be anbother line, with the help of dirty engine parts that keep the engine from running when the RPM drops, instead of recovering.
 






i am having the same problem. how do i fix it?
 






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