96 Explorer Lurch & choke problems

[SA-Xplorer]

Hi. My 96 Ford Explorer 4.0L ran dry (no gas) and since then when it gets hot after about 30 minutes or +/- 20km driving, it starts to surge and choke then as it is about dead, it fires again with another surge and then chokes. But when I take my foot off the gas it idles perfectly. When I rev the engine in neutral also fine. It revs freely. Only under load does it lurch. It also only does this under medium to heavy acceleration and over about 2000RPM. If I let it cool, it goes fine for about 20-30 minutes. If the engine is still warm and I ride away, it does the choking lurch. I have just bought it and the only other thing I did was to take off the airfilter to see how if it was clean, and wipe down the airintake pipe. Any suggestions please? Thanks

 

[2000StreetRod]

14 years of crud

Your fuel pump probably sucked up some of the 14 years of crud that had accumulated on the bottom of your fuel tank. You might get by with just changing the fuel filter but may end up having to pull the fuel pump and clean the strainer. I suggest adding fuel injector cleaner to your fuel tank after replacing the fuel filter.

 

[SA-Xplorer]

Aarrgghh!!

Thanks for that. I suspected a blockage or something like that. Being that I am in South africa, I will have to order a fuel filter. IS it necessary to bleed the fuel line if this happens? can the line get airlocks?

 

[2000StreetRod]

return fuel system

On your model you have a fuel pressure regulator mounted on the fuel rail that returns excess fuel back to the tank. I've never heard of anyone having to bleed the fuel system to remove air once fuel makes its way to the fuel rail. If you have fuel at the test port you should have fuel at the rail.

 

[SA-Xplorer]

relief!

Well thats one thing less to do. thanks for the intel. It is really appreciated here near the South pole! (relatively speaking)

And a shout out to all who put this forum together and all the fundi's that help us technically challenged....THANKS GUYS!