Cleaned MAF, IAC Valve, Sea Foamed and now no Idle? | Ford Explorer Forums

  • Register Today It's free!

Cleaned MAF, IAC Valve, Sea Foamed and now no Idle?

Skibug

Well-Known Member
Joined
June 21, 2004
Messages
321
Reaction score
0
City, State
Pensacola, FL
Year, Model & Trim Level
96 Sport 4x4
Ok, I was helping out a friend with an Explorer that is about as mechanically illiterate as they come. I cleaned the MAF, Cleaned the IAC Valve and Sea Foamed his engine and now his Idle is horrible, worse than it was before. I also changed his oil. It idled sort of rough before, but now it almost stalls. What could have happened. He has about 170,000 miles on it and it looked like the IAC had been replaced in the not so distant past. Any help is appreciated.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





I know...master of the obvious but did you recheck all the electrical connections?
 












Yes I reset the computer and did plug in all connections, but I will make sure that all the connections are good again. Any other Ideas?
 






possibly damaged the small wire elements in the MAF?
 






sorry for the brief hi-jack.....and forgive my stupidity....but what is "Sea Foaming"? someone mentioned it on a local jeep forum i'm on...and just curious as to what it is....

[/hijack]
 


















I was very carfull when cleaning the MAF sensor with a q-tip and some sensor safe cleaner. I have cleaned mine twice and someone else's before also with great success. I am at work and we can not look at the connections right now but I will take a look at it when I get a chance. If one of the sensors like the MAF was not plugged in, wouldn't it throw a code?
 






It most definately should. Not really sure what to tell ya. Maybe you just cleaned out some stuff that was doing more good than harm. ;)
 






That is what I was thinking. His vehicle is in the worst shape I have seen a fellow explorer. I think that I might have loosend up some gunk that was actually doing some good to keep this beast alive. Is there a way to get gunk back in the engine :D
 






Maybe bump a vacuum line? How did you SeaFoam? Through the TB? BB? Did you put the BB line BACK ON? Did you reattach the air filter housing correctly? Just a few things to check...
 






Seafoamed through the TB, I found that to be the best way that worked in the past. I will check some things when I get the chance and post back.
 






i heard you're not supposed to touch the MAF even with a Q-Tip, but I also think that if that caused the MAF to go bad then it would just run rich and wouldn't cause these symptoms.
 






unbolt the iac and use your finger to regulate the airflow.... see if letting more air in helps or hurts... if the idle clears up i'd say the replacement iac was bogus... have you checked the plugs and wires.... could have an arcing wire or worn out plugs.... might want to change fuel filter and run some injector cleaner through it.... they also have a kit that you can pull the fuel pump fuse and run teh engine off a can of special cleaner that cleans the injectors and everything inside the motor although this costs some $$...
 






could it be that the rings or the valves just arent sealing anymore.... 170k is getting up there... i dont have the 4.0 so i couldnt tell you how long they last... but if hes not taken care of it... could be needing an overhaul. does it require alot of cranking to get it going...
 






Featured Content

Back
Top