Exploere won't idle when cold HELP

[00ford]

my mom owns a 2000 ford Explorer 4dr has the 4.0L and auto tranny 153K miles and i'm trying to fix it for her

when the truck is cold like after it stills over night or all day at work.. it won't idle by its self.. i have to keep my foot on the gas pedal and rev it up till it warms up. its been doing it for about a month now...

i just changed out the spark plugs and spark plug wires and fuel filter today thinking it would help and its still the same....

any help would be great as i don't want her to be stranded in the snow

 

[albi1cnobi1]

The likely culprit is the IAC valve. It controls the amount of air into the engine at idle, especially when cold. Search IAC cleaning or idle air control valve cleaning. There's a ton of posts about this. It's pretty easy. If that doesn't work it may need to be replaced. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[00ford]

okay well i'll take a look at that.. and ifs not the IAC would you all say its 99% sure its the intake gasket

 

[swetrid]

Intake gaskets for sure

 

[00ford]

okay were is the IAC located at?

 

[cledusdtrucker]

okay were is the IAC located at?[/QUOTon the top under the cover

 

[00ford]

okay thanks i'll take a stab at cleaning it tomorrow i hope thats the trick.. i'll let you all know what happens

 

[alberta]

5 hour job upper and lower intake gaskets take your time clean everything well

 

[00ford]

5 hour job upper and lower intake gaskets take your time clean everything well

five hour job no way to long lol.... its kinda funny i own a 2001 dodge ram 2500 and i ahd to do the intake gaskets and plenum gasket on it on november 22 then on novermber 28 i had to do a intake gasket on my 98 buick...lol what the heck man now i gotta do one on my moms car if this IAT isn't the problem...

 

[joe doe]

actually its just the upper intake orings .if the lower isnt leaking theres no need to mess with it unless you want to do it while your in there .

the upper intake uses these oring seals that shrink over time and dont seal when cold ,once warmed up they swell enough to make the seal and your idle returns to normal .

this is most apparent during cold starts .been there done that .
this picture is of a ranger intake but you can see the orings i am talking about .
you need a pic tool to get them out .they will be compressed in there pretty good .replacing these fixes that cold morning idle issue .

good luck.

 

[2000StreetRod]

intake leaks

On my SOHC V6 both the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets were leaking. It only takes a little effort to replace the lower intake manifold gaskets once the upper intake manifold is removed. Also, the gaskets are inexpensive. Leaking intake manifold gaskets typically result in an exessively fast idle at cold start because unmetered air enters the intake manifold and the fuel mixture is rich for the cold engine. Once the engine warms up a little the PCM decreases the cold start richness and then the engine runs lean and unsteady. I agree with previous posts to check/clean the idle air control (IAC) valve first. Then I suggest cleaning the MAF sensor with MAF sensor cleaner. A contaminated MAF sensor can cause erratic idle. It would help if you knew if the engine was running rich or lean. Did you examine the old plugs when you replaced them?

 

[00ford]

yeah they were very burnt and were black... but they didn't smell like gas

i pulled the AIT sensor off(the sensor on top of the intake) and it was super clean. so i'm guessin it the intakes gasket.

and where is the MAF located i'll take a look and clean it up and if not does this include all the gasket i need for doing the intake?

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...2515&keyword=intake+gasket&pt=02293&ppt=C0026

 

[KJ2000XLS]

Having similiar issues. Got this explorer last feb. After my son total my xls. This is an xlt with 6cyl and sohc instead of ohv. The check engine has been on since last spring and getting lean codes on both banks. Figured it was vacuum leak like my other explorer and my ls. When the cold weather hit again had same idle issues on start. Once it gets warmed up it stop but still have small miss.

 

[faron021]

Having similiar issues. Got this explorer last feb. After my son total my xls. This is an xlt with 6cyl and sohc instead of ohv. The check engine has been on since last spring and getting lean codes on both banks. Figured it was vacuum leak like my other explorer and my ls. When the cold weather hit again had same idle issues on start. Once it gets warmed up it stop but still have small miss.

just changed my girls upper and lower had no codes but i knew it was getting close to the time, if your getting lean codes thats what i would do first change the gasket they where $11-15 both sets take note of all vac lines and pcv valve, deaf watch out for the egr tube going into the intake behind the tb, that can be a pain to get on and off, dont get mad, that green oring it a little pricey. not sure if you done this before, but it should only took about an hour. i clean my upper and lower intakes full of carbon and 10 years of build up, use seafoam deep creep it will cut into it, other stuff a used was b12 seemed pretty good as well went thru about 3-4can to clean everything good after i was done started alot quicker and smoother.

 

[faron021]

yeah they were very burnt and were black... but they didn't smell like gas

i pulled the AIT sensor off(the sensor on top of the intake) and it was super clean. so i'm guessin it the intakes gasket.

and where is the MAF located i'll take a look and clean it up and if not does this include all the gasket i need for doing the intake?

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...2515&keyword=intake+gasket&pt=02293&ppt=C0026

not sure if this is related but might be a long shot, my moms 99 ohv had a bad water temp gauge cel never come on, but the computer still thout it was cold so it kept idleing high as with start up, dont think it could read it as to hot and quit but who knows with these sensors, i would also say gaskets thats usally the first thing to go.

 

[flyinv55]

I have the same issue on my 2001 ex sport. I have replaced the IAC, replaced the o-rings and upper/lower gasket and I still cant get my 4.0 to cold idle. You would think there would be a code flashing? Can anyone give me something else to check???

 

[flyinv55]

oyea I changed bpth water temp sending units also.

 

[2000StreetRod]

fast or slow when cold idle?

I have the same issue on my 2001 ex sport. I have replaced the IAC, replaced the o-rings and upper/lower gasket and I still cant get my 4.0 to cold idle. You would think there would be a code flashing? Can anyone give me something else to check???

I assume that you have the SOHC V6. Does it idle too fast at cold engine start or too slow? If too slow and uneven check the EGR valve. It should be fully closed at idle. Have you cleaned the MAF sensor? How about adding a bottle of Techron fuel injector cleaner to the fuel tank? How long since you gapped and installed new spark plugs?

 

[Hards01FX4spt]

I have the same issue on my 2001 ex sport. I have replaced the IAC, replaced the o-rings and upper/lower gasket and I still cant get my 4.0 to cold idle. You would think there would be a code flashing? Can anyone give me something else to check???

The cold idle problem has been fixed . The IAC was installed backwards , a Ford tech found it and turned it around and everything is perfect now. Idles good