Help, Explorer ran like crap this morning.

[rotzs99]

2000 4.0 SOHC Explorer 64K miles.

A little history, I got into the habit of knowing about how long it took to crank my cars so when I bought this one, I followed the same procedure from muscle memory. This explorer took a little longer to crank and sometimes I would release the ignition and try to crank it again, but it wouldn't turn over, not an electrical problem, but air or fuel if I had to guess. I didn't think much of it, I just made sure I kept the ignition cranked until it turned over.

So this morning, car started fine, let it idle for a while since it was cold. I got on the highway and I noticed it was misfiring. It felt like someone was tapping my brakes. At lunch time, I drove it to O'Reillys to pull codes and nothing came up. No CEL has ever showed up and I didn't feel or hear any misfiring that time. The car got a tune up (spark plugs, air filter, and maybe fuel filter) less than 10k miles ago by the previous owner. I'm going to start by cleaning the MAF since that sounds easiest and cheapest. Are there any other suggestions?

 

[00explo]

Remove and clean your Idle air control valve with some carb cleaner and see if it helps with your start up problem. First try starting the truck with the throttle cracked just slightly and see if it fires up faster. I have had this happen a few times with mine. It will turn over a couple of more times than usual before it starts. The reason is because crud gets built up in the mechanical part of the valve and it takes the computer more effort to move the plunger so it takes longer. And sometimes it will stall when you take your foot off of the gas because the computer cannot control the valve fast enough to add air. Do this before you mess with the MAF sensor.
It could also be a weak spark... Its hard to say exactly until a code is set unless you are good at troubleshooting. But I would recommend cleaning the IAC valve for starters.