Random Misfire, Engine miss

[willrappold24]

Hey everyone, we have a 97 ford explorer with about 205k on it and it has a miss when pulling a hill in low gear or when behind slower traffic and you get out of the gas then back on the gas it will miss. It has newer plugs and wires, new 02 sensors, new fuel pump, fuel filter. Also no check engine light, a code test is all good no pending or stored codes. Any guesses, like a clogged injector or one of the coil packs going bad? The k&n filter is a dirty and we will clean it but other than that we are out of ideas. Thanks.

 

[rasouth]

I've been having kind of the same problem with my '96. Starts and idles fine but a little stutter when driving. I went through all of the checks and replacing plugs, connections. Might be a vacuum leak around intake, dirty Mass Air Flow sensor, or, in my case, a possible head gasket leak. How's the oil look? Any water in oil? Or extreme amount of water from tail pipe?
One interesting method for checking head gasket is, when engine is cool, pop the radiator cap off and have some one crank engine. If coolant boils out you have a leaky head gasket or cracked head. Compression test helps too.

 

[donalds]

Sounds like a sticking throttle body or a dirty idle air control valve
Or both
I am probably wrong but it's almost free to clean them