Rough idle and stalling 02 ranger xlt

[meridianblade]

Hey all, i'm new here and figured I could save a few bucks asking the experts.

So my truck has been stalling out at redlights, lunging and shaking a bit at freeway speeds for a second or two about once a week. The stalling at red lights happens about once a day, if I hit the gas quickly enough it stops it from stalling.

When this first started happening the check engine light came on and showed a misfire in cylinder 6, so I went ahead and just replaced all the plugs and wires just to be safe. It was good for about 2 weeks, then the problem came back with stalling out. On one of the more violent stall outs while it was in drive and i was making a right hand turn popped the check engine light again.

This time, I had a cam position sensor error, and a misfire in 6 and 4. I'm not so sure its a cam sensor, and that may just be the result from whatever underlying issue is there. Autozone suggested replacing the ignition coil, so I did that last Saturday. Still stalling and idling rough!

I've read that maybe cleaning the IAC valve could help but idk. Someone else told me I may need to get a professional injector cleaning.

Also when the trucks idling I can hear a very LOUD squeak squeak squeak.. What could this be? One of the pullies?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ahodges]

I wouldn't be so fast as to write off the cam sensor as being bad.. It could be that, and I'm sure it is cheaper than the coil pack you just put on there. At idle I would say it could be the IAC. I have cleaned mine with great results. But that has nothing to do with the rough running at high speeds.

What engine is it? 3.0 or 4.0?

 

[meridianblade]

Thanks for the reply. Is the cam sensor difficult to replace? How did you clean your IAC?

It's a 3.0

 

[ahodges]

The cam sensor it right on the front of the timing chain cover. I think its on the passenger side of the harmonic balancer. No its not hard to replace at all.

I cleaned the IAC by simply unpluging the wires, taking it off and spraying brake cleaner in it to clean out the carbon build up in there. If you're careful there is no need for a new gasket either.

With it being said that you have a 3.0 I have another idea. I have a 99 ranger witht the 3.0 and finally just fixed a rough idle problem. It turned out to be the EGR tube (from the exhaust manifold to the EGR valve) had a crack in it giving inproper readings to the sensor asociated with it. One way to tell if this is the problem is if you can hear any type of an exhaust leak while the engine is under load.

My exhaust leak was very slight and I didn't think much of it at first but that is what turned out to be my whole problem. However, my check engine light never came on either..

 

[meridianblade]

All good ideas that i'll explore. The only problem with the ERG tube check is that I have a small leak in my exhaust right after the cat, so im not sure if i'll be able to hear a tube leak over that leak.

Any suggestion on the squeaking im hearing too?

 

[ahodges]

well you can take the heat wrap off to check and see if there is anything obvious..

The squeak is probably the belt.. The 3.0's especially in that year range are known for it for some reason. Sometimes an old belt can leave rubber in the groves of some of the pulley's and if you take a small screw driver and dig it out, that can help. I would start with taking the belt off and checking for rubber left in the pulley's and if the belt it self is excessivly worn. While it's off check the idler pulley and the tensioner to see if they turn smoothly. If they don't, that could be the cause too. In that case you'll have to get new ones..

 

[meridianblade]

Sounds good, thanks for the help. I'll post back my findings, and if anyone else has suggestions feel free to chime in!