1986 Ford Ranger 2.0 Idle/Stalling Problem Help!

[ianthegreat]

Hey guys,

I've been lurking here for awhile -- finally signed up!

Pardon my lack of knowledge, I really don't know much about these carb engines. I'm learning.

Given it's age, the only thing I had to replace was the throttle cable after my purchase. The previous owner had replaced the distributor cap, the wiring, and the fuel pump.

Everything seemed to be running fine until last week when I started it and out of no where it starting idling low and eventually stalled. When applying the throttle it appears the issue isn't there. So unless I am giving the engine gas, it will stall at idle.

I was able to get home and popped the hood. I manually throttled the engine from the carb and it looked like even under load it was shaking a bit more than before. It may just be a placebo effect.

Anyways, I did a little bit of research and it seemed there could be several different issues. Vacuum leak (all original hoses/tubes), air/fuel mix from carb, catalytic conv clogged, etc...

Based on my description of the problem, could anyone lend some assistance?

Thank you!

 

[constant_projecttruck]

You're on the right track. Its always hard when you first purchase a truck to iron out all the kinks. Check everything you mentioned first and go from there. A good way to check the cat is to put a rag over the tailpipe and have someone else start the truck. If you have pressure right away the cat should be good. Its easy to adjust the carb for a higher idle. Theres a screw by the throttle arm give it a turn in and it should bring your idle up a couple hundred RPM. And while looking at it...the engine looks super clean...I never trust a truck with a clean engine makes the previous owner look like he has something to hide. hahaha nice truck otherwise I love my 86.

 

[ianthegreat]

You're on the right track. Its always hard when you first purchase a truck to iron out all the kinks. Check everything you mentioned first and go from there. A good way to check the cat is to put a rag over the tailpipe and have someone else start the truck. If you have pressure right away the cat should be good. Its easy to adjust the carb for a higher idle. Theres a screw by the throttle arm give it a turn in and it should bring your idle up a couple hundred RPM. And while looking at it...the engine looks super clean...I never trust a truck with a clean engine makes the previous owner look like he has something to hide. hahaha nice truck otherwise I love my 86.

I've looked at the idle screw. I think it's idling to low for that even. I will check the cat tonight how you suggested. Could it possibly be my spark plugs? I'll take a video of it and post it just to give everyone an idea.

I think the rest may be a bit out of my range of know-how. Wish I could watch someone and learn!

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Mark_88]

that is a clean truck...and I agree that you are on the right track with what you've listed..

If this was a sudden thing it could be just a vac line came off...like the PCV hose (as mine recently did)...but you would also see some sluggishness when it runs even with Wide Open Throttle (WOT)...

Try spraying either water or starter fluid around the engine while it is running (not on the exhaust pipes, eh~!) and if your idle picks up while doing that then you have a vac leak...

I wouldn't suspect the plugs right off...unless you've pulled on the wires instead of the boots and managed to separate the cap from the plug...but that's an easy fix with a pair of needle nosed pliers...

As for plugged cat, not likely but it could be if the cat is getting glowing red hot...even though they do get pretty hot anyways...

 

[ianthegreat]

I'll try misting some carb cleaner around the bay. Should I focus in any specific areas -- Intake Manifold? Carb? I've got the air intake housing/can thing pulled off right now with the carb exposed, should I reassemble this before trying this?

Yellow circle -- can you tell me what this hose is and it's purpose? I noticed after unplugging it a good amount of oil had drained out from the house. It reattaches before my air filter and is recirculated into the engine I guess. The hose is pretty junky and lose/not air tight.

Green circle - I have no idea what this is nor where the cable runs to. I'm guessing some kind of air sensor? Purpose?

Pink circle - comes off of the carb, several hoses attached. What is it?

I will attach more images tonight. Part of the reason it looks clean is because I've gone through and tried to clean off grease so that I can know/learn what I'm looking at. The whole truck was pretty filthy originally. Thanks for the help thus far guys!

 

[RangerFabWorks]

yellow cricle- that vents your crankcase into the air cleaner assembly. the best remedy for that is to make an oil catch can. google it for more info

green circle- its basically a second choke, it closes off the air to the air cleaner when the engine is NOT running. if you suck on the hose feeding to it, it will open.

pink circle- ok, i havent messed with a 2.0, or 2.3 in a while, but if i remember correctly, its the egr valve. mine ran like crap without it hooked up.

just for craps and giggles, is your choke sticking closed? how does it run cold? i wpould check the fuse behind the fuse panel, its loacted under the steering column, the should be a fuse that says something like warm, something, i cant remeber. but check to see if its blown. this wont allow your choke to open when the engine warms up.

and its ok to run the engine without the air cleaner assembly on, just plug the vaccumms that go to it. you dont need to plug the one in the yellow circle. hope this helps

dave

 

[RangerFabWorks]

the other thing i would check, and dont laugh, on your exhaust manifold, theres gonna be an 02 sensor, now for everyone who says theres not 02 sensors on a carb engine, your wrong. search for my thread "pc valve removed' and you will see a clear picture of it. i would def. replace that. should be just before your down pipe on the exhaust manifold

 

[ianthegreat]

I took a short video clip. I was running out of day light so visibility isn't great. Hopefully it will help the diagnosis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1NsnBtyeuQ

I sprayed carb cleaner around the intake manifold and around the carb -- no noticable differences in idle. I also check the majority of the wires/hoses into the carb and made sure that nothing was broken/lose. Seemed like they were ok to me. I wasn't able to follow all the vacuum hoses. Infact, based on the vacuumn diagram, I'm not sure if this is the original carb. There is a tag on it that read something like Motorcraft E57E A6E. It was pretty worn.

The connector i'm holding wasn't plugged into anything. The other end connects to the bottom of the carb. Not sure what it's for.

Are the Carbon Canisters supposed to have lots of little black pellets in them? Mine did, wasn't sure if I should shake them out or leave them.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

yeah thats a reman carb alright

 

[ianthegreat]

When you say remanufactured.. could it be different parts from different carbs? I tried to look up the tag information with no luck.

I may end up taking it completely off and cleaning it/checking the seals/gaskets -- probably won't be able to get it back on though Hardest part is all the hoses. If I had a real diagram of this specific carb I think I could do it.

Would my best bet be just to buy a new carb, one that is compatible with this engine?

I found one on eBay that looks almost identical to my carburetor - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Carburetor-82-Ford-Ranger-Carter-YFA-2-0-Carb-7568-S_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247QQcategoryZ33550QQihZ016QQitemZ7985823354QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1VQQsalenotsupported

 

[Mark_88]

OK...BlackWidow answered your questions correctly to the best of my knowledge...and if you're getting oil up in the breather you may want to have a compression test/leak down test done because oil up there is normal to some degree, but it could indicate blow-by caused by either bad rings or valve...

If your choke butterfly is always sitting in that position (almost closed) then you may have issues with the choke...it should be sitting so that the butterfly allows maximum air flow (fully opened) and that may result in poor acceleration or lack of power...the choke can actually be by-passed if automatic by using a manual choke that allows the butterfly to open completely...you should notice considerably more power with that...but, if your engine is not fully warmed up then it will open fully buy itself when that happens...

Now I've probably said this a million times, but if you're happy with the performance and gas mileage of the one barrel carb that's great...but my personal preference is the two barrel carb and they are not that expensive (unless you buy a new one) to swap out and get better performance but lower, in some cases, gas mileage...

The setup you have is nice when it works...but trying to figure out problems with them when they go bad can be a painful experience...only know this because I fought with mine for about six months before finally succumbing to the desire to change it out completely and get rid of all the excess...

Swapping the carb for another one may or may not be the solution in this case, because the cause of the problem is still not clear...

 

[dangerranger83]

From the looks of the plug you are holding that is your throttle position sensor. But ya your choke is suppose to be wide open when your engine is fully warmed up.

 

[ianthegreat]

I was getting nearly 30mpg before I ran into this idling issue. Power was definitely weak, Houston highways get scary. Gas mileage doesn't matter to me all that much unless we're talking 15mpg or less.

I've been reading that 2bbl (2 barrel?) carbs have significantly less parts. Let's talk carb switch in general, lots of changes? ecu? wiring?

btw, You all have been very helpful - I appreciate it.

 

[Mark_88]

Changing to a 2 bbl carb is pretty easy and if you choose the right one there is much less to deal with...you can use the wiring from the one bbl, but may need to change out the distributor...just depends on how it is connected...

My truck had a two bbl carb when I started so I didn't change anything...even tried a one bbl carb but there was definitely something different in the carb I chose because I couldn't get it to idle properly...but it ran and worked great otherwise...just a pita at lights to keep going...

A simple conversion would require a different intake that is designed for the 2 bbl carb...and generally if you go to a junkyard and check out things you can usually determine what will work, but it is not intuitive for most people...just once you know where everything is and what they connect to...

I usually suggest taking a look at a few in the junkyard first...remeber that the 2.3 and 2.0 are pretty much the same when carbed, but you will only find 2.3 carb setups prior to 87 or 88 when they all went fuel injection...and there are plenty of intakes available on-line or from places like Esslinger...check out their website if you have the cash, or just to take a boo at what is available...

Who knows, you may even be fortunate like I was and find a complete intake/carb setup that you can simply transfer to your current system...mine came from a 78 Mustang II (in case I haven't mentioned that a million times yet)...

 

[ianthegreat]

Alright, I went through every vacuum line and nothing is leaking to my knowledge. I cleaned them all and made sure I could blow through them all. So I think it's either carburetor or something engine wise. I'm going to a buddies house tomorrow and we are going to try some things.

Question - How could you all tell right off the top of your head that it was a remanufactured carb?