97 Ranger 2.3 5 speed about to drive me nuts. Needs some HELP!!

Terryt · Oct 9, 2018

97 2.3 have no code and low idle miss and stall when you let off the throttle and get back on the throttle in between shifts.
Here's what I've done.
New air filter
New motor craft platinum plugs
wires.
Swapped coil packs from a donor truck
New intake,iac,throttle body and egr gaskets
Swapped IAC from donor
Swapped maf from donor
Nee PVC
New fuel filler hose
Checked everything for vacuum leak
Purchased torque pro and adapter but I dont know if I'm missing some with the info its giving me. Anyone see what I'm missing?

Terryt · Oct 10, 2018

Forgot new fuel filter

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Shran · Oct 10, 2018

Is the EGR valve functional/not stuck open or shut?

Throttle position sensor adjusted for correct voltage?

Fuel pressure within specs?

Terryt · Oct 10, 2018

Fuel pressure was 30 key on and 30 running and 40 if I unhook the vacuum from the pressure regulator
Tps I have not fooled with
Egr I popped the top of the pressure regulator put my finger over the vacuum and it kinda stalks out.

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JamesH · Oct 10, 2018

It sounds like timing to me. Throw a gun on it and see if it's retarded. Low idle an poping back sounds like a few degrees back.

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Terryt · Oct 10, 2018

According to torque pro it's at about 8 t0 10 degrees at idle but going down the highway it runs 28 to 31. What should it be at idle.

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Terryt · Oct 10, 2018

The timing at idle is 18 degrees at idle according to Torque Pro I was wrong up above I was thinking it was 8 to 10 but it is 18

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JamesH · Oct 10, 2018

So, base timing should be about 10 btdc. But don't quote me on that,I'm not 100% sure for that engine. I wouldn't trust torque alot with those number my self (I have and use the same app). I would look up the process and check for your self.but also check the timing belt, that may be where the anomaly is coming from. Double check to be sure, the belt can always stretch past what the computer can compensate for.

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Terryt · Oct 10, 2018

Ok the guy I got it from said it had a new timing belt put on it before I bout the truck but I dont know who put it on.

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Shran · Oct 11, 2018

That would indicate to me that the cam is off a tooth. I did this once, drove it around for quite a while like that. Fixing it made a huge difference.

tomw · Oct 11, 2018

You have more faith in swapped parts than I do.

Check the things you swapped for and the swapped out ones. Could be they are not good, and you will chase your tail until you find that out.
If you swapped from running vehicles that exhibited no problems, that's a different story.

Hesitation and stumble between shifts sort of points to the 'base idle' as you tend towards that if/when you release the throttle between shifts. Maybe clean the installed IAC, or both.
tom

Terryt · Oct 11, 2018

Parts came from a ranger my boy wrecked that had no know issues. But thanks I'll keep looking. I still have not found a definate btdc spec on it.

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Terryt · Oct 11, 2018

Checked timing with a light is at 10°

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cstarbard · Oct 11, 2018

tomw said:
You have more faith in swapped parts than I do.

Check the things you swapped for and the swapped out ones. Could be they are not good, and you will chase your tail until you find that out.
If you swapped from running vehicles that exhibited no problems, that's a different story.

Hesitation and stumble between shifts sort of points to the 'base idle' as you tend towards that if/when you release the throttle between shifts. Maybe clean the installed IAC, or both.
tom

+1 the idle air valves on all the 2.3 trucks I have were problematic when even a little dirty, seemed accentuated between shifts for some reason. I had a 94 on which the IAC got to the point where it would practically redline the truck between shifts and would not come back down. Cleaning it and doing nothing else solved this issue. Others I have had could bog between shifts like you're describing, cleaning the IAC usually solved that as well. It's not hard to clean, q tips and your solvent of choice + patience is all it takes. The cleaner the better. Even if it doesn't solve your problem its easy and cheap and a good thing to do

Probably worth making sure the timing marks are all lined up and that the timing belt tensioner is OK, if someone was in there recently. Sounds like your timing is ok but not a bad thing to check since someone was in there and may not have replaced the tensioner or installed a new one quite right. My current 96 2.3 had skipped a tooth on the cam before I did the timing belt. Ran surprisingly ok that way but the difference with it timed correctly was noticeably smoother

Even with the new timing belt tensioner fully released against the timing belt, at least on my truck, the belt tension is not as tight as I would have expected. I think they need every bit you can get out of that tensioner in order to not want to skip

Terryt · Oct 11, 2018

Just going by the timing cover I put crank on tdc and checking through the inspection holes this is what I come up with.

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97 Ranger 2.3 5 speed about to drive me nuts. Needs some HELP!!

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