94 Explorer-acts like starving for fuel when accelerating, but.....

Easy to replace - the air filter. While your at it, clean the IAC.

Charlie

Pulled the air filter, it's dirty. I'll replace it.

What's the IAC?

Also, it just died >Easy to replace - the air filter.

replaced air filter and cleaned IAC , and I tested the IAC. Everything is Ok except now it misses at higher RPMs.

I'm beginning to think the fuel pump is going bad. It cycles, but not always. I pulled the relay and jumped it and sometimes it would not come on.. But would that cause it to act as though it were starving for fuel once its running?

Hi Rob

Here's the answers to your questions.

Thanks

Jim

How old are the spark plugs and wires? Do you have any white smoke when you first start it in the morning? Are you losing any coolant? I'm considering the possiblility of a leaking head gasket or intake manifold gasket. Is your temperature gauge reading normal?

Do you have any loose vacuum connectons, especially at the cluster on the intake manifold? If you do check for signs of transmission fluid which could indicate a leaking vacuum diaphram on the automatic transmission.

The plugs and wires are 6 months old. I noticed yesterday some white smoke when I first started it, then after 5 minutes no smoke. Don't seem to have any coolant issues, but it does run on the cool side.

The vacuum pressure is fine and don't seem to have any vacuum leaks. I didn't notice any transmission fluid or coolant in the oil. How would I determine if there is coolant in the oil? Or am I misreading that part?

Regarding the head and intake manifold gasket, when I hook up the code reader I get a '10' which says there is a problem with cylinder one, but that has been reading that for a long time.

This morning, after driving for 15 minutes it started sputtering and coughing (like I was out of fuel) then died. It did that the rest of the way home, not all the time just occassionally. I wasn't driving it hard or accelerating, just driving 25MPH.

Thanks Jim

Intake minifold gasket leaks are common on the early Explorers. White smoke at startup could mean it's trying to burn some coolant along with the gasoline. Sometimes, from what others have said, when it warms up it will stop leaking (at least as much). Possibly it's leaking more once you get going but it doesn't sound to me like that would account for the engine running THAT poorly. Plus you'd probably notice a significant coolant loss. Keep in mind that I'm no expert, just another guy that has some Explorers who has (so far) always managed to fix them. I was thinking maybe a stuck thermostat but that also doesn't seem like it would cause the engine to crap out.

What I was refering to was the cluster of vacuum lines on the intake. If you have a leaking vacuum diaphram on the automatic transmission it could cause the vacuum connectors to swell up and leak. You can pull a couple of connectors off and see if there is any red trans fluid on the inside of them. But, once again, burning a tiny bit of trans fluid doesn't seem like it could make the engine runs so rough. BTW be careful with the small vacuum lines as they can break easily.

To me it's now sounding like a bad electrical or vacuum connection. Take a really good look at the battery cables, especially the positive one. They can be completely deteriorated on the inside and look OK on the outside.

Since you have a code telling you that cylinder one is acting up pull out the plug and see if it has coolant on it. You might also want to have the cylinder pressure checked.

There was a recent argument, er, I mean discussion about adding Stop Leak to our engines. My personal opinion is that it is unlikely to help with an intake manifold gasket leak but it might help a lot with a head gasket leak. It also might clog your heater core or thermostat. I used about 1/4 of a can of Justice Brothers (or something like that) stop leak that was supposed to stop head leaks. In my case it seems to have worked. The first time I used a whole can and had to flush the radiator and heater core. And clean the thermostat.

I have replaced the intake manifold gaskets on both my '91 and '92. I just followed the instructions in my Hayne's manual and labeled everything, especially the plug wires. The first time it took me a few days working on it now and then. The second time it went fairly quickly though there is a lot of stuff that has to be removed. In both cases it was successful. On my '92 it had white smoke and ran rough and idled poorly. On my '91 it was gushing out so diagnosis was simple.

I've not had any fuel pump problems (yet) but when you said it cycles "sometimes" are you trying it right after it just cycled? I'm thinking it might not cycle because the system is already pressured at that point.

After your comment on the white smoke I decided to pull the heads. And lots of anti-freeze residue inside the combustion chamber. I'm surprised it even ran. There was definitely leaking and I'm cleaning them thoroughly and will check for warppage. While I'm at it I'm going to replace the thermostat.

What a lot stuff to remove!!!! Took your advice and labelled everything. That will be a great help when putting it back together.

Once I get it back together and running then I will be able to determine if there is another problem, i.e. electrical or vacuum etc. No doubt the head gasket was a big part of the problem. Thanks for your advice.

Jim