I have a 98 ford Ranger 2x, 4 cylinder. 5 speed manual trans, Now I have litteraly taken this truck to 3 different garages, not including auto zone, and nobody can figure this out...........ok ready...here goes.

This is odd......as I'm driving down the road lets say 35, 40 mph, I can feel the truck begin to rev up or speed up on its own, I'm sure alot of people are familier with that. In fact I can take my foot off the pedal and it will damn near maintain the speed on its own, now as I'm approaching a stop sign and start to slow down, I'll take it out of gear and sorta cruise up to the traffic light ya know, but the idel starts to climb like I have the pedal to the metal, as the truck is moving, slow ya know maybe 10, 15 mph and as soon as I come to a complete stop, the idel speed drops all the way to normal. Now who here can tell me whats up, because so far all I have gotten is the deer in the headlights look, thanxs for anybody out there who can solve this mystery for me, it has been going on far to long.

 

check to make sure the throttle cable isnt hanging up. its odd usually if its idle'ing high it would be the Idle air motor. but during driving thats odd have you replaced this part at all?

 

check you IAC valve and clean your MAF sensor

your IAC valve may be sticking causing the truck not to idle down
take it off ( 2 bolts and a plug) and soak it in carb cleaner and clean it out or replace it, they run about $30-50

and/or your MAF sensor may be dirty, giving your PCM a bad reading
get some MAF sensor cleaner and CAREFULLY clean the sensor

 

Heys thanx s a lot you two (The stig88 and Redneckstone) This is cool, let me get on point with both of your suggestions and I will certainly provide feedback. Ummm..to answer your question Red, no the throttle cable and idle air motor have not been replaced. I bought this truck used 3 years ago, love it. Wanna keep it as long as possible, sorta a grocery runner..but its nice.

 

I've just resolved a similar issue and here's how ib fixed it. I replaced my Throttle position sensor (it will cause the accell/decell feeling while driving and not taking your foot off the pedal.) For the idle I cleaned my IAC with maf cleaner and replaced the IAC gasket from napa for 2$. (I called ford and the parts guy argued with me that my truck didn't have a gasket there). also when you remove the IAC take the bottom bolt off first. I didn't and ended up breaking the bottom bolt and had to replace my TB.

Best of luck

Marchy

 

Thanx Marchy, thanx to everyone. I should be able to resolve this issue with all this advice..lol

 

Did ya get that thing fixed yet?

 

LOL thats easy!!! get some throttlebody cleaner or brake cleaner..take the intake tube off throttle body give a few quick good squirts and move butterly open and close a few times..put everything back, and let it roll...its gunk that has built up inside you throttle body causing it to idle up on its own....my 95 2.3 has done it and my wife's 06 escape 2.3 has done it. prob wouldnt hurt to clean your EGR vavle and AIS (air idle control sensor)

 

how did three different shops have no idea to check out such basic problems? as soon as you mentioned the accell problem it is kinda obvious where you should be looking for problems... its not like a squeaking door hinge will make the truck run wierd

 

Hey...First of all thanx to everybody on this thread for all your advice. I went with the cheapest first which was to follow TheStigg88, thanx, bought some MAF cleaner removed the housing from the air filter and gave it a couple of shots inside, that was friday..so far so good.

To answer your question ranger4.0...I think what was throwing them off was the part that I explained about when the idle would be through the roof AS the truck...out of gear and still moving, would come to a complete stop THEN the idle would go back to normal...but I want to make this clear..ONLY after the truck came to a stop the idle went to normal sooo...I don't know, maybe they just are not very good mechanics..lol, but anyways all good so far. Next up SPARKPLUGS... I hear they are a real BEEEOCH to replace on a Ranger, 8 plugs I hear. What can I expect, I have my trusty HAYNES manual with me..lol

 

I say start changing the plugs early in the day, and try not to get frustrated.

 

and i ONLY use motorcraft plugs and wires..they dont like anything else...lol

 

well good luck getting it fixed

 

I'm looking to do the same on my 93 with 8 plugs. I have the Haynes manual as well and it says I have to remove the intake manifold to get to the back 3 on drivers side. Maybe not the same for yours.

 

T-Bear93, look further down the topics colmun and you will find a topic titled "changing my sparkplugs what a joke" now in that topic there's post "wikiAswers" step by step on changing your plugs, I printed it out, it looks worth it.

 

you dont have to remove the manifold..you do need a few extensions and a coulple of swivel's on your wrench to do it and a lil paitience and time...lol

 

Like hozII said, you don't have too, but if you don't have the proper extentions/swivels (like me uggh) then yeah you need to take the manifold off. So if your like me start that project early or like me it'll take longer than expected and you'll have to get someone (in my case the wife lol) to hold a flashlight.