Questions and Answers
Explorer Won't Idle
Q. Hi Vincent, my name is Chris from Mobile, AL. I wanted to ask you about my 1999 Ford XLT Explorer with V-8. The car has 50,000 miles on it and has run great until today. It is an automatic with fuel injection.
This morning when I cranked the car it turned over and fired up. Not even a second later it died off. After a second crank the car almost stalled out again after turning over but fought its way to a good idle in about 2 to 3 seconds of chugging. This is the first sign on any problems in the car.
This afternoon after work I cranked the car and it died back down after turning over and running for about a second. This happened repeatedly until I cranked the car while slightly depressing the accelerator. The car fired up and ran fine as I gave it some gas. When I left off the gas the engine stalled back off again. I depressed the gas again, cranked the car and it all ran fine again. The engine reacted quickly and without hesitation to the gas pedal and ran like a champ as long as I kept the pedal even slightly depressed. Any Ideas?
Thanks,
ChrisA. It sounds like you may have developed a vacuum leak somewhere. It is also possible there is a problem with the Idle Speed Control Valve.
If the symptoms only manifest themselves while the engine is cold, you may have a coolant temperature sensor gone bad. The best thing to do is to have a Ford Dealer look at it and see what codes are stored in the computer. There should be a code(s) stored even though the check engine light has not come on.
There is also a possibility of the winter grade fuel now being delivered causing a driveability problem on unusually warm days, according to Ford.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
