1985 Ford Ranger stalls in cold

You may have a bad IAC ( idle air control) but try cleaning the throttle body first. Remove the intake snorkel, have someone hold the throttle wide open for you and scrub the back side of the throttle plate and surrounding bore with an old tooth brush and some carb cleaner. Be sure to spray some into the small holes next to the throttle plate. That should help stabilize the idle. If it still has a problem, replace the IAC.

I'm not too familiar with cars - would replacing the IAC do the same as the cleaning the throttle plate?

And, are you talking about the Idle Speed Motor? or idle speed control actuator?

thanks

Yes, that is what I'm referring to but the cleaning is very important and needs to be done first.

Ok, thanks! I haven't tried it yet - I'm waiting on my dad having some free time and he'll help me, he knows more about them.

I do have another concern, though. Same factor: cold, just like stalling except when I change to a higher gear, let's say 1st to 2nd at 15 mph, or 2nd to 3rd at 26 mph (when I shift when it's running right)

it'll be sluggish like it's not getting and gas, I can be pushing the gas all the way in and it'll keep doing it for about a second until it kicks in and actually run in that gear good.

Could the IAC cause this? Since it's stalling and sluggish, I was thinking more of a fuel problem but I don't know anything about the truck.

Also have a bad gasket on the left side of the engine, the top valve gasket was bad and I replaced it, haven't gotten around to the other one. Oil does leak from the left side, would this cause any of what I mention?

thanks

No and no.

Auto zone said my truck don't have an IAC but has an idle speed actuator, a little metel cylinder. What else could it be?

Same thing, different name

I bought a new ISA, never put it in, bought a new choke thermostat got it yesterday, didn't put it in, when I paid for the choke thermostat at autozone 4 days ago I noticed a little hose that carries oil to the engine from somewhere had a bad crack on the bottom. Autozone dude gave me a new hose free. So far it starts up fine, may stall on the first start but after that it idles perfectly and my bad high idle for 10 seconds after stopping till it goes to normal idle is GONE, instant low idle now.

Still have problem with cold start driving from 2nd to 3rd gear, sluggish when I hit the gas when the clutch is out. Pressing the gas all the way in and still sluggish for a few seconds till I get more speed I guess.

What would cause that?

There appears to be some confusion here. I was under the impression that you had a fuel injected engine which it now appears that you do not.

Yeah it uses a carburetor. Have any idea why it is sluggish when its cold? I can take a video of the mph gauge and when I shift and show what I mean by sluggish if that helps.

It only does it like 3 times and its all good after that.

I have the same problem as well JB003 could you describe the hose you replaced or better yet can you take a picture of it and post?

Thanks all.

ffunque,

Email me at Nodda4me @ gmail . com

(No spaces of course)

Please don't post personal contact info in the forum.

Sorry - I uploaded the images.

Here you go (I pointed out some things to give a basic idea of where mine is)

I seen smoke coming out of the hose and looked at it closer and it had a HUGE crack at the bottom.

If you replace yours and it's doing a U like mine, make sure it's long so it doesn't squeeze itself (the free one they put in was the same size as the old one that cracked, and squeezed up at the middle of the U) - give it enough length to do what it does lol


I also put a new Clutch Thermostat in yesterday, it helped with the sluggish a little bit, but it's still there.