I have an 83 ranger with the 2.8L v6 carbureted automatic that stalls at random.

It hasn't been driven a lot for the last ten years but this is a long lasting problem.

It seems to stall completely at random. I there are three scenarios that I would say stem from the same problem.

The first is after a complete stop (long or short wait time) and accelerate the truck will begin to accelerate and after that initial 1/2 second push the truck will completely stall and occasionally it will just hesitate and then surge foreword like it should .

The second would be after driving at a consistent speed for a short length of time sometimes as little as ten seconds and apply the throttle the vehicle will hesitate and then surge forward just like it should have without any problems.

The third is after slowing to a low speed (less than 15mph) and then attempting to accelerate the vehicle will either stall or hesitate and surge.

Time of day, temperature and weather don't seem to have any influence on the stalling. One morning the truck will run just fine and then that afternoon it will stall 3 times in 4 stops then the next day it will run perfect.

With a couple of pumps it starts right up then begins to idle a little rough and die if you attempt to increase the rpms. I believe this only happens if the transmission is in gear. I will double check this in the morning.

Truck has new plugs, wires, transmission fluid and filter, oil, carburetor, egr valve and a short list of other parts, but that is all I can remember at the moment. All of those parts were replaced 10 years ago now so i guess they would really be considered new but they all have considerably less than 5000 miles on them.

Any advice would be helpful and thank you in advance.

 

If the car has not been used much over the last 10 years, it's possible that the fuel tank may have accumulated moisture and rust that's getting sucked into the fuel lines. I would open up the carburetor to see it crud built up in there. Old fuel can also turn into varnish which can clog up tiny passages in the carburetor. So I would try to soak or flush it out with carb cleaner. Then replace the fuel filter. You might install one of those clear types so you can see crud accumulating, and clean them out.

 

I would be looking real hard at that "new" carb.