'95 Ranger is having some serious issues lately. Several months ago I replaced the EGR valve and sensor. I had an extremely difficult time with the valve. One of the bolts was rusted and stripped. In the course of trying to get it off, I probably bent the pipe that leads out of the back of the EGR valve. (Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. My under-the-hood language is pretty weak, so bear with me. I have a picture to show what I'm talking about at the end of this )

Right now the truck is running extremely rough. The first time I start it up, it will high idle for about 7 seconds and then die. I'll start it up again and then it will continue to run, but for a while it will go through a sequence of high idle, then almost die. Once it keeps running without doing that, it still runs very rough.

So, I took it to AutoZone to get a check engine read. It said there was a misfire in #4. Now I did just replace all my plugs, but it was doing this before I change them so I don't think that is what is causing this. The Zone guy thought it sounded like a vacuum leak somewhere, but visually he could not find it.

When I looked at it at home, I can hear what does sound like a hissing sound. When I move up the 'jacket' that is covering the intake pipe? from the EGR valve, the hissing gets muzzled. I know this probably doesn't make sense. Anyway, my thoughts are, since I was messing around so much with the EGR valve and I'm pretty sure that I bent or moved that pipe during the process, I probably caused a leak.

So, after all that here are my questions. 1) do my symptoms sound like this could be the problem 2) if so, is this part an easy fix? I am not against doing the work myself, but if it is something best done by a pro, I'll suck it up and do that.

Here is a picture of what I'm talking about. The 'pipe' in question is clearly labeled. (wouldn't allow me to do a direct link. just copy and paste and of course replace the 'dot' with a '.' I'm not spamming, I just need to show a picture.)
retropedalcars(dot)com/images/egr.jpg

Thanks Dave

 

TRY THIS GUYS

http://www.retropedalcars.COM/images/egr.jpg

 

From the picture it looks like a 4.0L you have there.

Based on what you've described, your thinking certainly seems reasonable to me. A hole in the EGR tube can indeed cause idle problems and all sorts of other problems, as well. The EGR tube extends into the upper intake near the #4 cylinder, so the hole could even be contributing to the misfire.

You should keep in mind too that the EGR tube has a "push fit" connection with the upper intake manifold. In other words, the tube is not permanently connected or bolted to the intake, there's just a tight fit with a seal. The tube itself actually projects 2-3 inches into the intake, curving toward the front of the engine (makes taking off the upper intake a little tricky). Maybe there's a problem where this connection is.

In any case, the source of the air leak seems to be related to the EGR tube, and so it has to be repaired, first thing.

Those EGR tubes can be difficult to get off. You might consider picking up a replacement yourself, maybe even a used one at a junkyard, and then having a good mechanic do the job.

For a little more on the terminology and inner workings of your truck's EGR system, read here: Ford EGR System Summary

Good luck.

 

One way to pinpoint a vacuum leak is to spray carb cleaner at the suspected leak location with the engine running. A change in engine speed when spraying the cleaner is evidence of a leak at that point.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the carb cleaner trick and see what happens.