Sometimes when I drive, usually at low speed the first 10 yards out of my house, but sometimes while cruising a parking lot, I get this odd surging type response.
As if even at a steady throttle, power waivers causing a surge forward then a slower pace then another surge. This happens back and forth quickly and only at low speeds. The effect is not severe, it is noticeable though. Often times it will not happen for a while.
It began re-occuring when my gas was low (just above E), and when I filled up.
It's still happening.
Most likely, it will stop soon, and begin again later while turning into a parking space or something. It feels as if the fuel injectors are varying spray for a brief period of time.

Also, while this might not matter, I bought the truck last Sept., and went through some crap with the brakes (dealer was terrible), they were squeaky at first.
I figured it would go away, but they're still doing it. The pedal feels smooth and responsive.
Maybe they used the wrong pads?
Could than cause friction that could cause this?
Temperature doesn't seem to affect the response.
Also, when I took the truck to get it looked at by a mechanic before buying, they said "truck doesn't roll freely".
They also said I need new ball joints, which turned out to be crap, and a new fuel pump.
The pump is a little loud (at least according to them, I'd say it makes a mellow humming sound). Anyway, I don't know what it is.
I'm thinking of running some STP injector cleaner through. There's also another product, called "Marvel Mystery Oil" seems to offer the same thing STP does, plus lubrication of fuel system parts.

Ever heard of it?
Apparently it's been around since 1923 or something.

Anyhelp would be appreciated.

 

Have you replaced the fuel pump yet?

Have you tryed to pull the codes?

What did the mechanic mean when he said "truck doesn't roll freely"? Did he take it for test drive and noticed this problem that you describe?

As far as the brake are concerned if thats causeing the drag:
Have you tryed to lift each front wheel and both the rear wheels off the ground to see if the wheels spin freely? If the wheels spin freely then the brakes are not creating the drag. But if the rear wheels drag a little, tranny could be in gear or the wheel cylinders are going bad, or something in differential is going bad.

Another thing you could do is take you rig in to shop, like a Ford dealer, and have it hooked up to a computer diagnostics system and get a complete diagnostics done.
Other than that I'm not sure. Hope this might be of some help. and good luck though.

 

No, the pump is original as far as I know. 96', 130,000 on it. It's really not major enough to be worth replacing the pump unless I KNOW it's the pump. Today it was less, tomorow it probably won't happen, then a week later it will for two days.
The mechanic put the truck on a slight hill, and in neutral, it did not freely roll. The old rotors were warped, and were replaced with new ones, and new pads were put in. The place that did this work was completely incompetent, the first time they hit a pad in with a hammer and buggered some stuff up. After bringing a trooper in, the problem was solved, they did the brake work. The front wheels are fine (swapped to manual hubs recently, checked to make sure they engaged and dis-engaged, ect.) The back I don't know. As far as the diff goes, I wouldn't think anything is wrong in there, my LS still works, and I've hear that gives out pretty fast. But I don't know.
How do I pull the codes? Do I need a certain plug or anything? It's not an emergency, it just ticks me off having something happen that I can't figure out a reason for. Any possibility it could relate to the throttle? Thanks in advance.

 

Check your speed sensor.

 

hey BroncoMTR
Sounds like you have had some bad luck with shops like me, but I had problems with tranny repair.
A local Parts store may have code readers for sale. Since mine is a '90 the code reader was about $25. And since your rig is a '96, the code reader is different and a bit more expensive. The throttle body, I'm sure wouldn't cause this problem. Since this a computer controlled vehicle like mine, it could be possible, hate to say it, that there might be a problem with the computer. Mine is becoming more of a suspect with a similar problem that I have. But with my rig it's more consistant.