I have the typical erratic cold idle. After checking all components with my multimeter and everything is good I assumed it was the o-rings on the lower intake. I injected the propane but it did not help. I removed my MAF to clean (which I haven't done yet). I decided to start the truck and see if it is any better. During cold idle, it now idle's fine (slightly high - 900 rpm's). This is with the MAF not hooked-up. I'm going to assume that my MAF is either dirty or faulty. Shouldn't the truck idle rough with the MAF completly disconnected? Am I safe in assuming it's the MAF?

 

What year/engine (I gather from the talk of lower intake o-rings you have a 4.0 SOHC).
From the stuff I've read about the EEC-IV system (pre-'96), When the MAF signal is missing, the PCM substitutes an estimate for the MAF signal based on TPS and CKP data, allowing the engine to operate until the condition can be corrected.
As common as it is for the MAF to get dirty, I would open it up and try cleaning it. Have you ran any of the self-diagnostic tests?

 

It's a 98 SOHC. I don't get any codes and I checked the harness and terminal for the proper volts and ohm's per the Haynes manual.

 

How do you run self diagnostic tests???? i also have the same problem on a 98 sohc exploder

 

I don't know the specifics on an EEC-V (OBD-2) Explorer, but I do know you need a scanner/code reader.

 

Yeah, Fords can't do a self diagnostic on the OBD-II system, you're gonna need a scanner or go to Autozone. Sometimes the MAF sensor will get dirty but not throw a code, it has to get to a certain extent before it will.