Hey all, I have finally found the right place to ask some questions about my 92, and get honest answers. I am not a mechanic, so whenever I need work done on my bronco, I feel a little wary about getting screwed, due to lack of knowledge. The problem I have this time, I can't begin to bs my way through. I have a problem similiar to the idle problems I've been reading about, particular in gear (drive or reverse) where I'm dropping really low in rpm. When I shift to reverse, I stall out 9 out of ten times. I can start it up again and reverse just fine. Then in drive, when I come to a stop I'll stall out ( 9 out of 10 times). But then I can start it up again and throw it in drive and she's just fine. Forget about shifting to reverse from drive, it stalls out every time. I could really use some layman term advise so when I take it in, the mechanic's not gonna charge me a grand for a lugnut I don't need, and still have the same problem. Particularly a ball park at what I'm looking to spend. I appreciate it and you guys are great.

 

First off welcome! The problem doesn't sound too severe as far as potential cost is concern...well until it dies at an inopportune moment and the guy behind you doesn't realize it. An hour or two of your mechanics time may be all it requires to rectify the problem. But then we are tlaking about mechanics wages.

Your fuel injected 92 has a small solenoid and valve assembly mounted to the side of the throttle body (top front of the engine). This assembly controls airflow through the engine at idle. Since you remove your foot from the gas pedal when you shift from drive to reverse, the engine drops to idle. If the idle is low or erratic to begin with, the sudden change in load on the engine is whats killing it. In gear, your idle should be about 700-900 rpm. If its lower than this or bouces around a lot then there is most likely a problem. The Idle Air Control (IAC) solenoid/valve gets dirty over time; clogged with soot and carbon making the air passages smaller than they should be and restricting airflow. This is a rather common problem on these trucks and the fix is usually just a good cleaning.

Its just a possibility, there are other causes for a poor or erratic idle but this is where most people will suggest you start. Follow that up with a check for any vacuum leaks but a leaking vacuum line will usually cause in increase in idle speed rather than a decrease. If the truck has not shown a "check engine" light then the problem is not severe enough that the onboard computer "thinks" it needs to be dealt with. Just goes to show that even the computers don't know everything.

And don't worry about not knowing much about this stuff, I didn't know half of the things I just said until I found this site.

 

Same thing happens to me in my 93, all i do it give it gas as soon as i put it in reverse and power-break it when in drive.. not the best way to deal with it but.. O well.. Beats spending money.. It shouldnt hurt anything so you might want to do that until you have to do something.?

 

well bronco boss351. i tend to disagree with it shouldnt hurt any thing. how about the sudden power bustrt on the u joints, the extra pressure you are putting on your brakes.
if its broken then it should be fixed properly. i think junkntrunk should go buy a repair manuel and start working on his own truck. with the help from all of us on the site he should be able to do 80 % of the repairs himself.
i too would start where greystreak has suggested. but i would do the removal and cleaning of the IAC myself. i also would check the timing and check for a vacumn leak.

 

It probably just needs a good tuneup. In this day and age of sensors and computers, we forget that there is actually an old iron V8 underneath it all. With that in mind, re-read his symptoms. They sound like the symptoms a a vehicle in need of a tuneup, a clean air filter and a clean fuel filter along with the timing being checked. I'm not saying that that is definitely the problem, but that's the first place to start.