hello
i'm a newbie to the ford ranger scene and i gotta say this site rocks, it's pritty sweet!.

i've got a 1985 ranger w/2.8l w/dual gas tanks, 320,000km's (original engine can u believe it? and 700km's out of both tanks)

here is my problem.
when it gets cold out the the truck is hard to start and it is really hard to maintain idle it basically will idle high then about 20 seconds later it will drop down till it stalls out or it will run on one cylinder sort of deal like a "put put put put put", and then stall.at the same time it feels like the timming is jumping around (advanceing and then retarding) only until the engine warms up, as soon as its warm it's very smooth . as well if i drive the truck and i'm able to warm it up sufficiantly and then park it for 10 hours or so it will start up with lesser symptoms, but if it sits for 2 days or so in cold weather i can bet it will not start. if that helps.
but on warm days it will run really nice except for a high idle that sits at about 1100 rpm's or so

any idea's????

i plan to give the old gal new plugs/wires/cap/rotor and oil change in the
next little while . i

is there anything i should look at or just go a head and replace ?

WTF is that thing that is driven by a belt off the crank and has some hoses and sits under the alt????


thanks guys

anyhelp is some help



mike

 

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belt driven thing with hoses is the air injection pump. Make sure that your coke is correctly adjusted, and that the air divertor valve on the air cleaner snorkle is closing, forcing heated air to be drawn in when the engine is cold. If that diverter does not work, it's a chore to drive a 2.8 when it's cold. They are pretty cold blooded in these trucks because of the intake design. The other thing is on a high milage motor like that, the exhaust crossover in the intake is probably plugged, and also is not helping heat up the intake, and the chugging is fuel puddling in the bottom of the intake, causeing it to run rich.

 

wow thanks pat67shorty.

intresting i will keep an an eye on the diverter, is that a dealer only sort of part or could i get one at any parts store?.

if i want to cleqan the exhaust cross over in the intake i guess i need to take off the intake eh? whats a good cleaner to use ? intake cleaner or something?.

with the feul puddling how do i prevent that? or fix it ?.

thanks a lot



mike

 

anyone wanna add anything????

thanks

 

Mike,

The exhaust crossover is under where the carb sits on the intake manifold, youll have to pull that to clean it...be prepared to use a chisel and a drill, the carbon deposits can be very hard, even running it through an industrial parts bath wont dislodge it, be careful with the drill.