01 Cold Weather Problems
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01 Cold Weather Problems
My 2001 ranger with 4.0 SOHC is acting up when its cold. At first it seemed like I had a miss when I would drive on cooler mornings. Now that the temperatures have significantly dropped my miss has become much worse. The engine misses, cuts-out, and the truck violently surges when driving. No problems whatsoever when I start up and leave work later in the day.
Yesterday I had the same symptoms and ended up with a check engine light. P0171 and P0174. I ran a search on the site and found that the most likely culprit would be a vacuum leak. My question is how should I go about checking for this leak? I don't have a smoke machine or any other vacuum testing equipment. Can I spray the vacuum lines with some ether or carb cleaner and listen for rpm fluctuation to detect where the leak is? If so, could someone tell me where the best places are to start looking as I'm not very familiar with vacuum line routing?
Also, I've seen mention of intake seals being the source of the leak. What is the best way to determine if mine are faulty? I found instructions for replacing them on a 4.0 OHV, how different would it be for my engine?
Yesterday I had the same symptoms and ended up with a check engine light. P0171 and P0174. I ran a search on the site and found that the most likely culprit would be a vacuum leak. My question is how should I go about checking for this leak? I don't have a smoke machine or any other vacuum testing equipment. Can I spray the vacuum lines with some ether or carb cleaner and listen for rpm fluctuation to detect where the leak is? If so, could someone tell me where the best places are to start looking as I'm not very familiar with vacuum line routing?
Also, I've seen mention of intake seals being the source of the leak. What is the best way to determine if mine are faulty? I found instructions for replacing them on a 4.0 OHV, how different would it be for my engine?
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Joined: Jul 2006
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From: Denver
Carb cleaner is commonly used to help find vacuum leaks - all you need to do is just spray a little along any vacuum lines you see under the hood. Do a little at a time so when you do have a speed change, you know where its coming from. As I recall, intake seal leaks were more of a problem on the ohv than the sohc. I would expect a vacuum line that runs somewhere that it gets real hot, and has cracked so that it leaks only when the hose is really cold & stiff.
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It's the intake seals. Common problem on both engines.
Once they start to warm up they expand and seal up and everything is fine.
Do you visual checks.. check for broken vacuum lines, etc (to address your lean codes) and you might even try cleaning your Mass Air Flow (which can also set lean codes).
If the problem still exists after this, replace the intake seals. Not a huge job to do, just be careful not to over-torque the bolts, as the intake is plastic. You'll notice the new seals are much thicker than the originals (beefier design).
Good luck!
Once they start to warm up they expand and seal up and everything is fine.
Do you visual checks.. check for broken vacuum lines, etc (to address your lean codes) and you might even try cleaning your Mass Air Flow (which can also set lean codes).
If the problem still exists after this, replace the intake seals. Not a huge job to do, just be careful not to over-torque the bolts, as the intake is plastic. You'll notice the new seals are much thicker than the originals (beefier design).
Good luck!
