while sitting at a light or stop sign the RPM usually sits around 600 RPM. Lately it starts sudenly jumping to 900 and then down to 300 RPM. the truck has stalled and i had to restart the truck.

Asked by Realtor469 Dec 27, 2015 at 08:50 AM about the 1999 Ford Explorer 2 Dr Sport SUV

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

while sitting at a light or stop sign the RPM usually sits around 600 RPM.
Lately it starts suddenly jumping to 900 and then down to 300 RPM. the truck
has stalled and i had to restart the truck. why is the RPM unstable and
jumping around?

3 Answers

220,915

May be the Air Idle Control sensor, they will get gummed up and the port that it is in would need to be cleaned out good, vacuum leaks are another thing to check, you can spray some carb cleaner around the intake gaskets, throttle body & hoses, RPM will pick-up if there is a vacuum leak, then timing should be checked, and the fuel pump pressure, after replacing the fuel filter.

3 people found this helpful.
14,385

Rowefast is correct about the iac and vacumn issues, If you are using the defrost when its happening you are making the engine work harder due to the a/c compressor turning on and off.

2 people found this helpful.
73,320

I have a 99 and experienced the same thing. First, I removed the throttle body and the IAC and cleaned them well with throttle body cleaner. Believe me, they get gunked up with carbon. After cleaning, make sure the IAC works and moves freely in and out with the key. Nine times out of ten that fixes the problem.

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