Random, Intermittent Dies

Over the past 2 months, My truck just died while idling, shortly after I started it up. Today, it started bucking on the highway. Loss of power. Mine is a manual trans, so I tried pushing in the clutch while it was doing this. It is actually dying, the only reason it "seemed" to be running still was that it was still in gear. It is very intermittent, I cannot seem to duplicate it. Initially, it was at 65mph, now it has done it at about 45mph. Uphill, downhill does not seem to be a factor. Once, it seemed to do it over a bump (but not real sure, coincidence???). After the initial dying-at-idle issues, I cleaned the MAF. Now, I have checked all electrical connections and I am headed into town for plugs (2007 with only 49k miles), but I wanted to get you guys/gals thinking about issues to check. I will check out the crank sensor (?) on the crank pulley. What else?



Thanks

 

Check air filter, when was your last fill up? 49k miles on an 07 makes me think it sits a while.

 

Last fill was a few days ago, air filter was cleaned and oiled (aFE) 1-1/2 months ago. It may be the gas, while getting the plugs I will get some octane booster too. It sits for the week, gets driven on the weekends, mostly errands. She is kept inside though (with a cat, but may still have some rodent nibbling issues- I didn't see any signs though).

 

There's your sign. Probably oiled up the MAF again.

 

Also, no codes, no pending codes.

 

I'll clean the MAF again (always go to what you changed before the problem started, right?) but my intake runner from the filter to the TB was spotless and oil-less.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, the thinking is off on that. It died at idle, then I cleaned the MAf, then it got worse. Unless, of course, I screwed myself and really muffed up the MAF...

 

Changed the spark plugs (should have been done at 30k, for some odd reason, I thought that they were 100k mile plugs, dopey me!). And, I changed the crank sensor. The plugs looked good, though. The truck is running great, no more bucking/lurching. My new MAF sensor comes in today and I will get that in but it seems that that is not the problem. Some have thought that the fuel pump (and stupid in-the-tank sock filter) could be part of the issue. I am going to order a new URD one in a few weeks (you know, money, right?) and put that in when I get a chance, just for grins.