I have a 1988 b250 5 .2 dodge conversion van with 210,000 km. that's causing me some grief in Mexico. When I first got down here the van would throttle up and down a few times at idle then stall but it would start up right away. Under slow speeds the van had little or no power and you would get a strong fuel smell. I could slip into neutral and rev it to go again. With higher revs it seems to run better. We changed the fuel filter and tested the fuel pump which showed 16psi. I took it to a garage down here and they thought it might be my ecm so I ordered one from Rockauto which did not work. The mechanic sent the old ecm and new rockauto ecm away to be tested. The conclusion was the rockauto ecm wasn't programed and the old ecm needed a repair. Installed the old ecm and the problem still persisted so off to the repair place again but after this repair the van wouldn't start. In the mean time rockauto sent me a new ecm which started the van but the old symptoms returned. I did a key dance when we first had this problem and no codes showed but now with the new ecm we get a 12 code. I am thinking maybe a coolant sensor or may an injector problem. Sorry for rambling on guys but any assistance would help. By the way a new mechanic is coming over tomorrow to take a fresh look but he has no English which should be fun.

 

Sounds like one of the fuel injectors is leaking.

 

Maybe it is the altitude, I remember lots of hills when I drove through Mexico. I would go ahead and do the usual tune-up stuff if you did not do that before heading down. When we did it we were driving 24 hours a day and I recall waking up once and the driver said the van didn't have any power. I pulled the air filter and it had about 2 pounds of sand in it.
Have fun down there! I think you'll find that their engine oil is red coloured.
Cheers, Steve

 

Sorry for the delay in responding but wifi is hit and miss down here. Well alloro was right. We found an old throttle body and salvaged the injector which seemed to correct the idle problem. We went on a 500 mile trip to the Pacific beaches but got terrible fuel economy. Did the old key dance and pulled a 52 code - running rich condition. I have ordered two new injectors from the States which should be here next week. Steve, the oil colour is the as back home.
Thanks
Ross