Help! 94 Villager Stalling All Year

Please help me: One year ago I bought 94 Villager(80k original miles) & had the motor completely rebuilt(it had blown a head gasket on the original owner) & it immediately began stalling. All mechanics have thrown hands up in despair & my pocketbook is hurting.
It's hard to start, engine has to turn over about ten times hitting the gas pedal a few times. Once in a while it starts right up. It doesnt start stalling until its warmed up 5 to 10 minutes, then whenever I take my foot off the gas below 35 Mph it dies. It idles very rough & frequently smells of gas or some chemcal.
Mechanics tried changing different things:
Ignition Coil Pack
Fuel Evaporation Canister
Egr Valve
Fuel & Air Filters
Distribuitor
Added Fuel Injector Cleaner Several Times
After changing Ignition Coil Pack, ran good a couple of days then started stalling again. No change with new Fuel Evaporation Canister.
A couple of weeks ago had driven 1,500 miles from Kansas to East Coast with several stops but without the engine getting cold & it hardly stalled, but Check Engine Lite came on. Code came up Egr Sytem, so changed Egr Valve & it ran PERFECT for 3 days, then started stalling worse than ever.
Just tried changing the Distribuitor(tried a used one) & right now idle surges up & down but only stalling in neutral.(Still early,though)
Ford dealer(They have same computer equipment as Mercury) did a diagnostic on the car & recommended cleaning the Fuel Induction/Injection System & maybe the Fuel Pump as they have a history of Villager's Fuel Pumps being bad.
When the fuel tank is low or near empty it rarely stalls. Have added Injector Cleaner on an empty tank & then filled up & it sometimes wont stall out for the whole tankful, but as soon as I fill up a 2nd time with no Injector Cleaner it immediately starts stalling. Also Higher Octane Gas makes no difference.
A full tank used to register about 360 miles on Fuel Gauge, for some time now it only shows 320 miles at full, but when the Egr Valve was changed, it showed 370 miles, & on the next full tank, right back to 320 miles.
Exhaust Manifold Gasket was recently changed. New Timing Belt with rebuilt engine. Someone said try changing the Nox Sensor?
Mechanic says being Nissan Motor, shouldnt even hear it run, but some light tapping coming from around the valve area?
I have some trouble with the door locks cycling & tape player wont work, but Ford & an auto electrician say nothing to do with stalling problem. Would love the car if it ran like those 3 perfect days.
Help me.....

I think you need to get back to basics. Something is wrong with the rebuild. There is no reason for this motor to act fine then blow a head gasket and then get rebuilt and run like crap. You probably got shafted on the rebuild or something. I would check timing and fuel pressure to begin with then check compression and make sure the system is going closed loop and also run a cooling system pressure check. remember, If the timing is off one tooth it will run like crap and nothing will solve the problem.But I think you need to change your fuel pump and then go to the fuel injection system or timing. But remember, it could be anything, that is why you need to run vaccum tests and compression tests and make sure the exhaust is not blocked and go through all the sensors one by one with a tester. Also, map and isc and tps sensors will drive it batty as well as one misguided vaccum line.So check everything by testing it first. There is a reason for troubleshooting, to save you money. I would check for maybe a bad vaccum leak as well.....But I can only tell you my thoughts, I can't hear or see the van so I can't give you much more guidance.

when they rebuilt it did they garrantee their work? have you taken it to them? have you ask the 1st owner if it ran like this before the head gasket? what about plugs and wires? something is wrong with the rebuild. sounds like timming.

It sounds like a fuel problem. Check your fuel filter better yet just change it cost about 10 bucks. The pressure from your fuel pump sounds like the culprit and if the dealer told you so you should go with it but make sure its in writting the cause and the solution so if it does not you get the repair for free parts and labor. There may also be a problem with air filter or intake leading up to the tps and IAC valve. It really seems as though you have the answers you just don't want to face the fact that it is not a simple fix. So in here mentioned that the villager is somewhat "bulletproof" well it is you just need to fix what is brocken and not what is thought to be. Pick a Haynes manual while your at it and start from free to expensive in that order.

GOOD LUCK

:banghead:
Blew a head gasket, still have no idea how, but there was a leak in one of the antifreeze hoses(small) coming out of the engine, I checked the radiator level and there was no appreciable loss, so I drove it home. Next day cold air from heater, temp gauge all the way up, etc. Mechanic checked it & Blown Head.
Took the opportunity to have the Injectors cleaned while doing the head job(there was alot of carbon buildup). New higher capacity Thermostat, Also checked timing belt, it was properly positioned, & they even tightened it a bit.
Then on every startup(& only the first time turning on the key), Check Engine Lite comes on. I put it in Drive and engine Hesitates, Stumbles, like its suffocating for about 10 seconds, then Lite goes off & car runs great. Mechanic puts it on the computer & Oxygen Sensor Code comes up. Still though, apart from the initial startup problem, Ran FINE for 2 days, NO STALLING, original problem apparently fixed
With the next fillup, 1/2 a tank later, it starts STALLING AGAIN.
It seems every time the Mechanic has to do something under the hood, it wont stall for a couple of days, is there something they could be banging against or wire pulling that could be temporarily fixing the problem?
I know there is still a bunch of stuff I can check, but does anybody have a suggestion of what to try first? Mechanic says Oxygen Sensor probably wouldnt cause stalling, what do you all think?
Still banging my head.

o2 sensor will make it go crazy. But so can a lot of other things. Take it to a dealer with the right stuff and have them run a diagnostic check. Save your hair...

Having bought the Haynes Manual a while back, I finally got out my digital voltmeter and tried to run a couple of tests.
I tried the test on the TPS Sensor & its wire connectors and couldnt get a proper reading, possibly due to inexperience, so decidedt that momented to contact an auto electrician that I knew of to give me a hand.
The reason I tried the TPS Sensor was that every time the mechanics had gone into the motor for one thing or another, for about a day or so the car would absolutely NOT stall out, and ran beautiful, so I thought maybe they were bumping into something or unhooking and hooking back up something that might affect the fuel system. It was the closest thing to try,
so I did.
Even though I was unable to get any reading, AMAZINGLY, after hooking back up the connectors, the car STOPPED STALLING, and has not stalled out even once for a whole week now!??!
I havent been able to see the electrician yet, I want him to run some tests on some of the reachable Sensors, Wire connectors & whatnot, of course the TPS Sensor too, just to see what comes up.
He did tell me that perhaps the connections were dirty & that maybe just moving them around so much cleaned them off or maybe no-one plugged them back firmly enough, but he will run tests anyway, just to see if something is faulty.
So what do you all think??

i think you nerrowed down the problem. if all you did was unhook than reconnected it, then maybe it was dirty or the wiring might be worn or a break in it somewhere.

what is a tps sensor. i am having similar problems. drop me an email at [email protected]. thanks

I have one brand new for sale.

Its 2006 & in November 05, a friend gave me an used IAC Valve, put it on & car stopped stalling, one month later my trans went out so I let the car sit for 3 months til I put an used trans in. First thing the car starts stalling for the next 2 weeks & then early this month(March) we had two hot winter days. Car stops stalling on its own runs great for three weeks now its stalling again.
Any suggestions???

I had same problem stalling,fuel odor,hard to start .
easiest thing to do is pull the red vacum hose from the fuel pressure regulator,if there is fuel in it not good,vacum line remember.the diaphram has failed and the regulator needs to be replaced.:grinyes: very expensive and hard to change but I did it and it fixed the problem.