Hello all,

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I have a 99 ford ranger that I am having issues with. I swapped out the engine last year due to a cracked head. The engine I bought has 65k miles on a rebuild.

I was driving on the highway the other day and the truck started vibrating and pretty much losing power. I turned around it eventually died and I managed to limp it home. I can say I have had a check engine light on for a while, not sure what it was. When the truck died and what not it was flashing meaning I had a misfire.

Now when I start the truck it have a very rough idle, the truck cab shakes very badly and it dies after a bit. It will idle around 1500, down to 1000, then drop to about 300 and die.

I have to give it gas to be able to start it.

I have changed the camshaft position sensor, cleaned the MAF, cleaned the IAC, checked for vacuum leaks, put dry gas in it just in case it was that. The fuel filter was changed when I did the engine swap. I drive it MAYBE 1,000 miles in a year. I tried tapping on the IAC while it was running as well and doesn't change anything. I changed the spark plugs, wires, coil pack, verified that the firing order is correct as well.

When I pulled the plugs they had E3's in there. One of the plugs was actually melted and all 3 on the drivers side were loose I could remove them by hand. They were also missing the cage on the bottom of the plug.

It acts like a misfire and as if it is starving for something I just cannot tell what.

I had a friend come over and read it with a scanner and it gave me the camshaft position sensor malfunction code. That is why I changed it and it didn't change a thing.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. This is stumping me. I cannot drive it and I need it being that me and my wife both work and my daughter needs to be to school and what not.

Thanks

 

if it helps for info. The engine I bought had all injectors replaced, as well as one head replaced and the other milled down. The guys that did it are both ford mechanics and are family. They totaled a 2000 ranger and sold me the engine and trans (which had 1,000) miles on it for a great price. I did everything I could get to when I changed the engine including all new trans lines, hoses, timing chain cover gasket, power steering lines etc. They said they replaced a bunch of sensors as well I am not sure exactly which ones though.

 

Welcome to FTE.


WOW, you've been busy on this one. Seeing as how it takes air, fuel, spark & compression to make em run, check fuel pressure at the under hood fuel rail Schrader valve test port, with a fuel pressure gauge & post the Numbers. On your 99, you should have 64 +/- 8psi.


Also post up All trouble code Numbers you had, or have now, so scan again, as they can offer up good trouble shooting clues.
If the scantool will perform a cyl power balance test, have it do that when you scan for trouble codes again.


Our waste spark ignition puts a Double work load on the plugs & wires, as it fires them on Every rotation of the crank shaft, once on the power stroke & again on the exhaust stroke, so they need to be designed to take that Double work load. OEM wires & the newer design fine wire iridium enhanced center electrode with, platinum pad side wire plugs are Highly recommended & they are the correct heat range for our engine. At the very least we need double platinum plugs of the correct heat range, to have them last any length of time. Your Ford Techs should know this.


If the engine was running very long like this before you got it, the cat converter may be plugged up from over heating & internal melt down & if so, exhaust back pressure will be high. So go here, How to Use and Interpret a Vacuum Gauge, scroll down to the bottom of the page & with your vacuum gauge, perform clogged exhaust test #14.
Since you had signs of cyl over heating with plug electrode melt down, you might also perform some of the other valve sealing tests while you have the vacuum gauge hooked up, as all of these tests, along with the scantool power balance test could help sorta get a quick easy idea of cyl health, as you may have heat, or valve seat damage.
Some thoughts for consideration, let us know what you find.

 

thank you for the response pawpaw.. I ran into an issue trying to get the fuel pressure reading from the schrader valve under the hood. I borrowed a fuel pressure gauge from the wifes cousins to take the reading. They just got it from harbor freight. I looked it up and used the small valve adapter #26 in their kit. It seems to not have a pin or anything in it to even release the pressure on the valve. The valve stem is not being pushed on when I connect it and I have no idea as to why.

That was the first thing I thought of was fuel pump. If it was starving for fuel with a low psi, it wouldn't run right and would just use engine vacuum to pull from the lines. I went to school for a while and worked at firestone for about a year, but that's all I have. I'm not a seasoned mechanic, but I can do most things.

I will have to have my buddy bring the scanner back over. I know it told me timing was at 22 degrees, and read live so maybe he can do a cyl balance test if it will stay running.

I have had a check engine light on for a while, but it ran fine, I thought it was something like an 02 sensor as usual. When the truck died on the side of the road it started flashing indicating a misfire. When I pulled the plugs I thought the melted spark plugs were the culprit. Why they put E3's in it I do not know. I do know that I went to autozone and bought OEM motorcrafts to put in it and i gapped them at .052 I couldn't get my hands on any motorcraft wires so I ended up buying their durajunk and swapped them.

When he turned on the scanner it only showed a MAF code. This was due to me unplugging the MAF sensor trying to see if it would affect the way it was running. The only other code that came up was P0340-camshaft position sensor malfunction. I went ahead and took off the upper intake plenum and climbed on top and changed the sensor.What I could see of the synchronizer looked clean and fine, no pieces of the magnet were missing or chewed up either. I did notice while trying to get the sensor off the whole synchronizer turned. I do not know if this is normal or not. It didnt move up or down but as far as i know its only held in under a washer with a bolt, wasn't positive if it should rotate or not.

Now It was dark when I was working on it the first night, and as I walked by I noticed the spark plugs arcing on the drivers side. This is what caused me to investigate more and buy new wires. The spark plugs were so loose I could remove them by hand. After I changed the wires and plugs only cylinder 1 is arcing now and I cannot figure out why. You can see it at night time and it arcs to the head right there above it where it meets the block.

It will start up right away for about 2 seconds with first turn of the key and die. After that I have to pump the gas pedal to get it to start and then it runs like garbage.

Thank you for reading this lengthy post. I appreciate any other information you can give me

 

oh, forgot to add i used the exhaust from the truck with the other engine with the cracked head on it when I swapped the engines out. So who's to know what is burned in there. Would a clogged catalytic converter actually cause it to not want to run at all and not idle correctly?

 

Yes as I mentioned above, a clogged cat converter can cause excessive back pressure with rough idle, running , power, overheating, ect problems, so you first need to get the arcing ignition problem put right, then perform the clogged exhaust test with your vacuum gauge, then check fuel pressure, then perform the power balance test IF it's idling half way decent by then.

 

Alrighty i will get on that.. thank you very much for your help

 

What do you think would cause the arcing issue? I replaced all 6 plugs, wires, coil pack as well... made sure gap was good and plugs were tight and spark plug boots tight on the plugs

 

Just because the plug wires are new doesn't automatically make em good. Did you perform an end to end resistance check before installation? Check for insulation damage & to make sure the end to continuity is there & resistance about 2K ohms per inch of length/30K ohms max no matter the length, or as outlined in your repair manual, meets spec. Right now I'd consider OEM wires or maybe the top line Autolite that other members have reported as good quality.

 

Good point, no i did not check the resistance or anything. I dont have a multimeter to do it

 

Now this opens the door for you to stop by Harbor Freight & add another item to your electronic tool box.