Hi all. With 200,000 km's on the clock, my 92 3.0 5 speed gave me trouble for the first time today. About 250kms into a 350km trip it started sputtering and died leaving me on the side of the road. I messed around with it for about 5 minutes checking to see if the wire had come off the coil, or something like that, but there seemed to be nothing amiss. So I started walking towards a gas station a mile down the road... half way someone with a cell stopped and I told my old man to come get me with the flat deck. So I walked back to the truck to wait and figured I'd try starting it and it fired up and ran normal. Must have been 20 minutes from when it initially quit. So I drove to the gas station called dad to tell him to not bother getting me. So I started driving again... made it about 1/2 hr and it sputtered and died again. I figured I would just wait to see if time would cure it again... waited 5 minutes and it only drove about 2 miles before quitting. Then sat for 10 minutes and it then went the rest of the way.

Just wondering if anyone has had the same trouble. I think I will change the fuel filter and fuel pump... but any other suggestions would be appreciated. I wondered if the ECU had any kind of automatic shutoff for overheating that could have been fooling around. It was a very hot day 90+ so it was running warm, but not boiling. I ran the heater full out on the last lag home... man that sucked in 90 weather. I wasn't sure that running warm was affecting anything but I figured it could help dissipate the heat a little if that was the trouble.

 

the comp shouldn't shut off fuel without spitting out a code. i would bet on the fuel pump, and since you are planning on changing it anyway, see where you are after that.

 

Check engine light did NOT illuminate.

 

When it would'nt start did you hear the fuel pump when you turned the key?

Did you check for spark?

 

I have an 88 Ranger 2.9l that did the same thing once, turned out to be the relay that runs the fuel pump. First it would not pump when initially starting, you know the few seconds the pump runs when you first turn the key. Then it would start dying while driving down the road, and later would work fine just like yours. My relay was on the passengers fender not sure where yours is, but is not expensive and should be easy to change.

Oh and for when it first started I put a jumper switch in the fuel wireing so I could manually run the pump to start it truck lol, before I figured out where the relay was. If like the post above said you don't hear the fuel pump run for a few seconds when you turn the key, check that relay.

 

It was the fuel pump itself. I started at about 6 pm and finished about 11. It wouldn't be a bad job in a shop, but it really sucked out in my apartment parking lot. About 9:30 the building manager turned on the sprinklers, so I was soaked from then on, and worked for a couple hours in the dark. It would have helped to have a jackstand too... its tight under there.