Jack Rabbit When Accelerate & Lose Power When Up Hill

[xvpluong]

Hello Gentlemen, I had a home mechanic did a timing belt change & spark plug change on year 2000 Ranger/B2500. My truck ran perfect before the work were done; after the work, it produces jack rabbit choke when I accelerate & stay like that. I had to relief the gas paddle, slowly release the clutch, ease the gas paddle to solve the problem. When uphill, the truck lose power & the engine light blink then downhill, the light went out. Thanks for your expertee.

[pawpaw]

Welcome to FTE.

Well seeing as how you say it ran fine before the timing belt, plugs & wires were changed & it now runs poorly with no uphill power & with the CEL blinking, the computer is saying you have a misfire.

So run this puppy by your favorite autoparts store for a computer trouble code scan & it'll likely tell you which cylinder or cyl's are misbehaving, so you can go there & check the plugs & wires to make sure their routed & firmly connected & the plugs internal or external ceamic insulators weren't damaged during installation..

Were OEM Motorcraft plugs & wires used????
If not, do a wetdown test on each plug wire, at night with a spray bottle of water & look for arcs & sparks where any electrical breakdown occurs.

If all that checks out ok, then do a compression check, or if you have scantool, have it run a cylinder balance check & that'll likely determine if the timing belt was properly installed & the cam & crankshaft timing marks were aligned, so that the cam timing is right & opening & closing the valves at the right time.

Let us know what you find.

[xvpluong]

Thanks very much PawPaw for Ur expertee. I did not mention before I was changing only 4 spark plug wires, I changed two more today & the problem is going away mostly. Going uphill did not has the problem like before, acceleration also not producing the sputter as before, may be the old wires & the new wires did not produce the same voltage & the sputter took place. I will change the other 2 wires under the exhaust soon which are more difficult to change, hopeful the issue will go away. Thanks

[pawpaw]

Yup best to change All of the plug wires in a set.

Generally the plug wire resistance should be about 2K ohms/inch of length, 30K ohms max, no matter the length.
Spark plug resistor value is about 4K ohms.

Even if the plug wires internal resistance is ok, it could have insulation damage & electrical leakage, or breakdown to ground that would weaken the plugs spark, such that it could blow out when the engine is under load, so thats why I suggested the "wet down" test.
This spark blow out also can happen if the plug gap is excessive.

Sounds like you have a grip on the problem, so get the remainder of the plug wires changed & let us know how it goes.

BTW, the OEM Motorcraft plugs & wires are designed for the double work load our "Waste Spark" ignition system puts on them, so if your using aftermarket plugs & wires, make sure they say they meet or exceed Fords specifications, or youll likely have more problems down the road!!!!

[xvpluong]

Thanks PawPaw for Ur expertee. I have able to change the rest of the plug wires & my B2500 runs normal now. Greatly appreciated!

[pawpaw]

OK, good feedback & to hear you have your miss problem fixed with the new plug wire set.