Greetings,

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I opted for the "Ranger and B-series" section. My truck is a '93 Ford Ranger XLT with a 3.0 V6. It has approximately 169,000 miles on it. I bought this truck about 5 months ago. It ran fine until a recent problem arose. Within the last 5 weeks, I engine has been acting in a strange manner. Here's what happens: When I'm driving, and I get up to fifth gear, the engine feels as though it shaking. It sort of feels like what happens if you you're in first gear and you start moving but you just didn't give it enough gas. It's that feeling as though the engine is about to die. It's like that except that it feels as if I'm riding a rodeo bull. If I downshift to third, the problem lessens, but eventually I have to keep downshifting. This of course, means that I end up on the shoulder of the freeway. It's happened about four times in the last three weeks, but the engine actually didn't die one out of those four times. It just started acting up, but as I continued to drive, it seemed to sort itself out. Anyway, as I'm sitting there on the freeway's shoulder, the engine just dies out. When I try to restart, the battery and starter are fine, but the engine just won't turn over. It ALMOST turns over, but for some reason, it just won't catch. The strange thing is, after the truck sits for an hour or two, the engine will restart as if there has never been anything wrong with it. In the last week, I've discovered that if I take the back roads to work, and never go over fourth gear, I'm okay. However, just last night on my way to work, the truck started to do the "shake" in fourth and I couldn't drive in any gear higher than third. Because the problem is intermittent, I'm not really sure what to do. I bought a new fuel filter and will be changing that on Tuesday, my first day of free time. I also changed the PCV valve, but I don't think that was really related to the problem. A cool guy at the Schuck's I go to, told me that it sounds as though the fuel filter might be the culprit. (which is why I bought a new one) He said that the engine sounds like it is starving for fuel when I get to the higher gears. He said that a potentially bad scenario might be a bad fuel injector. His basic recommendation was to start with the cheap things, PCV valve, fuel filter, etc. just to see if that fixes it. Does anyone have an idea what could be happening to my truck? I apologize for such a vague description of the symptoms, but what I describes is pretty much how it feels when the problem has started. Also, this problem has been occurring about once every week and a half or so. Thanks again to anyone who might have any insight into my engine's problem.

 

sounds like possibly losing fuel pressure, easy way to check this is to check the schrader valve on the fuel rail(be careful if engine hot!!)

 

emtabmm,

Thanks for the suggestion. Could you tell me how to check it and how to locate it? I don't know what the schrader valve or the fuel rail is. Thanks.

 

schrader valve looks like a tire valve stem, fuel rail is a shiny tube on your intake manifold that delivers fuel to the injectors.....

 

You will need to connect a fuel pressure gauge to the valve.

 

I've located the schrader valve and the fuel rail. Thank you for the info. Ken00, how do I connect a fuel pressure gauge to the valve. Also, do I just pick up a fuel pressure gauge at any auto parts store? One more question: if it is a fuel pressure problem, as suggested by emtabmm, what could be causing it and is this a difficult problem to diagnose and fix? Thanks guys.

 

There is another thing I forgot to ask earlier. A while back, I read a post where a guy was having similar problems to what I described here. One the people who responded said that it was a coil of some sort, (I think) and I think he also said it was something related to the distributor. I don't remember the exact details though. Could the problem I started this thread with be related to the distributor or whatever possible coil this read-long-ago thread refers to? I did just change the fuel filter, spark plugs, and spark plugs wires, the problem happened to me again just the other night. It started in fifth gear as I'd mentioned before. I ended up having to pull over and my truck wouldn't start for about an hour. When it did finally start again, I couldn't go past first gear. After letting it idle for about ten minutes, I was able to drive the two mile highway stretch back home, but couldn't drive it higher than third gear. If I did, it started to do that shaking/almost-ready-to-die thing that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Tonight, I drove it to work, never going over fourth gear, and I had no major problems, exact for one, little, tiny thing, but one I shifted down to third, the truck was okay. Could my timing be off? If so, could this be a cause?

 

You could borrow or pick up a gauge at the parts store, threads on. A weak pump or bad regulator could cause it, clogged fuel filter could but you replaced that.

I'm not sure if the 93 3.0s had TFI modules, but they do cause it to die on the road and hot no starts. Do oyu have a distributor or coil packs.

 

Ken00,
Do you mean a fuel pressure regulator? Have would I know whether I had a weak fuel pump? The truck has 169,000 miles on it, and I don't know when someone did maintenance last. The sparks plugs I changed looked like they had been in the car for 50,000 miles or more. One of the spark plugs wires was so deteriorated that it broke off on one of the plugs. I'm glad I changed all of that stuff. I guess my question is: if it turns out to be a weak fuel pump, how often should this have been changed? The engine has a distributor but I'm not sure if my truck has a TFI. I'll check on that and post once I have the answer. By the way, could a bad igniton coil have anything to do with the problems my truck is having? I was thinking of changing that when I change my distributor cap and rotor. (later this week) Thanks again everyone, for all of your help and advice. This site is awesome and I'm glad I came across it back in July.

-Mike-

 

I just consulted my Chilton's Manual and it says that my truck has a TFI. The manual makes it seem as though it's part of my distributor cap. Does that mean if I get a new distributor cap, I'll always have a new TFI? (Sorry that I've asked so many questions in my last two postings.)

-Mike-

 

Yep, a FPR. If you have low pressure and all else is good thenI would suspect the pump. Fuel pumps should last a long time, 100k.

If you have a bad coil you would have a weak spark, not blue.

The TFI hangs off the distibutor, does not come with the cap. Normally a bad TFI cause it to die while driving or no start hot.

Have you tried pulling the codes, see tech info post for the procedure.

 

Greetings,

It's been almost a month since I last posted. Since my last posting my truck had the same problems mentioned earlier in this post and it evenutally had to sit for about ten days due to a no start problem. The problem had gotten worse and it last happened after I let the engine idle for about 15 mintues in order to help defrost ice on the windows. Less than two miles from my work place, about five minutes after I left, the engine starting doing it's thing, just like before, and I ended up having to leave the truck on the side of the road for 10 days in a residential area. (It would not start. It would crank, but not turn over) I ended up finally changing the Distiritbutor cap, rotor, and ignition coil. I did the igniton coil first to see if that would make any difference, but the engine still wouldn't fire up. It would crank, but not turn over. I then changed the cap and rotor and when that was done, the engine fired right up and it ran fine. Is it possible that a bad cap/rotor could have caused the symptoms I had previously posted? The cap contacts were pretty corroded and all covered in some kind of crusty-looking material. The rotor contacts also seemed pretty dirty.
I don't mean to be a pessimist but it seemed like the problems I'm having wouldn't be solved simply by changing the cap and rotor. (along with everything else I've already changed) Then again, you never know right?
Either way, I going to clean the MAF sensor and also clean out the throttle body today. The fuel pressure regulator will also be getting changed. I figure that I might as well be doing preventive maintenance while I'm working on the truck.
Aside from the cap/rotor inquiry I've made, I do have two other questions. In case it might be a MAF sensor problem, (as a Fort TSB I read lead me to believe it might be) and I clean it out, do I need to reset the computer? Also, is there any harm in resetting the computer before I clean the MAF sensor, just to see if it helps?

P.S. The idle on my truck is a little rough when I first start it, but it then goes away after a minute or so. (actually it still feels a TINY bit rough, but it does smooth out a bit, although it's never been as smooth as my friend's Intergra. Should, or could, the idle ever be that smooth? It's so smooth it feels like the car isn't even running) I've read other postings here at the FTE site that talk about a V6 being a bit strong when it idles. I've also read other people talking about the "3.0 stumble." Is there any truth to this or were they just kidding around?

Sorry, one more thing just came to mind. When I changed the cap and rotor, I noticed that the PCV valve grommet was pretty old and inflexible. I hadn't changed the grommet when I previously changed my PCV valve so I went ahead and did that. I heard that it can cause some driveablitiy (spelling?) problems. When I changed it, I noticed that there was oil around the grommet (old one) and on the engine. (valve cover I guess it's called) When I finally drove the truck home today, I looked under the hood when I got there and it looks like there is engine oil coming from the PCV valve. The area around the grommet is completely clean and dry. It's only a small amount, but it doesn't seem like that is a good sign. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for all of your input everyone. (Sorry about leaving such a long post... )

-Mike-

 

Anytime you replace/clean a senser/etc I would reset the PCM, resetting it now won't cause any problems except clearing a code that you might need.

A small amount of oil at the PCV gasket wouldn't bother me but I would expect a new gasket to eliminate the problem, hows the fit.

 

Ken,

I replaced the old grommet and the new one fits perfectly. The oil looks as though it's actually coming out of the PCV valve
itself.
As far as the question I asked in my previous post, do you think the rotor/cap could be the solution to my problem? Thanks.

-Mike-

 

I think the cap/rotor could have caused a problem if you were getting a weak spark or there was arcing going on in there. The crusty stuff was dielectric grease which is supposed to be there.