Ive got a 99 Ranger 3.0 automatic 2WD XLT all stock with 120k miles and ive got a weird problem i havent been able to find a solution for....ive been to pepboys and while they had it they didnt find a problem....just recently it got worse and dont feel like shelling out money on diagnostic fees if its just something i may be able to fix myself....heres the problem

it started about 2 months ago after i changed my oil in the drive way.....i had just switched 1 oil change before to a high mileage 10w30....well anyways chanegd my oil then proceeded to drive to work when my trucks oil gauge starting ocsillating up n down and even would sit on 0 for seconds at a time....and would only do this during idle or while coming to a stop....and at the same time my engine would sputter but no die....i tried to explain the peoplem to someone at an automotive parts store and he immediatly thought the worse...maybe a cracked piston ring or something(which this may still be the problem)...i then askin a friend who used to be a mechanic and he thought maybe it was a plugged up pcv valve so i changed that out..the problem got significantly better but was still there....would do it maybe once or twice a week i can feel the engine sputter slightly and the oil gauge would flicker maybe once or twice and i drove it like this for 2 months with no sign of it worsening....til today i just had my oil chanegd at WalMart with high mileage 10w30 and it started doin the same thing again....at about the same intensity as it was 2 months ago....does any1 have any idea what might be causing this?....i hope its not the cracked ring....i dont have money to pay for any expensive repairs at the moment

btw first post

would appreciate some help from the vast knowledge ive seen on these forums

thanks

 

Welcome to FTE!

It only happens at closed throttle? I'm thinking it might be an idle problem, as opposed to a oil pressure problem. If the engine RPMs are going too low, it could be causing the oil pressure to drop low enough to affect the gauge (which BTW is a "dummy gauge" in that it will only display one reading (middle) after the pressure has reached a certain level).

To complicate things, the oil pressure sender on the 3.0L can also go bad, causing the gauge to get all out of whack. I've seen a few posts describing that happening.

So you might consider an idle problem (IAC valve maybe?) as well as a sensor problem.

 

i doubt it simply the oil pressure sender because of the engine stutter....ill look into the other things thanks

 

oh howd i forget this.....another part of the problem.....theres air hissing from the dipstick location.....that may help the diagnosis

 

While a cracked ring would probably cause the rough idle and the hissing sound, so could a broken or loose vacuum line, and would be much easier to look for. good luck.

 

the issue was fixed a while ago.....it was a vacuum hose...have not had any problems since

sorry for not updating this post a while ago when it was fixed, i completely forgot about it lol