Need some help with an 86 Ranger V6 4x4. If you try to accelerate very hard at all... the truck surges. It will keep it up till you back off the throttle. The more you accelerate... the more it cuts out. It did this same thing about a year ago on a 300 mile trip. I just had to ease it up to road speed to keep it from cutting out. once you get up to speed... it seems to be OK. By the time I got back from the trip... the truck seemed to run fine. Now, a year later... it is doing it again and shows no sign of coming out of it. It starts fine... and seems to idle OK. I just got the truck back from a local mechanic... who is totaly stumped. They checked the codes, but I didn't ask what they were. They put on a new cat. converter, a new O2 sensor, a new fuel pump, a new fuel filter, and they cleaned the tank. He says I might have a dirty injector? what do you think?

 

I have an 88 Ranger, with a 2.9L and a AL4D Auto Tranny. I had the same problem 2 years ago, and would happen on and off for almost a year. I was told the same advise from Mechanics, no codes turned up, and they suggested the fuel pump, and filters and all the same items you replaced. I replaced none of them. The problem has seemed to dissapear, and I'm not sure what to attribute it to. The only thing I actualy did was some fuel additives, and injector cleaners which at the time seemed to be of no help. I was also having some Tranny problems at that same time, and noticed that my shift down cable was shredded( which should have been noticed when I had just spent $2,500.00 on a new Tranny rebuild) I replaced the cable myself and the problem with surgeing has not happened since. I don't know what the cause was, but it seemed to be several things building up. I had just also recently put a factory rebuilt engine in, ( at another $2,500.00) and was expecting another 10 years of no trouble. the new enine comes without most of the bolt on items, so the EFI system, and all other accesories are still the original equipment from when I bought the truck new......If you get a hold of this problem I'd be very interested in the fix. ....
Good Luck Bro.............Steve

 

Well Steve... It's in a different shop right now. It has no codes, and they have put on a new dist. cap & rotor. Still didn't fix. Said that it feels as tho the muffler may be plugged.
I hope they find something soon. It was to the point that you really couldn't drive it. It is the original motor and tranny. It's only got 140 thousand miles.

 

Yo Jr.
That reminds me....
They told me the same thing about exhaust system...So I removed the catalylic converter, and replaced the muffler.....you guessed it, no help..
I also have had this problem of the truck stalling out while just cruizing along.....has done it since I bought it new. Don't know if it's related to the surging, but I've alway's had some suspition. Also someone told me they just heard of a possible ford recall affecting alot of vehicles, there still disputing it at this point, maybe in Calif., but I can't find any info about it anywhere
My Ranger's got 200,000 miles on it, It's upset me from time to time with these incredibly mysterious problems,that seem to baffle the most experianced mechanics. but when it runs good.I Love it!
Right now my limited slip went out in the rear differential, have to rebuild front and rear diffs, parts alone $900.00...........ouch!
And the Tranny is holding on by a thread...that's next, then I pray I get a rest for a while...I deserve it.
Please keep me posted...Steve

 

Steve,
Great news... I just returned home with the Ranger and it runs like a new one! It took a week, but they found the problem was a plugged fuel filter. The canister filter had been replaced twice... but the one in the frame had not. They said that the Ford dealership mechanics told them to just by-pass it. because the newer trucks only use one.
Thanks for your support. If it doesn't cure the problem... I'll let you know.
Jeff

 

Jr.
sounds great. I recall attemping to start replacing my filter in the frame. It's in a spot that's a major pain, and never finished. I'll by-pass mine too. Thanks for the info.
Happy wheelin....Steve

 

Hi Guys.

I seem to recall with my old 86 Bronco II 2.9 Litre with 5 speed tranny having the same surging problem but mine only did it at idle and would start hard when it was warm. I see you guys are going to by-pass your fuel filters. I would guess that it is the canister type with the removable filter element? How are you going to do this? Just replace it with a filter off of a later model? If I remember right that is the only filter on the truck for the fuel, and bypassing it will just allow the dirt in the gasoline to clog up other things for example the fuel injectors. I am not sure that I would do that if that is what you are planning on doing. All you will accomplish is moving the problem from one area to another.

The reason that I am asking this is because a cousin of mine has an 86 Bronco II as well, and he is having the same problem that you guys describe. I am also planning on building a RanCo II if you will, which will involve taking the chassis of a Bronco II, bolting a Ranger cab to it and building a flat bed on the back to create my own version of the new Explorer Sport-Trac.

Hoppy

 

Hoppy,
Our Rangers have 2 fuel filters, so were just totaly by-passing them with a house fitting.
that was written above, but I guess you missed it, no sweat.
thanks for the concern......Steve

 

My 87, manual 5spd, 2.9L Ranger used to "stall" for part of a second while driving on the interstate with the cruise set. Happened rarely and unpredictably. Don't know if this is the type of stall you are describing or not.

Tachometer (after market) would go to zero for part of a second (without pushing in clutch!) and then all would return to normal.

After hearing a Ford engineer, who had the same problem, on CarTalk on NPR, I cleaned the battery terminals. Fixed problem.

His reasoning: The computer uses the battery for a reference voltage. Under normal conditions the battery is not used while driving so current load goes to nearly zero. With no current, any resistance from oxidation, etc between the posts and the cables will cause the voltage to drop to where the computer momentarily shuts down and restarts. Or so he said. All I know is that it worked and works.