My brother owns a 1996 or 97 ford ranger. He got the 4wd replaced and we decided to take it out and try it.

well we rolled it. speed was very low so it only rolled once. almost to slow to go all the way over, but because we were on a hill it did.

a few dents, and a broken passenger side window, but other than that no visible problem

however it wont start, or run if the driver side door, and the hood isnt open.
as soon as both are closed the engine dies.

I can close the drivers side door and it sputters a sec, but will stay idling.

as soon as I close both the dies.

with the hood up and the door open I can pull it back and forth, but no faster than 5mph or it dies.

any idea what is going on?

it hasnt got any dents in anything that should keep it from running and no dents deeper than about 2 inches.

 

check to see if the battery has moved and may b grounding to the hood. and i would also check the inertia switch, normally this switch would kill the fuel pump alltogether but it may be partially tripped so that any little vibration disturbs the fuel pump.

 

so glad to hear you guys are ok. . . so sad to hear you rolled her. . . . congratulations on winning the wierdest problem i have ever heard of though lol

 

the problem is rather odd. When I shut the hood it still runs though. but if both the hood and the door are shut then it dies.

sometimes I can keep it running at 3k+ apms and close both the door and the hood but as soon as I try to move it it dies really quick

 

Definetly weirdest problem I've ever heard of. Good you're ok. Open the hood and see if anything is strange. Just looks around. You're getting good fuel pressure? How's the air intake?

 

Oh wow. Glad you're ok. I myself have NEVER heard of that one lol. Thats kinda wierd. Although my buddies f-150 has a similar problem with the cd player. If you roll down the passenger side window, the cd will pause. The ONLY way to unpause it is to open the drivers side door.

 

LOL handyman that's a weird one indeed. Possibly drawing too much electrical current? Dunno just guessing. Random some of the things our trucks will do. I'd like to take it to a mechanic and see them figure that one out!

 

it definately sounds electical. check the wires. check the door and hood jams. ignition wires and fuel pump relay. something is triggering either the pump to shut off or the ignition. kind of like pilot said, try one or the other and find out whether its the door or the hood. then come back!

 

Random suggestion. Check the hood latch and see if anything looks weird, then open the hood. Now you said closing the hood and door killed the engine. Close the door, and run a peice of wire from the hood hinge to the latch and see if the engine dies. If so, I'm going to be very confused as to why electrical current is going through your latch or door.

I also suspect fuel pump cutoff switch (aka inertia switch) at passenger floorboard/footwell at the very front under the carpet. Little black box with red button. Make sure the button is depressed. Depress it again just for good measure. Then slam your hood or door and see if it pops loose or wiggles.

 

i wonder if the "gem" module is busted.. being that just about everything goes through this lil thing.

 

ok heres an update. k this is even weirder. I just went out and tried the little fuel pump kill switch thing. I took the whole thing off and messed with it, everything in order (although I dont understand how that little deal inside could move when the truck rolled, I had to damn near smack the thing on the ground ot get it ot kill manually.) anyway I tried the same things over hoping i missed something small.

I opened the hood and the driver side door, started it. It runs like a champ still. as soon as I tried closing the driverside door it died. and I had to wait a good 5 minutes before it would start again. I checked the switch and nothing had changed, button still down.

rinced and repeated step one. this time I reved it and closed the door. it tried to die. but didnt. it was running with the door closed.

I put a rock on the gas pedal and got out with it at about 3500 rpm. and shut the hood. It did the same thing -tried to die, but stayed going-

I then opened the door and hood and checked the electrical stuff you had mentioned. nothing changed. didnt try to die or anything. with the door open and the hood up nothing was wrong.

however while standing on the drivers side front looking at a dent about a foot 1/2 long above the drivers side front pannel dont ask me why just out of frustraion i kicked ithe bumper. and it died.

?!

started it again and kicked the same place a bit softer. the engine would almost stall. so i tried kicking the tire. nothing, then the pannel same thing like it was going to die. I then with much excitement (how often do you get to kick things to find problems?) proceeded to kick the truck all over.

nothing happened when i kicked it except when I kicked the front drivers sided pannel. or the bumper near that spot.

now my question.

is there anything running through there that could have been dmged by that dent. that doesnt exactly keep the engine running?

its the space exactly above the front driver side tire. right next to the hood...infact we had to pull the pannel back a bit to get the hood open as that dent was holding it closed.

 

In my truck nothing is there.

Above the driver's side tire...The PDB! Power Distribution Box. It's the thing that gives power to EVERYTHING in your vehicle. It might just be it! It'd open the hood and check all the fuses in there and the wires, make sure everything is nice and tight!

Still the weirdest thing I've ever heard of!

 

i suspect a bad wire around that fender, when u close the hood and or door does the fender move even the slightest. maby that dent pushed some wire against something and cut into it. im more into 150s, but on the 150s there are some relays on that side, like the fuel pump relay for example. did u try pulling the dent to see if it made a difference incase of a pinched wire?

 

With all of the banging and meatal shifting could it be getting a bad ground? Maybe when the door or hood is shut it is causing the panels to shift enough to cause a bad connection. Maybe try running a wire from the engine block to the frame and to the negative battery terminal to see. I know it sounds strange, but I've owned some old rusty truck that would do some strange things and it could always be traced to a bad ground. Just a thought.

 

Its definitely electrical. I'd take a test light and ground it on the battery and check the body for voltage. Do you have a hood button ? The driver's door button becomes hot when closed and is a double circuit. I'm also thinking the short that is caused when you move something is causing too much alternator draw and is killing it. Might also have broken the battery posts inside the battery. Have you checked the voltage draw ?