Can anyone tell me where I can find the amperage on my 1999 ranger XLT sport 3.0's alternator? Ive searched and found nothing.

Also, the same truck has a problem where after its been off for the night and I go to leave it will sort of "lock up". If I go back and fourth betwen reverse and first gear it will eventually pop out and go fine. If I try to go full on reverse it is real hard to get it to unlock and the tires will even spin without the truck moving but sometimes it will POP out louder than the first method.

I know I should go to a mechanic but I wont be able to for a couple weeks and would like to know whats going on. Thanks for any help


edit: By the way this truck is 2WD

 

im not sure about the alternator but im guessing 13.5 -14.0 volts

as to the brakes check the calipers to see if they are locked up maybe the rubber lines to the calipers are collapsed so the fluid there is holding the brake compressed to the wheel before you start it jack up the fromt wheels and see if they spin freely

 

thanks for the reply bob, I was hoping for what the alternator outputs in total amps but thats alright ill try and check the manual or actually look at the model tomarrow.

And will the jack that comes with the ranger hold up the hole front end to try and spin the wheels or do I need 2 jacks?

 

Is it cold out when your ranger does not want to move? Rangers have a bad tendency to have the rear brakes lock/freeze up when it is cold and wet.

Mine did that a few times. One time I even had to put it in 4-lo. It was spinning the one tire in 2wd, and I popped it into low to get some extra grunt.

 

Yea its been very cold here recently and its been happening quite a bit. I remember it doing this like once a year ago then all of a sudden its been happening alot more. Weve been getting a lot of snow here to and I park in a garage so there could be a lot of moisture getting in there.

 

I have a 99 Ranger and had the same problem with a sticking e-brake. With cold weather and time it seemed to get worse and I got so concerned that I simply quit using it if possible, particularly for overnight parking. This week I replaced the rear brake shoes and drums. While it is maybe too early to truly confirm, I think my sticky e-brake problem is corrected.

Two things I noticed when replacing the shoes. First, (and probably the main culprit) was a broken retracting spring on the driver side wheel. With this spring broken, I believe the shoes on this wheel were not "relaxed" when the e-brake was released (and I believe this was the problem sticky brake wheel). Second, things were very dry. When I installed the new shoes, I made sure to brush a good coat of long lasting brake grease on the rear backing plate at each of the contact points, also on the parking brake lever pivot pin and all rub points, and on the parking brake cable connection. I have also noticed my ebrake light is working properly now (before it stayed off when engaged). Again, I am only 3 days into this post-maintenance to factually state the improvements.

There's good rear drum brake instructions in the tech info section.

I suggest you inspect your brakes for broken springs and apply some brake grease. If that fails to improve things, then maybe limit overnight use if possible.

Good luck, Pat

 

Well of course I have not done anything about this problem yet and now the truck will not "unlock".

Is it safe to try and go full power reverse to get it to unlock? Any ideas on what to do? I would like to jack up the front or rear end but i have little experience working on any vehicle and Im not sure if I can use the jack that came with my truck to lift up the whole rear or front end.

 

Find the resistance (ohms) of the alternator and divided by the E= Voltage
12-13.5 dc = Current (I) amps.

 

thanks ca driver and pgw.


My parking brake light works fine and everything looks normal down there but I really have no clue what to look for. I wonder if it could be transmission related because something squeels and im not positive its the tires. I told a friend about it a while back and he said either rear differental or transmission but lots of things point to it being brake related.

Either way I have someone coming over in the morning to check it out who is a car expert/maybe mechanic im not sure.

 

Please report back what your mechanic discovers.

 

well, we just finished checking it out.

Jacked up the driver side and the brake was not locked so we jacked up the whole rear end and the driver side tire would spin while the otherside didn't so we were thinking it was the rear differential. So we checked out the passenger side to make sure and the brake was locked! It took both of us about 15 minutes to pry that thing off with 3 big *** screwdrivers and a hammer and this guy said he never saw anything like it. The spring that holds the pads together failed and Its probably been like that for over a year just getting worse and worse. Wierd thing is I never had any problems while driving, just after it sat for a night or two.

I couldn't be happier to have a screwed up brake as I feared it might be transmission related.

Im headed to buy new drums, pads, and a hardware kit now.

Hoperfully everything works right after that and maybe I even get a little better gas milage! $2.65........................................