I have two issues.
 

Hey guys, I seem to have two small issues that really annoy me.

1. When I almost floor it or give it a good amount of accelearation, the truck will jerk forward. This happened three times. The first was when I was on the highway. I was pushing it at above 100 Km/h just to see how it performs, suddenly I feel two big jerks forward. Like if it was chocking. What is causing this?

2. When I drive, I here a squeaking sound sometimes. It only aggravates as I accelerate. As soon as I let go of the gas a tad, it stops. But, it only does this sometimes. Not always.

For #2, Your belt could be worn. Check to see if its rotted..

For #1, what maintenance have you done on it? Plugs, wires, filters, and so on? More info would help!

Magic number
 

Mister,

I believe you are approaching the magic number (25 posts) where you can access your Signature and put in some vehicle data (check out what other FTE'ers have done and find your spot). This will help others narrow down some items.

Squealing belt due to age, condition, or maybe moisture. The jerking - not sure without more info, but bad timing (timing belt) comes to mind.

Kevin

I can sure give more info.

The truck is a 1999 Ford Ranger XLT. It has a V6 4.0 liters.

180 000 KM
I've bought it in the begining of August
The guy never touched it really. Only new brakes, tires and oil (every 5000 KM) done by him.

I really think it's time to bring it to a garage to get it checked out. Can I just go there and tell them to do a check up and change all the filters, oil and spark plugs? How much would it cost roughly?

How much is a difficult question. Last time I checked, several years back, the shop rate was $65 an hour. I work on all of my own stuff. Unless its an alignment or recall, I wont go to a shop, so I cant speculate.

If you recently purchased yours, and believe it has not been maintained, and have no interest on working on it yourself, or do not feel comfortable working on it yourself, then definitely take it to the shop!

Spark plugs, oil, filters and wires alone w/o shop will run you roughly 100 bucks, I just bought new plugs and wires, and a bunch of other stuff....hang on I will grab my receipt.

Here is the update: 65.99 for wires(motorcraft)29.94 for 6 plugs and air filter was 14.99, I use motorcraft only parts when it comes to internals. Thats that on those. The Belt for me was 17.49. All this was bought at Oreilly Auto Parts a while back(1 month)

The squealing belt may be due to the belt itself, the idler pulley, water pump or a bearing in ay thing driven by the belt. A stethescope, long screwdriver or stick held against your thumb, with your thumb held against your ear will help you locate the source of the squeal.

Thanks for all the input guys!!!

I don't think this truck was neglected. It looks really good for it's age and appart from those issues, evrything is fine.

I think I'm gonna bring it to a garage. I've never worked on a full size car and I don't want to make things worse. It does interest me to do work on my truck, but I don't have the knowledge.

Do you guys think it is ok to drive this truck even tho it jerks forward sometimes? I have no clue what is causing that.

Ranger - great for learning on
 

Don't forget, Mister. The Ranger is a fairly accessible vehicle to do much of the basic maintenance. Buy a Chilton or Haynes manual, give it a read, and decide on a few smaller things. Build up confidence and save some money. Just have the backup plan worked out.

Kevin

Allright, well, my firend's brother is pretty good with cars also. He said he could help me out.

I am a guy that can pretty much work on anything. I work on my own professional grade RC cars and always help people fix stuff. I'm sure working on a 1:1 car can be done for me. I just have to learn.

Do you have a link for that book? I'm gonna get it.

Your local auto parts store will carry either one of those manuals.

Also consider getting the Ford OEM service disk for your year of truck. You can usually find them on ebay. They fill in gaps that the Haynes type manuals don't cover.

My way of diagnosing if a serp belt is squealing is to put a little talcum powder on it, just a couple of shakes while the belt is in motion. If it is the belt the squeal will typically go away for a short time. Also, with the engine off, check if the tensioner has good spring to it. If not it can put excess tension on the belt and cause a squeal, or the pulley wheel gets extra stress and starts to fail. If you decide to replace the belt I'd strongly consider doing the tensioner at the same time. They are not expensive and you won't have to take the belt off at a later date if it goes bad.

I am with customstinger on the belt tensioner. Look at it and see if the belt is riding on it just a little off. They are a common problem with age so it is due to happen. They cause alot of squealing issues. Now the bucking is another story. Tune up is easy and don't pay someone to do it for you. It is the perfect way to begin the maintenence on your own vehicle. While you do it go ahead and put a new ignition coil on it also if the one on there looks original. And get the Haynes manual. Book number is 36071 Ranger pick-ups 1993-2008. There is a world of useful information in them. Good luck and realize there are alot of our trucks with way over 250,000 miles on them so yours has alot of life left in it.

Allright, I really need that Haynes book. I don't know where the belt tensioner is located.

My buddy that also has a Ford Ranger told me it's normal that I have a squealing sound when it's humid outside. Next time it does it, I'll check if it is humid outside.

I would like to thank you guys for the help!

Tensioner should be down and to the right [passenger side] of the engine behind the radiator. Locate the serp belt and follow it over and down looking for pulleys. The tensioner looks basically like a solid figure 8. It should have a square key hole in the pulley that you use to take the tension off to remove the belt. The easiest way to do this is with a serpentine belt tool, basically a flat bar with a square head. Some parts stores may loan you one or if you have a Harbor Freight in your area you can get an inexpensive one: Serpentine Belt Tool Kit.