englewoodcowboy
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2013
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Vehicle Year
- 1988,1987
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Automatic
88 2.9 Ranger fuel issue... Making progress but still not right
Hello,
My son has an 88 ranger 2.9 that we recently started having trouble with. When I bought it for him 6 months ago I put a lot of preventative maintenance into it and until 3 days ago, it ran like a top. It started stalling occasionally or would not start. We found that the PO has a fuel pump issue and sliced all the wires going into the fuel pump relay and then taped them up. I bought a new relay and a new connector and soldered it on. Then we founs we could not get any fuel, started at the tank, found power to the in tank pump but it wouldnt run so I dropped the tank this weekend and replaced the pump, now it runs (the in tank pump). Found the inline pump not running, turns out it was a corooded connection at the pump (the wire jackets were sliced here too) cleaned and repaired the connection and now it runs (the inline pump). Truck finally came back to life. He test drove it a mile or two and it was fine. He went to restart it and it just cranked, we verified that both pumps are running and it finally started but is billowing a grey smoke, missing badly, wont idle and if you get near the smoke you smell like a gas can. Where do I go from here? So far I had the injectors rebuilt by a professional as when I did the tune up the old plugs indicated some lean cylinders, that fixed that issue, brought alot of power back to the motor and it ran great. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, valve cover gaskets, oil change every 3k, new fuel filter and in tank pump. We also had a clogged vent line on the tank and while it was down, we blew it out and I am wondering if that has something to do with it. No telling how many miles/years it was plugged but it isnt anymore.
Hello,
My son has an 88 ranger 2.9 that we recently started having trouble with. When I bought it for him 6 months ago I put a lot of preventative maintenance into it and until 3 days ago, it ran like a top. It started stalling occasionally or would not start. We found that the PO has a fuel pump issue and sliced all the wires going into the fuel pump relay and then taped them up. I bought a new relay and a new connector and soldered it on. Then we founs we could not get any fuel, started at the tank, found power to the in tank pump but it wouldnt run so I dropped the tank this weekend and replaced the pump, now it runs (the in tank pump). Found the inline pump not running, turns out it was a corooded connection at the pump (the wire jackets were sliced here too) cleaned and repaired the connection and now it runs (the inline pump). Truck finally came back to life. He test drove it a mile or two and it was fine. He went to restart it and it just cranked, we verified that both pumps are running and it finally started but is billowing a grey smoke, missing badly, wont idle and if you get near the smoke you smell like a gas can. Where do I go from here? So far I had the injectors rebuilt by a professional as when I did the tune up the old plugs indicated some lean cylinders, that fixed that issue, brought alot of power back to the motor and it ran great. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, valve cover gaskets, oil change every 3k, new fuel filter and in tank pump. We also had a clogged vent line on the tank and while it was down, we blew it out and I am wondering if that has something to do with it. No telling how many miles/years it was plugged but it isnt anymore.
Last edited: