falling on face

phin · Jan 3, 2008

My 88 2.3 5speed ranger is acting strange. Starts and idles fine but when going down the road it dosnt develop any power it only runs about 30 mph and then falls flat on its face after that. I changed the fuel filter and it ran fine for about 50 miles but has developed the same problem again.

I bought the truck after it had been sitting for about 2 years without a transmission. replaced the tranny and drove it about 800 or so miles before it started acting up. When changing the fuel filter I noticed the gas looked a little orange (rust I'm guessing)

I know it has two fuel pumps a high and a low pressure. thought about replacing them but the parts dealer must make them out of gold for the price they want and was looking for advice before I spent the $150 for the pumps.

thanks in advance
Phin

pillen140 · Jan 3, 2008

if the gas is orange, i would drain it or siphen it out, could be a lot worse than you think, clogged lines, injectors. if you dont have the time or money, i would at least throw some dry gas in it. also could be the cat could be clogged. after dealing with a lot of cars that just sat, you can find some strange stuff in a cat, i once found a mouse nest with a family of dead mice. most likely a fuel problem though.

Dave R · Jan 3, 2008

As a cheap(er) fix you could try changing out the gas filter again. If it runs good for a short while again, then you know there is a LOT of crap in the tank and managed to plug the other one.

phin · Jan 3, 2008

Thanks guys I guess the fuel filter would be the way to go. I'll pick one up tomorrow. If the filter works I'm guessing pulling and cleaning the tank out is the only fix?

pillen140 · Jan 3, 2008

. could also be the strainer on the fuel pump, when those clog it could burn out your fuel pump.

phin · Jan 3, 2008

pillen140 said:
. could also be the strainer on the fuel pump, when those clog it could burn out your fuel pump.

I'll check that also thanks

302_Stranger · Jan 4, 2008

My '88 2.3 did the sorta the same thing..I replaced the low-volume pump inside of the tank and it ran like a champion from then on.

phin · Jan 10, 2008

Well I drained the tank checked the pumps and replaced the fuel filter. fuel is flowing fine. put a gallon of new gas in it to drive to the station to put gas in it and got a mile or so down the road and it flat died. The darn thing wouldn't start and I had a friend help me tow it to his shop where we checked everything again.

I checked for spark and the was fire at the plug. I pulled the air filter to check it to see if by chance it was clogged. So when I put it back together I forgot to plug in the plug on the side of the air filter box back in and of course it wouldn't start. plugged it back in and bam it started. Could it be that easy or am I missing something.

Dave R · Jan 11, 2008

Though off the top of my head I can't remember what that sensor does, I'm going to go ahead and guess that it was just coincedence that the truck started after you plugged it in.

phin · Jan 14, 2008

ok it did it again so now its back to the low pressure fuel pump replacement I guess. Sucks!!!! I just filled it back up LOL. Thanks for all the advice guys and I'll get back to ya and let you know if that fixes it.

falling on face

phin

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pillen140

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phin

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