MantisTobbogan
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2016
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Richmond, VA
- Vehicle Year
- 2001
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Automatic
Good afternoon folks! New user here and recent acquisitioner of a 2001 Ford Ranger 3.0L with approximately 117k miles. Truck is in great shape, and I keep it garaged and run it around a few times a week. Everything has been running just fine, started right up, ran fine, no problems.
About two weeks ago, while coming home from work, I started the truck in the parking lot and the engine turned but wouldn't "catch". I turned the key off, waited a moment and tried again. On the second try it finally caught, but sputtered and shook a little and then got up to normal idle after a second or two. I thought it was strange and dismissed it. Ever since then, the truck fires up the same way.
When starting it cold, it almost always fails on the first try, the second try almost always catching, but sputtering a little before getting to normal idle. When starting it after it has run a little, it will fire right up on the first try, no problem. I've checked some of the basics...making sure air filter is clean, ran a code checker (no codes to report and all systems normal according to the code reader), etc. I'm getting no loss of power when driving it...after starting it runs just fine. My gut feeling is that there is an issue with a sensor somewhere.
Today I popped the air filter off and shone a light into the MAF and it appears to be clean (at least to the naked eye). I should note that when I depress the gas slightly when cranking it makes it fire faster the second time around. Sometimes I'm able to get it to start the first time, although it shudders and spits still). Could the Crank Position Sensor be causing an issue like this? Any other ideas for me to check on? Should I just try and replace the MAF?
Thanks in advance and hope everyone is having a great Sunday!
About two weeks ago, while coming home from work, I started the truck in the parking lot and the engine turned but wouldn't "catch". I turned the key off, waited a moment and tried again. On the second try it finally caught, but sputtered and shook a little and then got up to normal idle after a second or two. I thought it was strange and dismissed it. Ever since then, the truck fires up the same way.
When starting it cold, it almost always fails on the first try, the second try almost always catching, but sputtering a little before getting to normal idle. When starting it after it has run a little, it will fire right up on the first try, no problem. I've checked some of the basics...making sure air filter is clean, ran a code checker (no codes to report and all systems normal according to the code reader), etc. I'm getting no loss of power when driving it...after starting it runs just fine. My gut feeling is that there is an issue with a sensor somewhere.
Today I popped the air filter off and shone a light into the MAF and it appears to be clean (at least to the naked eye). I should note that when I depress the gas slightly when cranking it makes it fire faster the second time around. Sometimes I'm able to get it to start the first time, although it shudders and spits still). Could the Crank Position Sensor be causing an issue like this? Any other ideas for me to check on? Should I just try and replace the MAF?
Thanks in advance and hope everyone is having a great Sunday!
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