3.0 fuel pump question

I was having a few issues with my Ranger and I was hoping a few more people could give their two cents about it. I'll try to make it as short as possible....

So my '94 Ranger has about 96K on it now. A year or so ago I was running it out to Philly for work. I live in Pittsburgh. I was trying to push it to my exit and ended up running out of gas. After I got through that mess and was coming home a week later it was running terrible and throwing lean codes. It was hesitating real bad and missing. I got home, changed a clogged fuel filter, cleared codes, and all was good.

Fast Forward to this past weekend. I take a trip up to NYC. Again, I live in Pittsburgh. Running for about 4-5 hours and filled up a few different places. I am about an hour from where I need to be with a little over a quarter tank and it starts hesitating very similar to my Philly trip but no where near as bad. (Granted, over the past year, I have been known to run down my fuel pretty low before refilling) It would be hesitating in 5th gear, downshift to forth, give it gas and it would hesitate a few times and then smooth out and start accelerating. And it did it the same way every time. And it was throwing CEL's left and right. But the CEL and hesitating were sporadic and not always simultaneous.

So I stop at a parts store and change the fuel filter in their parking lot. On the way home, It started doing the same thing to a T. Didn't seem to matter if the tank was full or empty.

Now home, I changed the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter, oil and filter, IAC's clean. I pulled the codes and they read:

175 - (M) Oxygen sensor not switching - system was at adaptive limits - Left or Front HO2S - Fuel control

176 - (M) Oxygen sensor not switching - system is or was lean Left or Front HO2S - Fuel control

542 - (O,M) Fuel pump open, bad ground or always on - - Power / Fuel Pump Circuits

543 - (O) Fuel pump monitor circuit shows no power - Power / Fuel Pump Circuits

Codes are cleared and it's not throwing anything but it doesn't seem to be running with a lot of power and seems like it still has a small miss every now and then. I'm leaning towards just an over-worked and tired pump. I have a new pump and am going to throw it in once I burn through this tank of gas. I could read the pressure at the rails but just haven't done this yet.

Just wondering what you guys thought. Thanks for reading.

I'm not so sure about your problem, but I WILL tell you this:
Running a computer controlled engine LOW on fuel can be a real problem. The computer tries to hide the LEAN CONDITION by adjusting the timing and attempting to make the mixture richer. All the while the mixture is heating up the piston and the valves..
I frequently drine in west Texas and it can be 70/80 miles between gas stations. I carry a five gallon can of fuel...just in case.. I really like to keep at least 1/4 tank of fuel at all times.
I hope your problem is other than a burnt valve.
Big JIm

Up until you give code numbers it sounded just like the first time my fuel pump went bad (including changing every other part). But then my '98 would probably give different codes anyway. So yeah, next step is to check fuel pressure. I wish I had before buying half of Autozone's warehouse.

I dunno what Haynes says but my dad says its eaiser to lift the bed than drop the tank to get at the pump. (I have a trap door in mine )

If the fuel pump is in the tank and submerged then you may have overheated it when you ran dry. I'll say check fuel pressure as well.

I agree you want to check fuel pressure. Do koeo, koer, koer with vacuum line off. see how much the pressure drops in 5 minutes after you turn it off..........the consensus seems to be to pull the bed. 6 torx screws. 3 small bolts around the gas cap, electrical connector at the bumper. 2 guys sliding the bed down.

also pull the vacuum line of the fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail and see that there is no fuel in it.

I have almost the same problem in my 94 3.0 manuel. after driving aproximately 200 miles from school in laramie wy to homein colorado springs I would get the same cel light and surging as 'stieny' and i pulled the codes and had 565 1676 and 543 i replace the evap line for the 565 drome home and had no surging but a cel light. when i got home i checked codes again and i had no active but i had 176 and 543 so i put a 02 sensor in the left bank and drove up sunday to head back for school and had no surge and no cel after class today i checked codes and i had an active 565 and a stored 176 and 543.

i've been looking around on other forums and i found a explorer with the 543 and a 93 tmerc tracer so it seems to me it is a problem with with the later obd1 system.

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/p...rucks/150539-fuel-pump-secondary-circuit.html

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171110

heirs the links to those two any help will be great im stumped on this thanks.

i just saw the dates that this was posted and woundererd if you have figured it out??