the big bear gets my truck

[charlie brown]

o.k., heres the deal. i live in soca and every year my family goes up to the local mountains called big bear for a week end long hot rod show.

when ever i drive my offroad ranger there, it stalls going up the mountain. it stalls within the same 2 mile stretch of road every time. when it stalls, i have learned to just pop a cold one and what 30 to 45 min then it starts up and goes fine. the rest of the week end it is fine.
its a steep hill but i go up and down step hill in the heat with no problems.

i am driving a 88 ranger auto trans, with AC.

any ideals

 

[JAB]

You might be dealing with vapor lock. You can Google it and get some ideas, but I would make sure your fuel filter is new, look for fuel lines that are close to the exhaust and shield that area from the heat. You can also try running with your gas cap loose, but you may throw a check engine light doing that.
Good luck.

 

[fastpakr]

You won't throw a CEL on a pre-95 vehicle for a loose cap. I'm wondering about a potential TFI issue here as well.

 

[JAB]

There is a elevation changed involved too. Used to be (back in the day) a lot
of folks would vapor lock going up the hill but that was in the days of dinosuors and carburetors. What I don't know is if fuel injected vehicles are subject to vapor lock like carby vehicles. I am also wondering if the problem is between the tank and the pressure pump.

 

[Area 52]

o.k., heres the deal. i live in soca and every year my family goes up to the local mountains called big bear for a week end long hot rod show.

when ever i drive my offroad ranger there, it stalls going up the mountain. it stalls within the same 2 mile stretch of road every time. when it stalls, i have learned to just pop a cold one and what 30 to 45 min then it starts up and goes fine. the rest of the week end it is fine.
its a steep hill but i go up and down step hill in the heat with no problems.

i am driving a 88 ranger auto trans, with AC.

any ideals

Is your intank pump working? I know that 2-mile steep stretch you mentioned.

 

[Pat Kunz]

If it's enough of an elevation change, it's possible your fuel map gets far enough out of wack without a baro update to cause a stall. If this was the case a simple key on engine off, before cranking and starting should be sufficient enough for it to update its baro reading and then it should be ok. The pcm only updates it's baro reading when first turned key on with the MAP sensor. While the engine is running it uses the MAP to determine engine load, so a baro update wouldn't take place until you go to key on again after the engine has stopped. I have no idea if this is your problem or not but just a thought. Normally efi is under enough pressure that fuel vaporization is not an issue.


Pat Kunz

 

[charlie brown]

it acts allot like vapor locking but i did not think a injected motor will vapor.
when it happens, i have tried to restart it. it acts like it wants to start but stalls out as soon as i let go of the key. after about 30 min. it will start and ideal but as soon as i touch the throttle, it stalls. after about 45 min (and a cold one) it is ok.
i run a 180 thermalstat and the water does not get hot. i have tried it with the AC off, and with the gas cap off. it still stalls. this year i will try gas cap off, AC off, and 1/2 a tank fuel.

 

[highwayman]

A return fuel system will not vaporlock. Definately sounds like a fuel delivery problem, but the key problem almost makes me wonder about an ignition switch problem.

 

[IMenriched]

it acts allot like vapor locking but i did not think a injected motor will vapor.
when it happens, i have tried to restart it. it acts like it wants to start but stalls out as soon as i let go of the key. after about 30 min. it will start and ideal but as soon as i touch the throttle, it stalls. after about 45 min (and a cold one) it is ok.
i run a 180 thermalstat and the water does not get hot. i have tried it with the AC off, and with the gas cap off. it still stalls. this year i will try gas cap off, AC off, and 1/2 a tank fuel.

does it throw any codes at all??

Just throwing this out there....Could the fuel charcoal canister be faulty??? it is in the return side of the fuel system yes?

but internally... isn't there some check valves and filters in there??

As far as the MAP sensor goes....can that not be adjusting to the change in altitude

 

[piotrsko]

I know for a fact that some of the 4 bangers EFI WILL vapor lock above 90 degrees and less than 1/4 tank of fuel. I'm not so sure about the V6's, but with LA summer fuel and the 6000 ft elevation change from start to finish, I can see it happening, especially with the flaming return line dumping bubbles into the low pressure pump intake (they are about 1 inch apart).

my fix: never less than 1/2 tank and a bag of ice dumped on the regulator. try refueling just before the climb. You could also go the back way from 138.

 

[Rangerman87]

stalling

I live in big bear and my truck does the same thing,it could be running great all day down in barstow,victomville etc but half way up the hill it starts losing power and I have to let it cool down for about 30 mins.The truck did overheat awhile back,enough to allow 3 parts of the no.1 piston to fuse to the cyl. wall,but she's still runnin'!Would the fpr be the culprit?

 

[Hahnsb2]

Weird. My 2.9 did the same thing always on the same stretch of road up in the mountains around here. Never did figure it out. I tried fuel filter and both fuel pumps, map sensor, and other shit with no luck When it happened, I'd just shut it off for a few minutes, then it was fine..

 

[charlie brown]

O.K guys, just got back fro big bear hot rod show and cures around the lake. had a blast. all the older guys did not know what to think of my truck.

anyways, i had no problems this time going up. this time i did not run the AC at all going up an i stop once just to break it up a bit.
i did remember the last time i had to smog it, the mechanic friend of mine working on it ended up replacing a modular that is located on the distributor and has something to do with the timing. i used to have super bad pinging and after he replaced this, i have no pinging (even on Mexico’s gas). this might have fixed the stalling problem also.

i wish i could post some pict. I saw some nice cars and bikes.