2.3L ('83-'97) 1988 2.3 Odd stumbles

[Keeth]

Hey guys, new to this forum but not this truck. 1988 Ford ranger 2.3 manual 2wd XLT. Iv had this weird problem that I can’t sort out, but maybe some of you have an idea. The truck will randomly start sputtering and running rough, but if you floor it, it will clear up and run like a top again. Then out of no where with no real pattern it’ll starting doing it again. Floor it, clears up so on and so forth. It seems to me to be either electrical due to the WOT clearing it up, or Vacuum related. Iv disconnected the EGR to see if it was randomly opening and that didn’t make a difference. Vacuum lines are all good too. Any ideas?

 

[franklin2]

On a problem like this, the first thing I would do is pull the codes from the computer. That may give you a hint what to look for.

You can do what they call a KOEO (Key On Engine Off) test and it will look around to see if it see's anything it doesn't like, and then at the end it will give you any codes that were stored during previous driving that it may have stored.

You can then do a KOER (Key On Engine Running) test and it will sit there and do some little tests, the engine rpms will raise and lower as it's watching the sensors, and then it will tell you to goose the throttle and look at some other sensors, and at the end, it will set any codes of anything that didn't pass.

To do all this all you have to do is google EECIV tests and buy a 12v testlight.

After doing all that, since you have been driving it for awhile with this problem, you might want to pull the battery cable for a minute to clear the computer out, and then do the tests again, to get the latest fresh codes. If your problems are intermittent, you may need to drive it again and it may store some more in memory while you are driving it.