Randomly died in the woods(1989 2.9 v6 4x4 ranger)

[BearitvRanger]

I have a 89 ranger that randomly died while going camping, it would not immediately restart. The total trip took about an hour and a half before it died with alot of very steep inclines.

After 10 min of checking fuses and connections/grounds it restarted after finding no obvious issues. Was also getting fuel pressure at the fuel rail

The engine was running normal temperature (I have two temp gauges) oil pressure is about 40psi. No new knocks or ticks, the engine was fully rebuilt and bored last year.

Any ideas on what could cause this issue? I'm thinking possibly fuel pump or ecu over heating. Everything except the block, crankshaft, and electrical got replaced last year so I'm kind of stumped.

 

[4x4prepper]

> with alot of very steep inclines

Do you happen to have the fake fuel filter - black canister near the gas tank on the driver's side? That was designed to keep fuel to the engine on inclines.It might need a filter change, though many are empty from the factory.

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Though if I had to hazard a guess, I would say the in the tank pump has completely failed, the high pressure pump is doing all the work, and overheating. Which is why it is dying on steep inclines, it has too much gas to pull up that far in a 3/8" line.

You could park it on steep ramps, disconnect the line before the filter (metal canister one under driver's seat area) and see if you actually get a decent stream. You could put a rubber heater hose over it to direct it into a clear bottle. Then do the same test with the filter attached, but, disconnected on the high pressure pump side.

Listening to see if the low pressure pump turns on is only 1/2 way useful, it could still be not pumping gas.

 

[Uncle Gump]

TFI module...