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- Joined
- May 8, 2021
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Virginia
- Vehicle Year
- 2011
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger
- Transmission
- Automatic
I have a 2011 Ranger XLT 4.0L with ~80k miles on it. I bought it in Dec 2019 and it ran great until somewhere around 6-8 months ago. I don't drive it very often, maybe 5-7k miles per year.
I'm going to try and list off the symptoms I've had along with fixes I've tried as close to in order as I can. I should also note, it's not an actual backfire through the intake, it's a rather large explosion out of the exhaust, presumably from unburnt gas.
A couple month after I bought the truck I was cruising at about 60MPH and the RPMs dropped to about idle and the gas pedal became entirely unresponsive. No amount of pushing on the pedal increased the RPMs or caused the truck to maintain/gain speed; it was just entirely unresponsive. After some time it would just pick back up as if nothing weird happened. I also noticed it didn't up to normal operating temp (especially on cold days). It would get stuck around 165F.
A few months ago, my wife had to take the truck to her normal pregnancy check up and said the truck was "very slow." I hadn't noticed mainly because I don't drive it often and when I do, it's just on back roads under 45MPH. Took it for a drive a few days later and it would drive mostly fine under 3k RPMs, but wouldn't accelerate at all if floored at 45 MPH. RPMs would rise and truck wouldn't gain any speed. It also started doing the unresponsive gas pedal trick a lot more often. typically every time I drove it. Found both catalytic converters to be broken apart and clogging the exhaust. Hollowed both out and added anti-foulers to prevent the CEL and it runs great... I was hopeful that fixed all the issues. Drove it a bit and it still did the unresponsive gas pedal thing and it also backfired for the first time. I also noticed around this time that it has never done the unresponsive pedal while cold, only after it's had time to warm up...
Next time I had a chance to do some more diagnostics I checked fuel pressure at the rail which was reading a steady 66 PSI. I also let it idle for long enough to get up to temp and noticed that it was also having a stutter occasionally. A quick drop in RPM but typically came right back; see here:
On occasion it would stall, though. See here:
. I also tried swapping the fuel pump relay which had no affect.
Next chance I had I changed out the thermostat and temp sender as I had already bought them knowing about the temp issue. I drove the truck that night to pick up a pizza for dinner and it did the unresponsive pedal trick once on the way there (~10 minute drive). After that it didn't do it a single time in about 1.75 hours worth of driving. I was hopeful it was fixed...again. Not sure exactly how the thermostat would have fixed it but whatever, I wasn't going to question it.
Just a couple days ago I had some large items to bring to the local dump (~5 minute drive) to dispose of and the truck started acting up again. I didn't bother looking into much that night as my brother was visiting from out of state and wanted to spend time with him.
Tonight I had a little time, so I jumped the inertia switch thinking maybe it was on the way out and causing fueling issues. Drove the truck for maybe 15-20 minutes and it was the worst it's been. Very frequent unresponsive pedal along with backfires almost every time. Clearly not the inertia switch.... I had also hooked up my bluetooth OBDII thing and was watching various real time data and noticed short term fuel trims going through the roof when the pedal became unresponsive (regardless of me pressing the pedal). Well upwards of 25% which clearly isn't normal.
So that's where I'm at with this truck. Getting a bit discouraged at the moment, especially after having a 2004 4.0L with not a single issue over the 5 years I had it (other than rusting apart from New England winters)... Here's a quick summary list of things I've done so far:
Hollowed out both cats, added anti-foulers and one new O2 sensor (bank 1 downstream)
Swap fuel pump relay
New thermostat and temp sender
Jumped inertia switch
Checked fuel pressure at rail (66PSI)
edit: visually inspected TPS. Operated smoothly and clean.
After ruling out fuel pump related items, I'm thinking spark is probably my next step... I'd love to get some thoughts from others though so I'm not just diving down endless (or wrong) rabbit holes. Thanks for reading and thanks for any help!
I'm going to try and list off the symptoms I've had along with fixes I've tried as close to in order as I can. I should also note, it's not an actual backfire through the intake, it's a rather large explosion out of the exhaust, presumably from unburnt gas.
A couple month after I bought the truck I was cruising at about 60MPH and the RPMs dropped to about idle and the gas pedal became entirely unresponsive. No amount of pushing on the pedal increased the RPMs or caused the truck to maintain/gain speed; it was just entirely unresponsive. After some time it would just pick back up as if nothing weird happened. I also noticed it didn't up to normal operating temp (especially on cold days). It would get stuck around 165F.
A few months ago, my wife had to take the truck to her normal pregnancy check up and said the truck was "very slow." I hadn't noticed mainly because I don't drive it often and when I do, it's just on back roads under 45MPH. Took it for a drive a few days later and it would drive mostly fine under 3k RPMs, but wouldn't accelerate at all if floored at 45 MPH. RPMs would rise and truck wouldn't gain any speed. It also started doing the unresponsive gas pedal trick a lot more often. typically every time I drove it. Found both catalytic converters to be broken apart and clogging the exhaust. Hollowed both out and added anti-foulers to prevent the CEL and it runs great... I was hopeful that fixed all the issues. Drove it a bit and it still did the unresponsive gas pedal thing and it also backfired for the first time. I also noticed around this time that it has never done the unresponsive pedal while cold, only after it's had time to warm up...
Next time I had a chance to do some more diagnostics I checked fuel pressure at the rail which was reading a steady 66 PSI. I also let it idle for long enough to get up to temp and noticed that it was also having a stutter occasionally. A quick drop in RPM but typically came right back; see here:
Next chance I had I changed out the thermostat and temp sender as I had already bought them knowing about the temp issue. I drove the truck that night to pick up a pizza for dinner and it did the unresponsive pedal trick once on the way there (~10 minute drive). After that it didn't do it a single time in about 1.75 hours worth of driving. I was hopeful it was fixed...again. Not sure exactly how the thermostat would have fixed it but whatever, I wasn't going to question it.
Just a couple days ago I had some large items to bring to the local dump (~5 minute drive) to dispose of and the truck started acting up again. I didn't bother looking into much that night as my brother was visiting from out of state and wanted to spend time with him.
Tonight I had a little time, so I jumped the inertia switch thinking maybe it was on the way out and causing fueling issues. Drove the truck for maybe 15-20 minutes and it was the worst it's been. Very frequent unresponsive pedal along with backfires almost every time. Clearly not the inertia switch.... I had also hooked up my bluetooth OBDII thing and was watching various real time data and noticed short term fuel trims going through the roof when the pedal became unresponsive (regardless of me pressing the pedal). Well upwards of 25% which clearly isn't normal.
So that's where I'm at with this truck. Getting a bit discouraged at the moment, especially after having a 2004 4.0L with not a single issue over the 5 years I had it (other than rusting apart from New England winters)... Here's a quick summary list of things I've done so far:
Hollowed out both cats, added anti-foulers and one new O2 sensor (bank 1 downstream)
Swap fuel pump relay
New thermostat and temp sender
Jumped inertia switch
Checked fuel pressure at rail (66PSI)
edit: visually inspected TPS. Operated smoothly and clean.
After ruling out fuel pump related items, I'm thinking spark is probably my next step... I'd love to get some thoughts from others though so I'm not just diving down endless (or wrong) rabbit holes. Thanks for reading and thanks for any help!
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