1988 Ranger 2.0 problems...

[2dawson]

I recently acquired a 1988 Ranger 2.0 liter, manual transmission. With a bit of pumping the gas it will start and run fine at fast idle but as soon as you tap the gas and it goes to curb idle it dies and requires a lot of pumping to restart. Naturally, every time you stop it dies and I go through the same to restart it, so it is not drive able. Also, the gauges do not work, no oil pressure, temp, fuel gauge, etc. Any suggestions, are the problems possibly related?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Mark_88]

Hi Jim and welcome to TRS~!

Could be a few things to look for, but I suspect you have a vacuum leak causing the stalling.

There are a few ways to test for vacuum leaks if you're familiar with that but I found the best is to go over every hose and connection on the engine...not an easy task if the emission controls are still in place because there must be 30 if you count all the small tubes and their components on this engine. If you find a hose that is not tight fitting I would suggest plugging it to see if the idle comes to normal.

You can remove the cluster from the dash and check that the connectors are connected...but check the fuses first. I can't remember but if you have a Haynes or the original owners guide there is a fuse diagram in both of those.

I tried to find one online but too much information to go through right now. Let me know if you can't find one yourself.

 

[2dawson]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll start the troubleshooting tomorrow.

As for the fuses, I have a Haynes manual and the fuse layout but I can't find the damn fuses! I have read that the fuse block is under the dash by the steering column but unless it is way up under the dash, there is nothing there. I see no panel anywhere. I'll look again tomorrow with a mirror but I couldn't find it today.

I see that the idle can't be adjusted and is controlled by electronics, I hope that isn't the problem.

Jim

 

[Mark_88]

There are two black plastic knobs just below the trim break line (where the lighter and light switch sits is the break line) that you turn counterclockwise and pull them out and that releases the cover plate that hides the fuse box.

The fuse box is actually near the driver side door so the panel sits below the steering column. Easy to miss it if you are not familiar with these trucks.

 

[2dawson]

Thanks, I'll find it tomorrow.

There are two black plastic knobs just below the trim break line (where the lighter and light switch sits is the break line) that you turn counterclockwise and pull them out and that releases the cover plate that hides the fuse box.

The fuse box is actually near the driver side door so the panel sits below the steering column. Easy to miss it if you are not familiar with these trucks.

 

[tomw]

I would suspect that the choke is not set properly, allowing the fast idle cam to 'fall' back too quickly. Unless California emission equipped, you likely have a carb on a 2.0, and it has a thermostatic spring that will coil/uncoil based on temperature. When cold, it should pull the choke plate closed, and after YOU step on the gas pedal once to set the choke & fast idle, should keep the idle faster than normal(fully warmed up) idle speed until warmed up.
If it is set too 'cold' it won't keep the throttle open for faster idle. There may be a vacuum 'pull-down' that tries to open the choke plate after the engine starts, but it should not move the throttle stop screw from the higher speed step on the fast idle cam.
Take a look at the linkage. Manually open the throttle a bit, and at the same time, close the choke plate. You should see linkage movement that will place a round 'cam' with steps under the throttle stop screw, keeping the throttle plate open. If you start the engine then, it will idle fast. That cam must stay in one of the 'step' positions until the engine is warm enough to run on the normal stop.
tom

 

[2dawson]

Thanks, another thing to check.

I would suspect that the choke is not set properly, allowing the fast idle cam to 'fall' back too quickly. Unless California emission equipped, you likely have a carb on a 2.0, and it has a thermostatic spring that will coil/uncoil based on temperature. When cold, it should pull the choke plate closed, and after YOU step on the gas pedal once to set the choke & fast idle, should keep the idle faster than normal(fully warmed up) idle speed until warmed up.
If it is set too 'cold' it won't keep the throttle open for faster idle. There may be a vacuum 'pull-down' that tries to open the choke plate after the engine starts, but it should not move the throttle stop screw from the higher speed step on the fast idle cam.
Take a look at the linkage. Manually open the throttle a bit, and at the same time, close the choke plate. You should see linkage movement that will place a round 'cam' with steps under the throttle stop screw, keeping the throttle plate open. If you start the engine then, it will idle fast. That cam must stay in one of the 'step' positions until the engine is warm enough to run on the normal stop.
tom

 

[2dawson]

The only progress today is that, thanks to Mark_88, I found the fuse panel and found no open fuses. I was wrong on one thing, the oil pressure gauge seems to be working.

No progress on the no idle problem, I'm attaching a picture of the data plate on the carb. What is the item on the rear of the carb circled in the second picture? It appears to have a vacuum nipple with nothing attached. Also, where is the Idle Control Motor?

 

[Mark_88]

Glad you made some progress.

That nipple looks like it is for the choke as tomw mentioned and that could be part of your problem with high idle not kicking down. That may help if you attached a vacuum line to it so see if it functions better (properly). Just remember that the choke is really only needed for cold starts and if blipping the gas peddle doesn't drop the idle it may be something else...

The ICM (Idle Control Module) would be that mess of wires on the passenger side fender and one of those wires is actually for the choke (white with black stripe).

I really don't remember how that carb works and never spent much time trying to fix it because one mechanic spent two hours looking at it only to tell me she didn't know how to fix the problem with my emissions but the carb wasn't the problem...but many on here have said the same thing...it is better if you just replace it with something newer and easier to work with.

I replaced mine with the Motorcraft 5200 and all my emission and idle problems disappeared. Truck ran fantastic for about two years before I blew the engine that was already high mileage when I got the truck.

Anyway...I have gone on for hours on this many times over the years but happy to say it again...lol

Not saying the carb is not fixable or won't work...just with all the emission stuff they added to the engine it was not an easy thing for someone like me to tackle for the first time. Replacing the carb and intake gave me about 8 years of good running with a replacement engine under it...

I found this information online...as you can see the part was sold...but there are other images if you want to study it more...and if you can find a book on rebuilding it would help you understand it better and maybe you could work through it when you need to fix something...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222101899111

 

[2dawson]

Thanks for the reply. My problem isn't the high idle not kicking down, it does that as soon as I blip the throttle but after that it won't idle at all. It dies immediately and I have to restart it. It will run fine as long as my foot is on the gas but as soon as I let off the gas it dies, meaning that I can't keep it running long enough to shift or stop at a stop sign. I found the idle control module on the inner fender but the Haynes book indicates that the that module controls the idle control motor which I can't find. There is a test procedure in the book for that if I can find it. It looks like there is a fusible link that the power to the idle control motor goes through but I can't find (or don't know what I'm looking for).

Jim

Glad you made some progress.

That nipple looks like it is for the choke as tomw mentioned and that could be part of your problem with high idle not kicking down. That may help if you attached a vacuum line to it so see if it functions better (properly). Just remember that the choke is really only needed for cold starts and if blipping the gas peddle doesn't drop the idle it may be something else...

The ICM (Idle Control Module) would be that mess of wires on the passenger side fender and one of those wires is actually for the choke (white with black stripe).

I really don't remember how that carb works and never spent much time trying to fix it because one mechanic spent two hours looking at it only to tell me she didn't know how to fix the problem with my emissions but the carb wasn't the problem...but many on here have said the same thing...it is better if you just replace it with something newer and easier to work with.

I replaced mine with the Motorcraft 5200 and all my emission and idle problems disappeared. Truck ran fantastic for about two years before I blew the engine that was already high mileage when I got the truck.

Anyway...I have gone on for hours on this many times over the years but happy to say it again...lol

Not saying the carb is not fixable or won't work...just with all the emission stuff they added to the engine it was not an easy thing for someone like me to tackle for the first time. Replacing the carb and intake gave me about 8 years of good running with a replacement engine under it...

I found this information online...as you can see the part was sold...but there are other images if you want to study it more...and if you can find a book on rebuilding it would help you understand it better and maybe you could work through it when you need to fix something...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222101899111

 

[Mark_88]

I would have to think that it is part of the carburetor...not separate from it...and that it might be more productive to find documentation on the carb for clarification.

The online manual might have information on that part but I do remember going to Ford and requesting as much information on it as I could get. They told me it was discontinued and did not know where to get schematics or manuals for it.

You can check this resource if you have time...I will look at it later...in the middle of something else right now...


http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=url,uid

User name = c3687625
Password = password

Once in you can select the year, make model and engine and then it will open the information...look for the carburetor and go from there. I will look later also...

 

[2dawson]

Thanks but that site looks like they share info with Haynes and I couldn't find anything.

I would have to think that it is part of the carburetor...not separate from it...and that it might be more productive to find documentation on the carb for clarification.

The online manual might have information on that part but I do remember going to Ford and requesting as much information on it as I could get. They told me it was discontinued and did not know where to get schematics or manuals for it.

You can check this resource if you have time...I will look at it later...in the middle of something else right now...


http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=url,uid

User name = c3687625
Password = password

Once in you can select the year, make model and engine and then it will open the information...look for the carburetor and go from there. I will look later also...

 

[Mark_88]

Thanks but that site looks like they share info with Haynes and I couldn't find anything.

I just checked and couldn't find anything either. Like I mentioned,I couldn't find anything on that carb ten years ago and swapped it out when I got the chance. Between the poor gas mileage and low power I figured anything would be better...and it was.

It's getting harder to find inexpensive replacement parts. I recently sold my intake and carb to a guy building his Ranger in Ontario and I hated to part with it because I knew it would be a long time before I found another one. The Weber carb is a common upgrade and there are many posts about that as well as manual chokes, and other upgrades that have made many happy.

Maybe someone else has ideas about the Idle Control Motor. I do remember disabling the choke on my old carb and attempted a manual choke.

But the stalling is probably your first priority. When I first got my 2.0 there was almost no vacuum lines connected because the previous owner was having similar issues and his father in law attacked the emissions system to see if that was causing it. Probably was because he did drive it up to the time I bought it from him.

Only thing I found out after the fact was in Ontario the environmental police can charge you for removing anything that should be there for emission control. I ended up in court twice for mine so that was when I moved to fuel injection...well, when the second motor blew a head gasket I decided to move into the better technology.

If your area has smog tests then you might check before you remove or disable anything that might be needed.

 

[2dawson]

My area has tests but not on vehicles this old. Possibly the carb simply needs rebuilt. I don't know if I can find a kit for it or not.

I don't want to put a ton of money into this truck but if swapping to another carb is just requires a trip to the junk yard, I can handle that. Will I have to change intakes as well or is there a carb that would work with the existing manifold?

I'll hook a vacuum line to that open port and see if anything changes.

Jim

I just checked and couldn't find anything either. Like I mentioned,I couldn't find anything on that carb ten years ago and swapped it out when I got the chance. Between the poor gas mileage and low power I figured anything would be better...and it was.

It's getting harder to find inexpensive replacement parts. I recently sold my intake and carb to a guy building his Ranger in Ontario and I hated to part with it because I knew it would be a long time before I found another one. The Weber carb is a common upgrade and there are many posts about that as well as manual chokes, and other upgrades that have made many happy.

Maybe someone else has ideas about the Idle Control Motor. I do remember disabling the choke on my old carb and attempted a manual choke.

But the stalling is probably your first priority. When I first got my 2.0 there was almost no vacuum lines connected because the previous owner was having similar issues and his father in law attacked the emissions system to see if that was causing it. Probably was because he did drive it up to the time I bought it from him.

Only thing I found out after the fact was in Ontario the environmental police can charge you for removing anything that should be there for emission control. I ended up in court twice for mine so that was when I moved to fuel injection...well, when the second motor blew a head gasket I decided to move into the better technology.

If your area has smog tests then you might check before you remove or disable anything that might be needed.

 

[Mark_88]

I never did the other swap but I remember reading about an adapter that can be used...depends on the carb. I was very fortunate in finding an entire 78 Mustang II with a recently replaced carb on the stock intake for the 2.3.

These parts are interchangeable between the 2.0 and 2.3 so they bolt right on. There was a few posts by a member named GungfuDan who did the mod on the stock carburetor and he even provided information on the cost and source of the parts he used.

Dan is still on here and was recently experiencing some other problems so he is still active. I'm pretty sure his posts will help you more than my trying to remember...

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1263668#post1263668

This was actually about five years ago by the date...wow...but he did a good job of describing the process and provided enough information to help you decide.

Dan has been through very similar situations as I did with my 2.0 and has probably as many posts as I did on the topic...I did provide a bit of information over the years but mostly just guided him when I could...they are not hard to figure out but making decisions on what to do and what direction to take is a personal choice that only you can make so it's nice to have others who have Been There, Done That...