2.3 with multiple probelms?

[jlm255]

My 96 ranger is having alot of problems coming up all at once. First my oil pr gauge is staying low constantly from idle to high rpm. There is also a loud rattle coming from the engine that started about the same time as the low op. But I am also losing power I can floor it and just slowly increase speed but never accelerating like it use to and somtimes when I accelerate there is a squealing and knocking noise coming from under the truck. I just had a new clutch put it in so I dont think it is coming from their. I was wondering if all this may be one common problem?

 

[slolearner]

Make sure oil is up and don't run it anymore until you figure it out........

 

[phatcap]

dude, stop driving your truck until its fixed! that sounds pretty bad and you will most likely fry your engine if you keep going.

 

[Army]

Sounds like a connecting rod let go. Pull your oil pan and look for debris.

 

[NomadRider]

Sounds pretty serious. Easier to drain the oil and look for metal in it than yank the pan. I'd say check it 1st. Most likely from the sound of things you've allready got major damage. Low Oil pressure is bad. Low oil pressure and bad rattle ussually means internal engine damage.

 

[Bryan22]

get a mechanical oil pressure gauge, hook it up and see what the oil pressure actually is, stock guage=dummy light. don't go tearing into the truck based on what a shoddy guage says. Could be a total coincidence and the guage is just on it's way out. I'm trying to be optomistic here

 

[jlm255]

reply

Thanks for he replys. Im gonna switch gauges and see if that is the problem because my odometer stopped working today.

 

[Bryan22]

I'm not saying keep driving it, im just saying get a real guage and check what the pressure actually is. a bad guage isn't the problem with your poor running conditions, but a true guage might give you some insight.

 

[jlm255]

Well no clues from the oil and oil pan no metal in them. The rattle is now an on again off again thing that seems to depend on road conditions, was quiet on 4 lane and loud on back road. Oil pressure was fine thi morning going to work, lunch break and home. But got in it after work to take to my buddies shop and it was low and stayed low all the way there. Im lost may be time to finally get a new ranger.

 

[Bryan22]

dude that guage dosen't mean anything... it's just a dummy light that's what im trying to tell you, get a real guage...one with numbers... you see what i mean? but hey if you wanna dump the truck ill give you 50 bux for it =]

 

[locovaca]

X2 on that gauge being a dummy. I didn't believe it until I tried taking the sensor wire off and grounding. See how the gauge "only" goes up to the point of "good oil pressure" and never beyond? Yup, that's what made me lose respect for it.

 

[zamos]

Replace the oil pressure sending unit - or replace the sending unit with a high quality gauge to get an accuate assumtion