2000 Ranger fuel pump?

[Me Mongo]

Just bought a 2000 Ranger, 3.0 v-6 manual transmission. As I was driving it home from work I turned off the highway and it started running really bad, no power, wouldn't rev up. I limped it towards home and about 2 blocks from my house it died. Would not start. A neighbor saw me and towed me to my house. After talking with him a bit I tried to start it. it started and was still acting funny. I shut it off and put my code reader on it. No codes were showing. A little while later I started it again. I revved the motor and it would not settle down to a 800 rpm idle. Waited a little bit more and restarted it. Now it acts normal. Revs up and returns to a sub 1000 idle. Pulled forward and reverse in the driveway. Before when I had just got it home when I put it in gear and tried to move forward it died. I Bought a new fuel filter and fuel pump relay. I wanted to try a couple things before I put in a fuel pump. I would like to know what actually happened and didn't want to throw too many parts at it.
Anyone have this happen to them. Thanks in advance.

 

[franklin2]

You can buy a fuel pressure tester in the store, and read the fuel pressure on the fuel rail for testing.

 

[Me Mongo]

ok. What should the fuel pressure read?

 

[franklin2]

They had two types of fuel systems that year. One of them was at least 30 psi and the other 45 psi. If you have something in that range you should be good. Test it when it throws a fit.

Some of these trucks had a controller mounted under the truck near the fuel tank, and it's not a good environment under there for electronics.

 

[Me Mongo]

It seems like it is a temperature related issue. When it conked out on me it was the farthest I had driven it without stopping. Thanks for the help!

 

[franklin2]

It seems like it is a temperature related issue. When it conked out on me it was the farthest I had driven it without stopping. Thanks for the help!

There are two main directions you can go, ignition system or fuel system. Once you figure out which one it is, you can continue down that pathway of troubleshooting.