86 2.9l stalls and quits after long drives

[crispyominus]

I have a 86 2.9l 2wd adn this has happened to me twice in the last month. after driving around for a good while in the heat my truck will lose power and eventually cut off. both times this has happened i'll get out and check it. i have spark. when i check for fuel at the shrader valve on the fuel rail i get fuel and air coming out. i know i have 2 fuel pumps on this thing but not sure which one is cutting out on me. i would imagine if the one in the tank goes out the high pressure pump on the frame rail would still pull enough fuel from the tank to at least halfway run the engine. just not sure how air is getting into the fuel rail. any helps greatly appreciated. thnx.

 

[Predator130]

I had the same issue and I'm currently blaming it on the in tank fuel pump, i've bought one and just have to drain the tank and see what happens. I'll let you know.

 

[nbaisden]

I am having the exact same issue. i heard that it could be a safety switch in the pump mounted on the frame rail below the driver seat that turns the pump off when it gets too hot.

 

[Predator130]

I noticed mine cut out really bad when going uphill and also noticed a gurgle sound occasionally from the tank. And now I can hear a whining noise from the tank that is intermittent.

 

[crispyominus]

predator, did u have the same issue with air in your fuel rail when the truck is acting up? i wanna say i heard the pump in the tank prime up when i turned the key on but not the one on the frame rail but not sure. dont really wanna go driving around till it breaks down again just to figure out which pump is giving me problems. nbiasden, havent heard of a overtemp cutoff switch in the pump before. i can see how an electric motor like the pump would cut off when it gets too hot (electric motors tend to do that) but there has to be a reason for the overheating. like the motors just bad. I was hoping someone could confirm for me that since i had fuel to my rail (be it mixed with air) but not high pressure then that would mean my pump in the tank is running and not the frame rail pump.

 

[Predator130]

I could feel my pump running if I touched it on the rail. Also could hear it if I grounded the test lead on the front connector. So I assume it is working to capacity. But if it's been doing all of the work for the in tank pump it maybe about shot also.

 

[Millster]

Reading through all of this, it rings very familiar. I had given up on my Ranger last year because of this issue. It kept leaving me stranded in the most inconvenient places.

That said, I finally happened to notice that when it would die, there was still fuel at the rail, but the fuel would eventually blow off and I would be left with pressurized air. The complete cutout would occur because the high-pressure pump would lose fuel volume and overheat causing it to shut off until it cooled back down. This, of course, points directly to a failing in-tank pump which was further validated by fixing the wiring to my rear tank pump and running the truck on that (no cutout, but due to what has always been a slightly weak pump there it didn't run well). My belief is that the line between the pump itself and the pickup in the tank has degraded causing a bleed and allowing air from within the tank to be sucked up decreasing volume to the HP pump and causing it to overheat. Providing further evidence to support this is the fact that I've had less trouble with the tank full. As the level drops, the problem starts to crop up.

 

[dssranger]

This happened to me also

I had the same thing happen a few years back; it ended up being the ignition key switch. It was breaking contact and actually turning itself off. After some time it would run fine. After starting and warming, wiggle your ignition switch and see if it stalls.

 

[cody93]

his problem is fuel not getting to the rails, not ignition, due the fact air is gettin pumped in instead. id check the fuel lines too, may have a hole thats suckin in air too

 

[Predator130]

I was having a similar problem and just replaced the in tank pump, the rubber line that fed from the pump to the metal feed tube had a huge hole in it. I believe this was a large part of my problem and now I have a working gas gauge! I still had some stumble at idle but I haven't tested it enough yet to verify a total fix. But figured i'd let you know of my findings thus far.

 

[greaseyfingers]

I was having a similar problem and just replaced the in tank pump, the rubber line that fed from the pump to the metal feed tube had a huge hole in it. I believe this was a large part of my problem and now I have a working gas gauge! I still had some stumble at idle but I haven't tested it enough yet to verify a total fix. But figured i'd let you know of my findings thus far.

When you replaced the in tank pump, did you put a new float on the fuel sending unit that got your fuel gauge to start working?

 

[Predator130]

Yes I put in the whole unit, just tested it tonight and the pump made a difference, still has a miss at idle, but the whole stumble dead and no restart is gone. However, I did notice when I cranked up the first time it surged and died like the gas had leaked back down into the tank, second crank was fine. I wonder if the check valve in the high pressure pump isn't bad? Anyway, that's my fix for now. I'll be looking at plugs and wires, although I have noticed a loud tick at the injector, wonder if that is contributing to the problem?

 

[greaseyfingers]

Yes I put in the whole unit, just tested it tonight and the pump made a difference, still has a miss at idle, but the whole stumble dead and no restart is gone. However, I did notice when I cranked up the first time it surged and died like the gas had leaked back down into the tank, second crank was fine. I wonder if the check valve in the high pressure pump isn't bad? Anyway, that's my fix for now. I'll be looking at plugs and wires, although I have noticed a loud tick at the injector, wonder if that is contributing to the problem?

If you have good spark and compression on all of your cylinders. And you're sure that you're Ranger's spark plugs and wires are all good.

Your engine's miss, may be caused by one of your cylinders not getting enough fuel, or possibly no fuel through your fuel injector to that cylinder.

On my Ranger's 2.9 I had a bad miss on it's number 5 cylinder.

When I pulled that spark plug wire off, it made no difference for making it run any rougher, than it already was.

When I pulled the spark plug, it was pretty dry.

The fuel injector, apparently, wasn't providing any fuel to that cylinder.

I recently discovered, sometimes, you can get a plugged or stuck closed fuel injector working, again, if it isn't shorted out on the inside, by taking off the air hose to the throttle body and while the engine is running, rev the engine up and put the palm of your hand, entirely, over the throttle body.

I held the throttle linkage wide open, as the palm of my hand was covering the throttle body.

The bogged engine way down, but even so, it managed to keep running, as it was sucking really hard on the palm of my hand.

It must have been sucking enough air through the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation valve) to stay running, as it was creating a tremendous amount of vacuum suction within the engine, as the palm of my hand was covering the throttle body and the accelerator linkage was held wide open, with my other hand.

Then, I took my hand off the throttle body and released the throttle linkage and revved the engine up a few times, without my hand covering the throttle body.

Then, I did the same procedures, again, as explained several more times.

My engine started firing on that cylinder, to my amazement.

Apparently, it sucked out whatever was plugging up the number 5 fuel injector, or maybe unstuck the injector which was keeping it from providing the fuel to that cylinder, that was causing my Ranger's 2.9 engine to miss.

Later, I put a 16 oz. can of Greased Lightning fuel injector cleaner, for $9.99, from O'Reilys in the fuel tank.

The Ranger is running really good, now, for a pleasant change.

It's a lot more fun to drive it, when it's running like it's suppose to.