'87 Ford Ranger - Starts & Dies

[cal74]

'87 Ford Ranger 2.9

Starting missing occasionally maybe a year ago, very very seldom and would typically happen only after being warmed up and only occasionally at that time.

Replaced the cap & rotor

Didn't seem to make any difference, not happening often enough to really matter (my beater truck).

Started doing it a little more frequently and got bad a few weeks ago.

Week later I was going to start messing with it, quick run to the dump first and she dies a few blocks from home.


Didn't hear the fuel pump (in-tank) running, so what the heck. Replaced that this past weekend (lifted bed off). Fired right up, thought great.

Go back to it the next day to button everything up and she starts right up, five minutes later she dies. Will start up after it's sat a few minutes and than dies.

Replaced the fuel pump relay today along with a new fuel filter. Fired right up (thank you). Running great and 4-5 minutes later she dies.

I cleaned the EGR valve yesterday and now I'm clueless.

Can't keep throwing money at it, put newer tires on it last year along with a starter and a new transfer case motor just a few months ago. Another 100.00+ with the fuel pump, relay, filter and I'm about ready to cut my losses.

Any ideas?

Thanks...

 

[Terry]

You need to have your tfi module checked. I had the same issue with my first ranger.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[cal74]

Thanks Terry, ordered a new one and will pick up this evening. Hopefully can grab the tool as well.

Looks to be a pain in the a$$ to get to the back side

 

[cal74]

Replaced the TFI, fired right up. Ran for a total of 15-20 minutes. Missed, went a block and died. Sat for five minutes and started. Parked it and willing to do one last ditch effort?

Did I get a bad TFI or other suggestions?

 

[zekew64]

What size motor do you have? Sounds to me that you've not touched the timing part of the motor, so a timing job is in the future.

A quick review, though: What do you need to run? Air, fuel, spark. Secondary is timing, as things need to be in time to run.

As you've said you've done cap/rotor/wires/plugs, I would, assuming that both spark and air are good, check the fuel system. Simple fix: Drop some SeaFoam into your brake booster hose (a small, steady stream) and add some to your tank. If this doesn't work, check your filters (I believe an '87 has two filters, one high-pressure, one low-pressure). Replace if necessary. Next, if you have EFI, check the ground on the fuel pump circuit (sounds like your pump has an intermittent short to ground, as it will start, run for ~ 5 minutes, then die). Clean up the ground for that circuit, see if she'll stay running. Lastly, make sure you keep gas in it! Silly, I know, but when I had timing issues the last time, the mechanic I let touch it ran the gas out and did not think to check it. I ended up replacing a pump because he burned out the pump, by trying to start it with no gas in the tank.

 

[zekew64]

Also, check your idle control, and clean it if necessary. The other thing is that under load, it sounds like she hesitates before she dies (such as under acceleration from a dead stop).

What does the truck do right before it dies? Does it hesitate? Does it stutter or shake badly? Explaining what happens would go a long way to solving this issue.