93 sport 4x4 2.3L cutting out

[wp23n]

hi all,
i recently picked up a 93 ranger sport 4x4 with 2.3L engine..

has run fine for the first 2 weeks of ownership but this morning
started cutting out on the highway.

when i say cutting it is like all lose of power for a brief instant and then it right back without even losing any speed could watch tach drop from 2500 to 2k and then right back to 2500 again..

did it sporadically all the way home about 10 miles sometimes once in a mile other times 6-7 times in a mile

truck has 126k on it, and within last 26k miles PO replaced timing belt, coil packs, plugs, wires, ICM, and just before i picked it up from him a new EGR and fuel filter.

i'm kind of leaning towards the ICM again as i know they can cause this type of problem but have not been able to find any info as to whether the MAF can cause this also..

no check engine light and it is currently raining hard so i cant scan it to see if it has pending codes.

any help you you guys can offer is appreciated i just cant afford to throw parts at it

 

[wp23n]

wont start at all now... gave it a shot of either and it still wont start so i have to assume spark and a bad ICM.. unfortunately the screws are all rusted and of course the first one stripped and now i cant get it out..

 

[Harris]

Are all of the screws in that ICM? It grounds through the screws and if they are not all there (three of them, one empty hole for some reason if I recall) then you could have that intermittent short or grounding fail.

 

[wp23n]

figured i would follow up just in case anyone else runs in to this same situation

found after much searching on the web that the primary coil pack is the one on the passengers side spark plugs and the other coil pack only kicks in once the truck is actually running..

since the new ICM when swapped and grounded still didn't start the truck i figured i would go grab a coil pack from the junk yard because as i found also that it is common for them to go and work intermittently such as mine was doing..

i was able to grab 3 for $25 2 genuine motorcraft and one aftermarket which looked like it had just been replaced before the car hit the u-pull it

i removed the coil and while cleaning up the bottom of the new one my fried spotted this

makes sense since all of my problems started in extremely damp weather. long story short, the truck fired right up... for any that stumbles upon this thread.. before beating your head against the wall try swapping your coil packs from front to rear and see if your truck will start.. if so then you know you have a bad coil pack. if not then move on to the ICM..

 

[wp23n]

another follow up.. started acting up once again about a week after
the coils were replaced..
intermittent no start problem went through everything i could think of
once again

bottom line after a week of testing looks like it was a bad fuel pump all along..
could hear fuel pump running so i never thought it was the problem but after doing more web research it came back to a classic weak fuel pump.. had the new one installed yesterday and found what looked to be the original ford pump that came out.. started multiple times today without a problem so we will see how it is after sitting for a few days
next week and i will post one more follow up

 

[Mark_88]

Good to hear you may have corrected the issue...

I just recently had a similar experience...the fuel pump would run, but not enough pressure out of it even for a carb application...

Not bad, got eight or ten years out of it...hope the new one lasts that long...

 

[wp23n]

last post on this.... been starting and running great since the new fuel pump install
so any of you guys with intermittent problems make sure to check your fuel pressure first
even though you can hear the fuel pump whirring away..

unfortunately for me i have a GM fuel pressure tester but not ford and i found that actron doesnt even make an adaptor for it so it looks like i will be buying a new tester
for future use but it would have saved me a lot of trouble if i had one to start with..

 

[Mark_88]

Thanks for the update...good news travels slow around here...lol