Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and jmota25
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2017
- Messages
- 2
- Vehicle Year
- 1994
- Transmission
- Manual
Hello, I am posting this to help those that I can from going what I went through.
Vehicle: 1994 Ford Ranger, 2.3L, Manual Trans, 5 Speed
Symptoms: Idles roughly, lack of power, dies on days hotter than 80 degrees after driving around for 20-30 min.
Possible Diagnosis: Bad Ignition Control Module (ICM), Bad Fuel Pump, vapor lock on fuel rail, or Catalytic converter clogging up.
So as stated above, my ranger was idling roughly and dying after driving it around for a little while, but only on hot days. I would have to let it sit for a little while it cooled down and could get it running until it would heat up and die again. At first I thought it was the fuel pump even though I was getting fuel to the rails and it would test fine with a pressure gauge(needed to change it anyway since the sensors had failed). However, this did not fix the problem. My next attempt at fixing this problem was to change the ICM as it could possibly be overheating and not working. This also did not keep it from dying. I then experimented with the issue being vapor lock in the fuel rail and the catalytic converter getting too hot and clogging up. These did not help resolve the issue either. I was kind of at wits end and was almost ready to just call it a lost cause. Then it dawned on me, especially since I hadn't checked it in the four years I had the truck, I should really check the timing belt. Upon opening up the timing cover, which was way harder than it should have been, I found that the belt had jumped one tooth out of time. So I went and replaced the belt and set it back into time. After reassembling everything, I said a small prayer and started it up. This had solved the rough idle and it has not died even when the days are getting up above 90 degrees. So before you spend all your money and time with replacing fuel pumps and such, give the timing belt a look and see if it is out of time.
Vehicle: 1994 Ford Ranger, 2.3L, Manual Trans, 5 Speed
Symptoms: Idles roughly, lack of power, dies on days hotter than 80 degrees after driving around for 20-30 min.
Possible Diagnosis: Bad Ignition Control Module (ICM), Bad Fuel Pump, vapor lock on fuel rail, or Catalytic converter clogging up.
So as stated above, my ranger was idling roughly and dying after driving it around for a little while, but only on hot days. I would have to let it sit for a little while it cooled down and could get it running until it would heat up and die again. At first I thought it was the fuel pump even though I was getting fuel to the rails and it would test fine with a pressure gauge(needed to change it anyway since the sensors had failed). However, this did not fix the problem. My next attempt at fixing this problem was to change the ICM as it could possibly be overheating and not working. This also did not keep it from dying. I then experimented with the issue being vapor lock in the fuel rail and the catalytic converter getting too hot and clogging up. These did not help resolve the issue either. I was kind of at wits end and was almost ready to just call it a lost cause. Then it dawned on me, especially since I hadn't checked it in the four years I had the truck, I should really check the timing belt. Upon opening up the timing cover, which was way harder than it should have been, I found that the belt had jumped one tooth out of time. So I went and replaced the belt and set it back into time. After reassembling everything, I said a small prayer and started it up. This had solved the rough idle and it has not died even when the days are getting up above 90 degrees. So before you spend all your money and time with replacing fuel pumps and such, give the timing belt a look and see if it is out of time.
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