95 ranger 2.3L loss of power up hills

[JesseCard]

Hey everyone, I have a quick question about my 95 ranger. Lately I have noticed i have lost a significant amount of power while going up steep uphill freeways. I used to be able to cruise in 4th gear up the hill but now I have to down shift to 3rd to make it up the hill. Once i get off the freeway I give the truck gas and it will barley go, then seconds later the truck will backfire and will gain some of the power back. I was thinking it was the catalyic converter but i want to know your guys opinions.

Also, I started noticed the power loss after I put a lift kit on my truck and put all terrain tires and heavier rims. Does that have anything to do with it?

Thanks.

 

[Duane867]

Check your plugs, wires, air filter..... basic tune up stuff 1st.
Then check your cat out. Is the floorboard getting hot during this time ?
Rotten egg smell, gas smell or anything like that ?

 

[JesseCard]

I just changed the plug and plug wires. It has a k & n air intake. I don't smell anything when its loosing power up hills. It only smells riich when the truck is idiling. Could it be the cat? I've never checked it since I bought the truck 3 years ago...

 

[Duane867]

Did you gap your plugs or use them straight out of the box ?
Have you had a scanner hooked up to it yet ?

 

[JesseCard]

No I bought the wires and new plugs from auto zone. I took the manifold off and replaced all 8 of the plugs and wires. I didn't notice a difference in power. I started to notice the power loss when my big tires and rims were installed. The check engine light isn't on so what kind of scanner are you talking about?

 

[red85]

The big tires and wheels add a ton of rotational weight and a 4 popper will work proportionately harder on the hills because of that little upgrade. The best thing you can do now is to regear to lower ratios in order to regain the torque you lost at the wheels.

 

[Duane867]

So you did or did not gap the plugs before installing them ?
I was talking about an ODBII scan tool to see if any codes were present.
Some will not produce a check engine light and in some cases the check engine light could be burnt out etc etc etc...

red85 is correct to btw... larger tire = more torque required to move them.
There is your significant loss of power I would assume.

 

[red85]

So
red85 is correct too .

Thank you! Now repeat this mantra to my wife!

 

[1985dangeranger]

you need a timing belt urs has to much slack mine was doing the same thing when i got it if u dont belive me move ur timing forward and it will have power

 

[Duane867]

Unlike your 85'...A 95' is distributorless. Uses dual coil packs and 8 plugs. 4 on the intake side and 4 on the exhaust side. As well the Timing belt has an automatic tensioner. As it stretches is self adjusts to remove slack. If the tensioner fails or loosens and lets the belt slack then you have problems that are resolved by a new tensioner and belt or simply by re adjusting the tensioner.
There is no physical way to advance or retard the timing on a 95 2.3L

So in short .. no I don't believe you




Original poster.....
If you did not gap your plugs before installing them then this is may be PART of your problem. You cant just stick them in their out of the box. You have to set the gap before installing. The gap sets optimal spark intensity. If you leave them as is out of the box then you are installing plugs that are with out doubt .025 - .035 ( thousandths of an inch ) to large in the gap and making it run rich as heck and creating a major power loss.
The other half of your problem is the larger tire and rim set up as Phil stated.

 

[The_Ghost]

What gap should those of us with 2.3 twinspark mills be running? I put in new plugs a few months ago and gapped them to the specs Autozone's computer gave me.

An OBDII scanner helps neither myself or Jessecard because we predate OBDII (1996, though I am pretty sure 1994 4.6L Fords were OBDII and know for fact 1995 4.6L thunderbirds/cougars were OBDII. My 94 and JesseCard's 95 still use an OBDI EEC.

 

[myold96]

i know your problem i have to down shift to fourth gear if the hill is to steep or to long not bad for 200,000 miles.

 

[XLTsplash]

Taller tires with a 4 cylinder will hurt power and MPG. If you did install taller tires a gear change will be needed to get your power and MPG back. Or change back to the stock size tires.

 

[ricardo93]

I dont believe that about the mpg, i never lost mpg from anything, and i used to drive with the pedal to the had on 3 cylinders firing fully for like a month and then put 31's and it never affected anything except my 5th gear disappeared my mpg was always above 20

 

[NIPs]

Obd2 was mandated by the government for the 1996 model yr, yes u may have a 95 with obd2

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