Died while driving, wolnt start

[Rauschenbach734]

I recently dropped a 2.5 into my 97 ranger, it ran great for about a month and then it died one morning all of the sudden. I was driving normal (not beatin it) and it started acting like it was out of gas, if you hit the gas at all it would bog down. It sat for a few hours and it wouldnt start at all when I tried it, I had to pull it home and got it started from pulling it. it was still running extremely rough and you couldnt accelerate at all, i got it home and replaced the injectors and MAF, swapped the coil packs and checked the plugs and wires, changed fuel filter and the fuel pressure checked out. And still didnt run, i was looking through the fuse box and i found that the pcm relay was completely fried, burned to a crisp, so I replaced it and it started up but wouldnt run or accelerate still. So Ive been trying to figure this thing out for about a month now and sometimes when i go out to start it i can get it to run, it runs extremely rough and will not idle. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED

thanks,
Tim

 

[Baseranger]

Have you checked into why the relay was fried? Whatever did that could have something to do with it.

 

[Rauschenbach734]

Have you checked into why the relay was fried? Whatever did that could have something to do with it.

All I did was pull the box apart and put some black tape where the wires were bare, The relay says that its for the pcm. As much as I know about my truck I dont know where that is at, is it the same at the eec/ecu? If so I swapped it out, but the computer I put in was out of an auto trans. I was hoping that would be enough to get it started but there was no change.

 

[Bryan22]

probably should take the tape off and separate/repair/replace those wires. them touching is probably what fried the relay. Hopefully you didn't also damage the PCM.

 

[Rauschenbach734]

probably should take the tape off and separate/repair/replace those wires. them touching is probably what fried the relay. Hopefully you didn't also damage the PCM.

wouldnt that require me to replace the entire harness? where is the pcm located?

 

[Bryan22]

No, you shouldn't need to replace the entire harness. If it's just a few wires, you can either just run new wires outside of the loom or cut out the melted section and splic in new sections of wire. I think the PCM is on the firewall near the passenger side on your truck.

 

[modelageek]

what were the results of fuel pressure TESTS that you did?...I assume you pulled the fuel rail, injectors, etc off the old 2.3 and put them on the new 2.5

 

[Rauschenbach734]

what were the results of fuel pressure TESTS that you did?...I assume you pulled the fuel rail, injectors, etc off the old 2.3 and put them on the new 2.5

it was a few weeks ago, as I recall the test came back with something like 43-45 psi. and the fuel rail and injectors are from the 2.3

 

[Rauschenbach734]

No, you shouldn't need to replace the entire harness. If it's just a few wires, you can either just run new wires outside of the loom or cut out the melted section and splic in new sections of wire. I think the PCM is on the firewall near the passenger side on your truck.

so the pcm and the eec/ecu are the same thing, the small electrical box located on the firewall thats held in with two bolts?

 

[Bryan22]

ya. but that doesn't matter right now.... before you try doing ANYTHING else, you need to get that wiring straightened out. there is a reason the relay fried, and you need to fix it before you can continue trouble shooting.

 

[Rauschenbach734]

ya. but that doesn't matter right now.... before you try doing ANYTHING else, you need to get that wiring straightened out. there is a reason the relay fried, and you need to fix it before you can continue trouble shooting.

I had a mechanic look at it today and he said hes stumped, he said the only thing he could think of is the crank sensor. How should I start to with the wiring problem?

 

[Baseranger]

Locate the damaged wiring, and cut out the bad sections one at a time. Then figure out the gauge of the wiring, and solder in replacement wiring. Heat tape the soldered joints, and put them back into the wire loom they came from. After all of that is done, gat a new relay to install. That will at least take care of the crispy wiring issue.

 

[Rauschenbach734]

I read somewhere In another thread that the alternator or cam sensor may be causing all my problems, so I went out today and disconnected both and the truck finally started. It was by no means running normal but it did start and run as long as I kept the throttle to the floor, after reconnecting both the cam sensor and alternator the truck would barely start and would not stay running. I'm not sure if this helps any of you experts help and diagnose my problem but I sure hope it does

 

[bumblebee]

try just unconecting one at a time start and see if that helps if it doesnt conect it agian then disconect the other one and it will help tell u what is causeing the problem repacle the bad one and try that is all i can think of

 

[Rauschenbach734]

try just unconecting one at a time start and see if that helps if it doesnt conect it agian then disconect the other one and it will help tell u what is causeing the problem repacle the bad one and try that is all i can think of

That's what I did, it seemed to run better only when both were disconnected