Does the MAF sensor have anything to do with this?

[02 ranger]

Ok so i saw the threat about the guy unplugging his MAF and his truck ran better. Well my 2002 ford ranger 4.0l and it gets poor fuel milage (im guessing around 14 mpg). Also at idle the truck has a ticking noise that never goes away and i can hear it when im accelerating (im not sure if it still ticks when i got faster because im not sure if the noise from the road drowns it out). Also i noticed that my truck doesn't have as much power as i think it should. I'm sorry i dont know much about gas engines but any one has a question regarding a diesel engine please feel free to pm me. I am thinking about unplugging my sensor just for a day to see how the truck acts. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[pcollins]

the tick is probably a lifter. rangers are notorious for it. poor fuel mileage means its tune up time first. Go for new plugs, wires, air filter. that should help alot. then get a bottle of injector cleaner and follow the instructions. it can only help.

 

[02 ranger]

the tick is probably a lifter. rangers are notorious for it. poor fuel mileage means its tune up time first. Go for new plugs, wires, air filter. that should help alot. then get a bottle of injector cleaner and follow the instructions. it can only help.

What can i do about the lifter. I just did a tune up on my truck about 10k miles ago. But i do live on about 2 miles of very dusty roads. I go thru a tank of gas about a week and i only drive it at the most about 15 to 20 miles a day.

 

[pcollins]

isn't much you can do about the lifter, you have to tear the engine apart in order to fix that. and i think 2002 is another year where you have to worry about the timing chain tick...someone confirm that please. the short drive period and dusty roads probly don't help the mileage. i have a 4.0 as well and i get terrible mileage, but thats due to my bad O2 sensor.

 

[snoman6115]

if ur worried bout ur MAF jsut get some MAF cleaner and clean it. if somehow your air filter failed and dust got on ur MAF msot symptoms will be loss of power at higher rpm. my buddies truck did it and at 65 it would randomly die and slow down. but yea mpg went way down too. idk $4 for a can of cleaner, wont hurt anything(if done right)

 

[Hotrodlincoln]

Use Valvoline Maxlife or some other synthetic blend motor oil on your next change, and it should cure the noisy lifter.

14 mpg sounds about right if you drive with a lead foot. But if you've never done it, might not hurt to replace the O2 sensor. Also check the fuel pressure regulator (on the fuel rail) pull the vacuum, hose off and make sure there isn't gas in the line.
And since you'll be poking around with vacuum lines, give the rest of them a good looking over, and make sure none are split or dry rotted.

 

[compnecessity]

MAF Genral talk

A couple weeks ago after starting my Ranger I was getting a loud click/tick/chatter noise from the egine. I ran the engine for less then 1 minute. When reving the engine in drive and nutral the tick would go faster. I shut off the engine, started back up and the sound was gone. It happened 2 more times though out the week only after starting. My truck doesn't have much get up get up speed from a stop, but seems alright once I get past 25MPH. Almost sounds like the egnine is getting bogged down and air is getting blocked somwehere. Kind of like when you forget to take the E-Brake off. But my E-brake is not the problem. You would think the tires would peel out at a stop to flooring, but it dosen't on dry pavment. I've been told the 4.0 engine is diffrent when it comes to power and speed. For testing I disconnected my MAF, but I didn't notice any decrease or increase in power or speed. Sure would be nice find something to give this old 6 cyl engine better gas mileage and more get up.

 

[Hotrodlincoln]

A couple weeks ago after starting my Ranger I was getting a loud click/tick/chatter noise from the egine. I ran the engine for less then 1 minute. When reving the engine in drive and nutral the tick would go faster. I shut off the engine, started back up and the sound was gone. It happened 2 more times though out the week only after starting. My truck doesn't have much get up get up speed from a stop, but seems alright once I get past 25MPH. Almost sounds like the egnine is getting bogged down and air is getting blocked somwehere. Kind of like when you forget to take the E-Brake off. But my E-brake is not the problem. You would think the tires would peel out at a stop to flooring, but it dosen't on dry pavment. I've been told the 4.0 engine is diffrent when it comes to power and speed. For testing I disconnected my MAF, but I didn't notice any decrease or increase in power or speed. Sure would be nice find something to give this old 6 cyl engine better gas mileage and more get up.

It may be that your MAF is in need of cleaning, or it might be dead and the ECU is running in open loop all the time.
Other possibilities are a bad O2 sensor, or a vacuum leak.

 

[trader007]

It may be that your MAF is in need of cleaning, or it might be dead and the ECU is running in open loop all the time.
Other possibilities are a bad O2 sensor, or a vacuum leak.

theres also a good chance he has many or all of those problems too...

 

[compnecessity]

I would agree it's possible the MAF is dead, but the check engine light is not on. I know the check engine light works. Would an euhast leak or blockage set off the check engine light?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Stick to preventave maint first check the vacuum lines clean the MAF run a good injector cleaner for a couple of tanks of gas, plugs (motorcraft) and wires if they are old. flush the oil system with a cup of ATF until the engine gets warm at lower rpms then put a good oil filter in (motorcraft) and some 5W-30 synthetic oil in it. Just give it the engine the TLC first then you can diagnose any other issues it may have. Oh yea PCV, belts, hoses, and filters get it ready for a hot summer flush the coolant also.

 

[compnecessity]

I did have a tune up a couple months ago which included wires, plugs, PCV valve. Since owning the truck at 50,000 miles it never had get up from a start, so perhaps this is the way it is. A couple weeks ago I did clean the MAF, but no change. A friend of mine who had an Explorer with the same engine test drove my truck and he thought it was doggy.
I would like to crawl under and look at the exahust.

 

[trader007]

i would also suggest to just run good oil in it from now on, like maxlife or whatever synthetic blend you can find. i also like to use engine RESTORE every oil change... it adds 10 bucks to the cost but imo its completely worth it.

and i like lucas fuel system treatment too.. thats another $4 or so but again, it seems to work really well as far as preventative maintenance goes. but thats all i do, it still costs about $45-$60 every 3,000 for me and thats just parts. i do the work myself of course. i also have a motor with 192k miles on it and just the other week i grinded my flywheel because i thought the engine was off.... it runs a LOT better then it did when i bought it with 121k too about 6 years ago.