don,t know what else to try!

[kabappa]

I have a 87 ranger 2.3l fuel injected,,140,000. Owned since new and did all my own mtce on it. Never let me down,,,until now. It has now started to stall on me. Without any notice, I will be driving and its as if someone turns the key to shut the engine. Sometimes it will start right back up and I'll drive for 10 mins and it will happen again and sometimes it won't happen all day. Other times when it stalls I cant get it to start for at least 15 min. or it will start and run very very rough,the engine will shake and I will shut it down and it will restart and run fine. I am afraid to use it now. I will leave it in the driveway and start it up and let it run. Sometimes it will run for hrs and other times it will start and stall right away. I have replaced both fuel pumps,,fuel filter,,,spark plugs,,spark plug wires,,dist cap and roter,,ignition coil,,ignition control module. My next step was to replace the pickup coil in the distributor. Now I'm thinking I should have first checked for error codes. I have an old popular mechanix magizine that explains how to do it with a analog meter..but I dont know which connector to plug it into in the engine compartment because there are more than one. I'm afraid this trouble is going to beat me and I'll have to get rid of the truck. I'm hoping someone out there could lead me to the answer. HELP!! and THANKS in advance

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

does your truck has a MAF sensor?? maybe the problem is there, u should check there

 

[88WTM]

I have a 87 ranger 2.3l fuel injected,,140,000. Owned since new and did all my own mtce on it. Never let me down,,,until now. It has now started to stall on me. Without any notice, I will be driving and its as if someone turns the key to shut the engine. Sometimes it will start right back up and I'll drive for 10 mins and it will happen again and sometimes it won't happen all day. Other times when it stalls I cant get it to start for at least 15 min. or it will start and run very very rough,the engine will shake and I will shut it down and it will restart and run fine. I am afraid to use it now. I will leave it in the driveway and start it up and let it run. Sometimes it will run for hrs and other times it will start and stall right away. I have replaced both fuel pumps,,fuel filter,,,spark plugs,,spark plug wires,,dist cap and roter,,ignition coil,,ignition control module. My next step was to replace the pickup coil in the distributor. Now I'm thinking I should have first checked for error codes. I have an old popular mechanix magizine that explains how to do it with a analog meter..but I dont know which connector to plug it into in the engine compartment because there are more than one. I'm afraid this trouble is going to beat me and I'll have to get rid of the truck. I'm hoping someone out there could lead me to the answer. HELP!! and THANKS in advance

Hey man!
I'm new here and having almost the same identical problem. Check my post and you can see what I've done so far to try and alleviate the problem and what's next on the line up...Lol.
My truck is an 88, 2.3 with a 5 speed and 92k miles now. It runs good with exception to the little stalling issue! My post is titled completely stumped FYI.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[SykoRanger88]

check your engine ground that runs from the wiper motor to back behind the intake manifold, its a wide ground wire and if its loose or corroded ive heard of people having some similar probs like yours.

 

[Funnyman141]

is the truck running a little rich?

 

[88WTM]

is the truck running a little rich?

I don't know about his, but my truck seems to be. It almost seems like it's loading up and starts to bog. No stumbling and this is never an onset scenario prior to stalling or anything, but it still seems to be down on power at higher power....maybe rich and loading up...maybe completely clogged cat also. Right now, my truck does not enjoy trotting up overpasses!

 

[a-5 freak]

Maybe the IAC is goin bad? I agree with the cleaning the MAF. Dont clean the MAF with carb cleaner.

Look for bad grounding near your ECU. That could cause some weird problems. smell your exhaust to see if it smells rich.

 

[kabappa]

Hi all,
I don't believe my truck has a maf sensor. I checked my chilton's man. which does not show one and the autozone web site doesn't show one for my vehicle either.
It may be burning a little rich, but I don,t think its excessive. It's not like there is black soot on the tailpipe or black exhaust.
I did chance the iac a couple years back because the engine would not race when I first started it on winter mornings. And the new iac corrected that.
I took SykoRanger88 advice today and removed the engine grd wire that runs from the firewall at the wiper motor to the engine block. I cleaned everything up nice and shiny and reinstalled it.
I started the truck and only had enough time to let it idle in the driveway for about an hr. It ran fine without stalling.
I will let it run longer tommorow to see what happens. I will post the outcome. Thanks

 

[feellnfroggy]

Hi all,
I don't believe my truck has a maf sensor. I checked my chilton's man. which does not show one and the autozone web site doesn't show one for my vehicle either.
It may be burning a little rich, but I don,t think its excessive. It's not like there is black soot on the tailpipe or black exhaust.
I did chance the iac a couple years back because the engine would not race when I first started it on winter mornings. And the new iac corrected that.
I took SykoRanger88 advice today and removed the engine grd wire that runs from the firewall at the wiper motor to the engine block. I cleaned everything up nice and shiny and reinstalled it.
I started the truck and only had enough time to let it idle in the driveway for about an hr. It ran fine without stalling.
I will let it run longer tommorow to see what happens. I will post the outcome. Thanks[/QUOTE
If you are fuel injected you should have a MAF Mass Air Flow sensor. Its the little black sensor on top of the intake tube between the airbox and throttle body with wires coming out. But it wont make the truck just die like you are explaining, It will run very rich and crappy if its the maf. Sounds more like a groundwire. Or perhaps your connection at the EEC is faulty or the EEC itself. The ignition cylinder could be having an issue as well. With the v8 mustangs 87 was a Air Speed density system and not mass air. If the ranger were the same thats the only reason I can think that you wouldnt have a MAF. But I'm pretty sure its there.

 

[SykoRanger88]

his truck doesnt have a MAF i know that for a fact, they didnt start using those until at least 89 or 90, mines an 88 and doesnt have a MAF and his is older than mine.

 

[schmoo]

you might just have water in the fuel.
get a gas can and run the pu dry.
then add gas and isopropal heet.

 

[kabappa]

I did put some isopropal heet in it when the trbl first started. When that didn't help, I replaced both fuel pumps, filter, and relay, and bypassed the inertia switch and while replacing the pump in the tank I took a look and didnt see any water,, thats why now I am leaning towards electrical.
Well today I started it up and the darn thing stalled again. I tried to turn it over a couple of times with no luck. So then I run into the house to get the wife to try while I check for spark. And don't you know when she tries the damn thing starts right up. So I guess it wasnt a ground trbl. I even went so far as to clean where the grd cable off the battery bolts to the starter and the smaller guage wire that comes off the battery to the frame.
I played around with the iac. But I don't think that is my problem, because even if I disconnect the wiring to the iac, I can still start the truck by pressing down on the gas pedal while turning it over. So It gets air thru the throttle instead of the small tube from the iac. And when it doesnt want to start for me,it doenst start even if I press on the gas pedal.
So I went down to Autozone and bought a new pickup coil. I will try to install that over the weekend. I found some instructions on how to replace one on a 1988 on the web. I hope its about the same for my 87. I know I have to turn the crankshaft until the pulley lines up with tdc. And it says to remove the distributor. I wonder if I can change it without removing the distributor? If anyone has done this before and has some tips I would appreciate it. I will let you know how I make out. Have a nice long weekend everyone!!

 

[kabappa]

Well, I replaced the pickup coil. So far so good. I let it idle in the driveway for a few hrs and it didnt stall. Took it out for a little ride and still didnt stall.
I believe I put everthing back exactly as it was, but was thinking about checking the base timing. I have read where you have to remove the spout wire to do that. The spout wire is one of the wires in the tfi module connector. So do I disconnet the whole connector(wouldnt that make the engine stall?) Or do I remove the one spout wire out of the connector while I adjust the base timing?

 

[SykoRanger88]

Well, I replaced the pickup coil. So far so good. I let it idle in the driveway for a few hrs and it didnt stall. Took it out for a little ride and still didnt stall.
I believe I put everthing back exactly as it was, but was thinking about checking the base timing. I have read where you have to remove the spout wire to do that. The spout wire is one of the wires in the tfi module connector. So do I disconnet the whole connector(wouldnt that make the engine stall?) Or do I remove the one spout wire out of the connector while I adjust the base timing?

on mine the spout connector was on the left side between airbox and battery, its got like a little piece you can pull out of the top of it, i think some of the rangers also had them on the right side near the distrib also.

 

[Schwinnstingray1964]

Plugs?


Wires?

Dist?

When were they last replaced?