Have you had this problem, If so, What was the fix?

[noahkenny]

Might be a good idea to take it to a ford dealer and let them diagnose the problem. A couple years ago my ole lady had a windstar with trannie problems. They diagnosed it for me for about 100 bucks IIRC and they were spot on. I pulled the tranny and sent out the vavle body to have all the updates done to it. The tranny had been a problem for years but was good as gold when I finally got it back together and in the van it ran good as gold. My advise about having one professionally diagnosed is to take it back to the manufactures dealer. They have the exact tools and troubleshooting books. Even know its expensive it could very well pay off in the long run. You can buy scan tools all day long from moderrate to down right expensive and nearly all of the wont do as good as the factory scannerrs.Plus you have to know what you are looking at anyway. I work on Cat equipment and the cat workbench program we use on our laptops is the only program capable of hooking to a cat. They dont want bungle mechanics to gain access to it. So our laptops and DVDs are closely guarded..You used to be able to find the discs on ebay without the main programs which basically made the dvds coasters. But they put a real stop to that. The moral of the story is to bite the belt and gonna use ford dealerships. Its really hard to go wrong by doing it. And besides you might you find you a new buddy who works for ford with a lot of knowledge..

 

[wlabrum]

Whoa here a second.
1. Does it do it on level roads under hard acceleration? (this would simulate the load of going up a hill)
do the following in order
2.As silly as this sounds when is the last time the fuel filter was changed? if its been more than 12000 miles change it.( I bought my suburban from a guy CHEAP because it was doing the same thing, brought it home pulled the fuel filter it was so cloged you could not blow threw it, changed it and its been fine since and change it every time i change the air filter)
3. I don't know where you are located but most chain type parts store rent tools. rent a fuel pressure gauge and check fuel pressure should be 37ish to 45ish pounds.
4.if fuel pressure is good remove vacuum line from regulator( its located on the injector rail) fuel pressure should rise 4-5 pounds
5.listen for vacuum leaks with the engine running you will hear a high piched scream if there is one.
you can stop the order if the issue goes away and let me know what you find out

 

[gjm4l]

Auto part places or mechanics? I'm not saying it's not fuel pump but in my limited experience fuel pumps either work or they don't so unless it's getting a short that only hits uphill and not over potholes/expansion joints thats a wild one to me. Possibly the tank is absolutely gummed up with trash and going up hill slides it all to the level of the pickup? Maybe try some fuel additive to break it up? Has it ever sat for a year or more? There are some good ideas on here. Can you floor it and it'll pull all the way? Or does it stumble ANY other time? Does anything weird happen coolant gauge, voltage, anything else go haywire? Oh yeah is it an automatic? Could be a trans issue when it goes outta OD under a load(uphill). Or possibly if it's a manual the clutch starts chattering REAL hard, what speed are these hills driven at? Any and all? Or specific? Just trying to narrow it down. If it ends up being the fuel pump just pull the 6 bolts outta the bed(T55 torx I think), 3 outta the filler neck, and remove the tail light harnesses and you and your local yokel/buddy can pick the bed up and outta the way and have easy access to the pump

 

[RustedRanger]

The check valve in the pump is so it holds pressure when it's shut off.

 

[Whatthetruck]

It may be the fuel pump screen filter.

 

[Tonka]

In my 89, the fuel pump is in the gas tank. I had to replace it twice. The second time I dumped all the gas out onto some weeds and cleaned all the metal shavings from the tank, and never had a problem with the second pump. But I did get pissed off and forcibly cross-thread one of the bolts that holds the tank straps in place, because it wouldn't thread correctly no matter how much I messed with it.

Changing it was a pain in the ***. Do it when it's low on gas, cuz that tank gets heavy. Half a tank and it's like wrestling a transmission into place. And jack that thing up HIGH so you've got room to roll around while yelling "WHERE THE **** IS THAT WRENCH?" without hitting your head on the drive shaft. Come to think of it, I might have disconnected my drive shaft at the diff to make more room.

But when my fuel pump went out, both times the engine ran fine one minute, then nothing, it just died & wouldn't come back to life.

I had problems like yours once, when the engine was jerking around all over the place, slamming my mounts and drive train around, ... turned out it was oil getting into my distributor. My 2.9L has a mechanical distributor located in the back by the firewall where it's harder to get to.

Several mechanics told me it was my injectors, so I changed 'em. Same problem. Thought it was the fuel filter, nope. It was the distributor cap. Water or something was getting in there and corroding everything. I swapped out the cap but the problem came back. Eventually I replaced the rotor too. It's been 8 years and it's run like a swiss watch ever since.

 

[GoodOld85BlueBalls]

Yes I would tend to agree that it is fuel related. Have you for grins just pulled out your fuel filter and see if you can blow through it?

 

[R***A**N**G**E***R]

I am getting a fuel filter today for 7 bucks since it's been about 4 years since i replaced it.

My mechanic friend came over with a $8,500 computer and hoked it up to my truck and we took a drive and it did get a mass airflow sensor error once but did not show any other problems, this computer is amazing in what it can do, anyways we cleaned the mas but it still doing the same thing, a new mas is 97 bucks that, I am limited on how long I can stay in the heat do to medication I take and since it's going to be almost 100 degrees today I will probably wait a couple days to continue to track down the problem.

 

[Tonka]

My mechanic friend came over with a $8,500 computer ... this computer is amazing in what it can do...

It BETTER be for that price!!

I gotta ask for more info. You said it's fine at cruise, but on the hills it's like riding a bull at a rodeo? So, ... what about when you're in the flats but you're accelerating, still on the gas like you'd be on the hill just trying to maintain speed, or just trying to gently pick up 5 mph after that stupid mini-van finally gets out of your way?

 

[powerranger262]

Here's your fix. I chased this problem for 2 years with no luck. This seemed to work.

 

[88_Eddie]

i thought the general consensus was to get as close to the toilet as possible?

 

[R***A**N**G**E***R]

It BETTER be for that price!!

I gotta ask for more info. You said it's fine at cruise, but on the hills it's like riding a bull at a rodeo? So, ... what about when you're in the flats but you're accelerating, still on the gas like you'd be on the hill just trying to maintain speed, or just trying to gently pick up 5 mph after that stupid mini-van finally gets out of your way?

It does just fine on the flats during acceleration 95% of the time, I have had it act up on OCCASION on the flats but it is ALMOST always just as soon as I start to go up a hill and while going up the hill then it purrs like a kitten when I am on flat ground again, it's very strange!!!

I just replaced the fuel filter this morning and it made no difference.

I called the local junk yard to price a mass airflow sensor and they want 75 bucks, a new one from autozone is 97 bucks.

My mechanic friend who brought the diagnostic computer over talked to his friend who has been a ford mechanic for 25 years and he said to replace the mass airflow sensor and my problem would go away.

I need to see the return policy on mass airflow sensors because if that is not the problem I am not forking out almost a hundred bucks with out being able to bring it back.

 

[Tonka]

Well that $8500 computer only detected the mass airflow sensor "a couple times". While that thing was hooked up, did you take it up any hills and see what the computer said while the engine was acting up?

Most auto parts stores have a "no return" policy on electrical/electronic parts, but I hear Autozone is more "customer friendly" than the rest. I was just there the other day to get replacement shocks for my ranger, which reminds me I should go in the barn and get that receipt, there's a rebate I need to mail in.

 

[R***A**N**G**E***R]

mass air flow sensor?

I guess I should of asked this question already but just now thought of it.

Has anybody ever had to physically change their mass air flow sensor and why??? as in what was going on with your truck before you changed the sensor? what were the symptoms of your bad sensor?? anybody????

Good news is advance auto parts will take back the sensor and the local lkq salvage yard will also take it back within 6 months. So I gues I need to get my hands on a sensor, put it in and go for a drive and see if my problem goes away, but I am hopefull SOMEBODY on this forum has had to replace one and can tell me what it was doing before they replaced it.