Having weird power issues with my '88 2.9

[jhammel85]

How'd you make out with this. Any changes / Updates?

 

[Dave90ranger]

ok i have read through every comment that everyone has posted and well you say fuel isnt your issue but i beg to differ. you say it gets better after 3K which i have a question, Have you checked your injectors and there wiring? reason i ask is because my Infiniti i have had a couple injectors go bad and a couple that clogged up without codes and it ran like crap under 3K and then felt like it was better but wasnt.

so i would suggest you check the resisance of them (which i know isnt easy cause well i tried this) and befor i replaced the one bad injector in the truck i just got it did exactly what you described but now it runs great. so what you can do is try to run fuel system cleaner in your truck but i havnt had any success with that and the other thing you can do is to just replace the injector.

now i know your probably asking which injector, right? well heres how, first run the truck to get a general idea how it runs at idle then shut it off. now take off one spark plug wire then start the engine note how it runs, if taking the that one wire off doesnt change how it runs take an insolated pair of pliars and move it closer the the spark plug until you see the spark go to the plug if there still is no change then that is the cylinder or cylinders that are not working. do this to each one and note which ones dont change the idle.

now if your plugs are good and wires are good as you said and commpression is good, you can almost guarantee that your injector is either plugged or just doesnt work at all. now how i made sure the injector itself wasnt working, i pulled the intake manifold and kept the fuel lines hooked up to avoid replacing any lines if they broke and then set some shop towels on the intake and put the injectors on them then cranked the engine over a couple of times then turned off the key and made sure that each one fired. if one didnt then you know there is your issue. how i checked this since i did have one go i got some from the junkyard and put one of those in and cranked it again to see if they all worked which now they do.

now i am not saying this is your issue but it could be yours like it was mine. now heres a fact that i had when my car was misfiring, when at low rpms the car would shake, have no power, and stumble under load until 3K or so then the car smoothed out to where i couldnt tell it was misfiring. now that i finished this long response for my first post(and im very sorry its soo long) lol since i had been looking on here a coulpe days and just had to start helping, so i hope this helps you out some and you finally fix your issue and everyone else that has this problem.

now again to avoid any problems with this if its not your issue, do all other checks first to make sure this could be it.

Good Luck, Dave (one heck of an first impression lol)

 

[Rebel_Grizzly]

Any updates on this at all? My Ranger is doing the exact same thing, i just replaced the motor with a nicer 2.9 and put new lifters in it, it ran great for the first couple days and now it just runs like crap. Any help? Its doing the same thing as the one in this thread.

 

[DisturbedMXer8]

Still no updates, acting the same way. It's actually worse now. It has an intermittent hesitation issue on hard throttle, almost like I'm running out of gas, but only for a few seconds here and there. I'm starting to suspect my fuel pump(s). Entire ignition system is only about a year old, and my FPR seems to be working fine. Seriously, this truck runs amazing when it wants to, and like crap when it doesn't.

 

[6jeff6]

Fuel pump has a pickup sack on the bottom of it that can get clogged. I'm replacing my fuel pump whenever this snow disappears. Mine turns over quite awhile before it starts but I can juice the pump(cycle key letting pump charge line) and she starts right up. I would try the sack at the least but your pump could be getting hot and not working properly or who knows I've seen gas tanks not vent and cause this too(gas caps or vent tube not working properly). Not on rangers but have seen it.

Good luck
Jeff

 

[backerm]

hey did you guys figure anything out? I'm having the same problem on my truck. Should both pumps be able to keep the engine idling? When I took my frame rail pump out, it would run for about a min. then stall.