horrable lack of power

[jforler_185]

Hey guys I'm new around here and I need some help. I have tried searching for the answer for my question and haven't found anything yet so I'm sorry if this is a repost of something else. I have an 89ranger 2.9l 5spd. xcab 4x4. The truck has 121k miles on it. It has 3" body lift and 32" tires with the factory 3.73 gear set. Low end torque is fine. My problem is that when i have to accel to pass someone. No matter what gear i down shift to it doesn't seem like it wants to accel at all. top speed of the truck is around 65mph no matter what gear its in. It just doesn't want anymore. The motor runs great and i have replaced everything i can think of from airfilter, to o2 sensors, and everything in between. I understand that 3.73 is almost to high of a gear for the 32's but its what I have to work with for now. Going up a hill i have to downshift and put it to the floor. It still losses speed. under acceleration and under loads the truck has a kind of pinging sound. I think its coming from under the passenger side of the truck not the engine. I have checked for exhaust leaks and found nothing. I have no cel or codes thrown. A friend of mine said that i might have a clogged cat. Its possible because it is factory. But then again I don't know because this friend has been wrong way more times then right. So I figured I come on here and find out what the "experts" say. Thanks.

 

[johngalt191]

put a semi turbo on it

 

[IMenriched]

Hey guys I'm new around here and I need some help. I have tried searching for the answer for my question and haven't found anything yet so I'm sorry if this is a repost of something else. I have an 89ranger 2.9l 5spd. xcab 4x4. The truck has 121k miles on it. It has 3" body lift and 32" tires with the factory 3.73 gear set. Low end torque is fine. My problem is that when i have to accel to pass someone. No matter what gear i down shift to it doesn't seem like it wants to accel at all. top speed of the truck is around 65mph no matter what gear its in. It just doesn't want anymore. The motor runs great and i have replaced everything i can think of from airfilter, to o2 sensors, and everything in between. I understand that 3.73 is almost to high of a gear for the 32's but its what I have to work with for now. Going up a hill i have to downshift and put it to the floor. It still losses speed. under acceleration and under loads the truck has a kind of pinging sound. I think its coming from under the passenger side of the truck not the engine. I have checked for exhaust leaks and found nothing. I have no cel or codes thrown. A friend of mine said that i might have a clogged cat. Its possible because it is factory. But then again I don't know because this friend has been wrong way more times then right. So I figured I come on here and find out what the "experts" say. Thanks.

what year do you have?? Need to check for codes present.

Could be still a sensor out of whack....not to say that your Cat could very well be past usefullness. depending on the issues at hand.

does it start OK? run better cold than when up to operation temperature?? or vise versa??

when the last time you have changed the fuel filter?? Maybe a better question would be what exactly has been done. so those here can help zero in on the helping you

Off the cuff, double checking grounds and connections are all good & making sure vacuum leaks are not present is the best place to start.

 

[xtremeRanger]

that's how mine is the 2.9 is pretty gutless and im running a 31 and 3.73 gears. Soon your 2.9 will start ticking cause pushing those 32's is alot of stress on the lifters. Ticking is caused by high revving, and how that works is your engine has to work extra hard to push those tires.with the 3.73 gears. You need to get 4.56 gears if your wanting to stick with the 2.9L engine. Its your best bet, With my truck i never use 5th gear(OD) it has become a useless gear, so i use 4th and my truck will only see 100km/hour on the highway. 2.9 Does not have the high end power, low end power is decent. 4.0 swap is a option, 33's and 3.73 is a good combo after that.

 

[holyford86]

3.73s are too high of a gear, I'm running 33 inch tires with 4.10 gears and 7 inches of lift in a regular cab longbed and its still a dog. It's just the way it's going to be. I don't beat on my truck and it goes 55-60 MPH just fine and gets 18mpg doing it. I push it to 65-70 and mileage drops to 11-12 mpg. Larger tire size does put more stress on the engine but as long as you don't drive like an idiot it won't greatly affect engine life. Screaming the piss out of something trying to get it to go faster is how you get accelerated valvetrain wear and breakage. 2.9s get pretty well worthless as far as usable power above 4500 anyway, shifting at 3500-4000 rpm seems to be where I get the quickest acceleration point to point.

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

check your timing

 

[Hahnsb2]

Soon your 2.9 will start ticking cause pushing those 32's is alot of stress on the lifters. Ticking is caused by high revving, and how that works is your engine has to work extra hard to push those tires.with the 3.73 gears.

No, just no. Ticking is caused air in the lifters or pushrod/rocker wear. Extra load on the engine doesn't place extra load on the valvetrain. I beat the shit out of my 2.9 and never shyed from revving the piss out of it, I redlined it daily and even went past 6k a few times, and it never ticked.

 

[xtremeRanger]

It does have alot to do with revving the piss out of it. How do you think parts wear out? when your driving the piss out of it something is bound to wear out. You may not agree with me but i have gone through a set of lifters and im on my second set because i can admit i bag drive my truck. So if your redlining it and whatever else those lifters/rockers, etc... are going to see the abuse. All it takes is your foot, the gas pedal and time and you will see the wear and tear.

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

It does have alot to do with revving the piss out of it. How do you think parts wear out? when your driving the piss out of it something is bound to wear out. You may not agree with me but i have gone through a set of lifters and im on my second set because i can admit i bag drive my truck. So if your redlining it and whatever else those lifters/rockers, etc... are going to see the abuse. All it takes is your foot, the gas pedal and time and you will see the wear and tear.

agreed. the amount of pressure on the valve train is about equal to a diesel locomotive sitting on top of it.. just because of the rocker arm ratio, the strength of the springs, and the very small surface area of the cam lobe while its touching the lifter.

 

[Area 52]

Insufficient fuel delivery to meet higher demand. Check/change filter first...test drive...if that doesn't fix it check fuel pump flow rate.

 

[Frank The Tank]

My 2.9 was a dog too... with stock tires it wouldn't get out of it's own way to pass somebody.

Frank

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

you guys think a 2.9 is slow... try the 2.3 with NO spark advance

 

[Z3CHYD]

2 years ago my 86 2.9 would pass F150s and Silverados......now it won't even pass a Geo Metro(laughs).....for me the reason my 2.9 is gutless as of now is because the timing is off, I just need to adjust it, havent got the time right now tho, to much work. Also i need a new o2 sensor
(hopefully i can get her running like she used to....used to be able to boil 31's easily....now i have 270/35 and its a dog lol)

 

[xtremeRanger]

im going to be slapping a set of 33's on my truck tomorrow then its going to be doggin it bad. Thats why im upgrading to the 4.0 it will allow me to use my 3.73 gears.

 

[Nailzs]

the pinging makes me think of timing also. but u do need to post everythat that you've done ttrying to fix this problem