Need help re: 93 ranger engine light on, hesitates.

[LittleBlueXLT]

I sure hope I am posting in the right spot. My friend just picked up a 93 ranger XLT for her daily driver. It has the 4 cyl 8 spark engine. The truck drove like a dream the first 100 miles or so. Today the check engine light came on and the engine ran so poorly that the truck felt like it was shuddering. When it was turned off and allowed to sit for 5 minutes I restarted it and was unable to duplicate the symptoms. I can offer the following information regarding this truck and the incident.

Truck has 123k miles

It's below 40 degrees outside

Truck was just filled completely with fuel. The fuel gauge showed full, however when the incident occurred the fuel gauge dropped to below empty. The truck was taken to a gas station where it only took $6 to fill it all the way up.

I know exactly nothing about these trucks and their engines, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[shane96ranger]

Today the check engine light came

Did you pull the codes yet?

 

[LittleBlueXLT]

Nope. She got it home about 9pm and it's sitting a bit above 30 degrees out and snowing a bit. I don't plan on looking at it until daylight as I don't have a garage or shop to pull it inside. I'll do that in the morning.

 

[shane96ranger]

Let us know what turns up. Good Luck!

 

[LittleBlueXLT]

Just called the shop. They told me that if the check engine light is off again they probably won't be able to pull the codes and I don't have the book to do it myself since she just got the truck a week ago. A neighbor stopped by and said that based on what I described it may be the fuel pump which he said has a tendency to go out at about 120k miles and this truck is 3k past that. Considering that truck is now running ok, and the fuel gauge is working again, does this make sense?

 

[shane96ranger]

I don't recall the fuel pump on my 91 Explorer generating check engine light. Just for the beans of it, I'd take it over to Autozone or somewhere like that, and have them hook it up and see if any codes are still there.

 

[LittleBlueXLT]

Worth a try. I'm probably not going to do it today, the sun is shining and it's time to take my kids to the park to ride bikes. Will try to get it in and post back as soon as I am able. Thanks for the help so far!

 

[LittleBlueXLT]

Haven't had a chance to get the truck to the shop, however today I replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter. When I took it out on a test drive it ran great for about 2 miles. After that the engine started to misfire and I pulled over to the side of the road. I revved the engine a couple of times and the engine smoothed out. I turned around and headed back to the house, and the engine light came on for about 1/8 mile, then went out again. As my mechanic told me he can not read the codes unless the light is on I have parked the truck for now. We have snow coming in for the next several days so I will not have a chance to take it out and try to make the engine light come back on for a bit. Any other ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

There will be a memory code if the light came on. If you 'mechanic' doesn't know this it's time to find another one.

 

[bttlscrs00x]

When was the last time it had the plugs/wires done? My 2000 Explorer started misfiring on and off around 120k. I found out soon afterward that it had never had them done. I bought it at 70k from Ford.

 

[gribly]

There will be codes - my '91 has no CEL on but throws out codes for a bad VSS (duh I have no working speedo) and a lean condition (needs a tuneup bad.)

 

[LittleBlueXLT]

OK folks, thanks for the ideas. I'm pretty sure there is a way to pull the codes myself, so I'm going to try that one and see what I can come up with. The trucks owner is very lean on funds, so the more I can do myself, the more she has to spend on things I can't.

 

[shane96ranger]

OK folks, thanks for the ideas. I'm pretty sure there is a way to pull the codes myself, so I'm going to try that one and see what I can come up with. The trucks owner is very lean on funds, so the more I can do myself, the more she has to spend on things I can't.

Do you live by an Autozone? They do codes for free here.

 

[LittleBlueXLT]

{sigh} The weather here has been such that it actually managed to snow into the carport, making working on the truck a miserable thing. I took it into a good shop today. On the way it would run fine, then start running poorly. When I put in into neutral and pressed down on the accelerator it would have no effect, with the rpms continuing to drop. I pulled it over to the side of the road and in under a minute it was running fine and ready to go again. It did this 3 times in a distance of approximately 7 miles. The check engine light never came on. The truck is in the shop now, so I am merely posting this as FYI in case someone else has the same symptoms. I will post the result when it's out of the shop. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[LittleBlueXLT]

Ok, if anyone is still paying attention out there, it turns out that the Mass Airflow Sensor went out and somehow damaged the computer in the process. Both were replaced and it runs fine now.