New guy from the PNW

[flgiconic]

Hey, I'm Joe. My dad recently gifted me his '85 Ranger 4x4. Very clean rig. I plan on doing a little to it, not to much though. Wanna keep it kind of stock-ish. He put thousands into the thing and we thought it was good to go, wrong. Something is still acting up. Don't have any idea what it could be. Almost the entire electrical system was replaced, all the fuel components, engine is brand new. All done by Ford and my brother in-law who was an auto tech, went to wyotech, and is now and journeyman electrician. He knows his stuff. We've been in and out of other shops around the area and everyone is stumped.

Might as well explain the issue. Before all the new stuff, it would just up and randomly die on my dad during his commute to Portland, or just where ever he was driving really. Spent $$$ to have it looked at and everyone said "well, best bet is a new engine"... Mmmhmmm... Cut to about 6 months later it's fully back together and, same issue. It'll start most of the time and sound great, even drive, but then randomly it feels like a miss, or no fuel... neither is the case. We are totally stumped. No clue. We all know our way around cars and trucks but never encountered something like this.

I just went out and ran it today. Ran great for about 3 minutes then choked a few times and died.

It's an '85 2.3l 4x4 longbed if anyone was wondering.

Give me things to check, I'm stuck.

Thanks for having me, look forward to getting to know you guys.

I'll post up some pictures and video when I have some light and as I go.

Thanks again.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

Does that thing still have the 1bbl carb on it?

 

[adsm08]

Does that thing still have the 1bbl carb on it?

I think an 85 2.3L would be EFI.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

I think an 85 2.3L would be EFI.

I thought the same thing. But worth to ask cause ford was doing some strange things around that time

If it is carb. I'd say it's the 1bbl set up. Best is to swap to a pinto manifold. And run a 2100 carb

If it's injected. I'd be looking at the computer. Personally

 

[adsm08]

If it is injected I'd be looking at the TFI module first. If it hasn't been replaced already.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Sounds like what my '85 was doing before I got rid of it a long time ago. It'd run fine until it warmed up, then ran like a dog until it stalled out. Turn the key off for a minute or two, start it up again, and it ran fine until it warmed up. I changed the fuel pump, fuel filter, I don't remember what else I did to it. I do remember that when I was driving one day on the highway I heard a pop under the hood. Something in the emissions system had broken. Looking back, I probably could have had that truck fixed just by replacing that broken part (I knew what part it was, it was in plain sight). Ask me now, all these years later, what part it was, and I have no idea. Right side of the engine bay, near the firewall, low down. It had two largish hoses attached to it.