Power loss with jumpy acceleration

[Matt_C!]

Good Morning Everyone,

I’m hoping to find some wisdom among this forum. I have a 1988 Ford Ranger with the 2.9 and it’s giving me some troubles. Recently it started to have trouble while driving and a rough idle at times. Once you get going and go to give it gas it’ll give a little at first then bog down. Without killing the motor I might add. Then when you get to the last inch or so with the pedal it jerks and takes off like a rocket. I am no mechanic by any means so just trying to find a base line to start or if someone as any insight. Thank you for the help.

 

[bhgl]

I would start by making sure the intake is clean and free of obstructions/leaks in the intake. Make sure that your throttle is operating smoothly and not getting hung up, may be worth cleaning it.

From there, try to see if you have any big vacuum leaks, clean up any sensors you can find using a sensor-safe degreaser.

If everything from intake/air department is working fine, start going through the essentials, make sure you've got good spark, compression, and fuel delivery.


The 88's were made right before they switched to an intake with a MAF and other things so it's a bit out of my wheel house

 

[superj]

Do you have a throttle position switch? It sounds very similar to a tps that is going bad

 

[Matt_C!]

I’ve gone through and done sparks plugs, the wires looked fine, tps sensor, pcv valve, iac valve, pulled apart the throttle body and cleaned it. The throttle cable connections are plastic pieces but seem to be in good working order. I’ve gone through the vacuum lines that could find and found only a slight leak off the brake booster. I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge and it showed no pressure but when I push down on the valve body of the schrader valve gas squirts out.

 

[Cees Klumper]

FWIW I would look into why you're not able to get a fuel pressure reading, proper fuel pressure is critical. Try a different gauge? Also, there are several vacuum take-off points, on mine including underneath the throttle body, hard to see. This could be many different things, such as poor electrical connections to the fuel pump. Would be good to check for codes from the OBD 1 ECU.

 

[Matt_C!]

Update for you guys. Fuel and pressure was good at 32 psi. Plugs were good but I pulled apart the distributer on the cap and rotor where fouled out. Changed them out now waiting for new wires but runs like it used to. Thank you to all for the advice.