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Seems I see a lot of this:


Jim V.

New Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2013
Messages
2
Vehicle Year
1992
Transmission
Manual
Bought a 92, 4cyl, 2wd, 5spd Ranger. Drove it home and around a bit. Installed new wiper blades and treated the headlight lenses. Added "Heet" to the gas along with 5 gal of 87 low lead. Started truck. ran for about five minutes then died. Cranks, fires, runs like crap for a few seconds/minutes then dies. Installed new battery and terminal ends. (It needed it anyway).
Changed fuel filter. Now I can start it and it will run for a few minutes-nice smooth idle, no issues-then it dies. Fuel pump runs and flows when ignition is first turned on. I can hear it. Some have said there are two pumps?
Before I buy stock in O'Rielly's and make out an allotment schedule, anyone have similar crap happen? How did you fix it?
This is the injected, twin plug per cylinder four banger.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Jim.
 
Welcome :)

Everyone has similar problems, lol, no one posts "Hey, everything working just fine", so you have come to the right place, hopefully.
And it isn't Ranger or Ford specific, I have a Camry and that forum is full of the same "runs rough", won't start", "just died" posts.

First thing I would test is if its fuel or spark that is the issue.
Starting Fluid sprayed in the intake after it dies can help determine that.

Or pull spark plug and see if they look wet, no spark or dry, no fuel

You can also test the Coil Packs with an OHM meter.
center connector to either outside connector should read 0.6 to 1.3 OHMs
outside connector to Spark plug terminal should be 7,000-11,000 OHMs

If there is an EGR system the EGR valve might be opening at the wrong time or be stuck slightly open.

The Ranger Fuel Pump Relay can be a problem, the computer uses this to turn on the fuel pumps when the key is first turned on, then turns off the pumps until engine starts and rpm/time determines it should be turned on again, so relay is on and off while driving, if it misses an ON then pressure drops and engine starts to stall out.
There is an inertia switch in the passenger footwell or kick panel, the power for the fuel pump(s) runs thru this, in case of an accident this switch cuts power to the pump(s), but more to the point, you can hook up a 12volt test light to this switch and watch it while you drive, it will show you when fuel pumps are coming on and off.

If there are 2 fuel pumps the High Pressure pump would be near the fuel filter you changed

If engine runs better cold than warm or visa versa that points to a few things as well.

Does the Check Engine Light(CEL) work?
When key is first turned on CEL should come on, if not someone may have removed the bulb...........

If you can get an auto parts store to read the "history" codes, or do the "Jumper method" to read the computer codes it might point you in a specific direction

Never replace sensors or parts on speculation, pretty much all the electronics, valves and similar can be tested with an OHM and/or Volt meter
 
Last edited:
I've never seen two pumps on anything after 88.
 
where do you get fuel with ANY lead? if it has lead in it, catalytic converter may be clogged. just a thought
 
also, coils sometimes will work fine when cold, but short(or open) when heated. check fuel pressure, and injectors. we know it has compression, it runs when cold. the other ingredients for an engine to run are proper air/fuel mixture in the cylinder, and spark at the correct time. with these 3 things, it cant help but run!
 
When you buy a used car, you are buying somebody's ex- problem. When it is a 20 yr old Ford, you cant expect it to be in daily driver condition from the get-go. I drive old cars. I go through them before I put them into use. If a car was OK it wouldn't be for sale.

Wild @$$ guess, is that it sounds like a a fuel flow flow problem. Stuff like a clogged pick up in the tank or a plugged vent building up a vacuum in the tank.

Just a guess, also a shorted coil over heating would do it.
 
where do you get fuel with ANY lead? if it has lead in it, catalytic converter may be clogged. just a thought


I kind of assumed unleaded, tho it was an odd term. The only place I have heard "low lead" is with aviation fuel and it is still available. Many of the small private aircraft date back to days when the engines were designed to take leaded fuel.
 
its possible that additives knocked loose some in tank crap, remove the bed, remove the pump and check the fuel pickup for cleanliness. Its kinda screenlike and fine mesh.
 

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