Ford Ranger / B-Series :: 1988 - Power Loss Like Coil Getting Bad
Jul 16, 2012
Bought my third 88 ranger today, drove it 55 of 60 miles home and it died. It lost power and acted like the coil was going bad. This one is a 2.9 5 speed 4x4. The a/c compressor is gone; but the 365 a/c works okay, or did.
My daughter was following me in her car; by the time we got back with my F150 and a chain, it started and ran until it was a half maile from home then lost power and died again.
Drug it home, put a new coil on and it started and revved up fine. Went to move it a couple of hours later and it will crank with the starter, but not fire.
I am getting 12 volts to the primary side of the coil, is there any way to check the TFI module without taking it off the distributor? (they are so accessable).
Or is there something else that I need to check? I really don't want to just throw money at it, I like to know for sure what is wrong before I buy parts.
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This has happened before on my 98 ranger 2.5. You can drive it 10,000 miles without any issue and then all of a sudden you take off and there's no power but it quickly returns. Within the last year I've changed fuel pump assembly, fuel filter, injectors, cool packs, and plugs. Is it mass air flow? It seemed to happen a lot more after I cleaned it. My scan tool is amateur but it has a maf reading in lbs. What should it be while driving? Fuel pressure is always between 65-72 when I check it within specs according to my book.
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So I got everything fixed on my 94 ranger so I thought. Now it runs right on the "L" on the idiot gauge on 90 degree plus days running the AC. Also it seems to lose power at times and not even want to do 70. I think new coils, new plugs and wires may work. I also have an intermittent check engine light that pops up on occasion, but clears when you kill the motor and start it back up. I was really starting to like this truck despite it not being my style(I like square body rangers) and it being a 4 cylinder. I like the MPG but am starting to think the 200k engine may be fading
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So, a couple of months ago, my Ranger lost a lot of power going down the road, and when I came to a stop it died, and wouldn't start. So I got it started by roll starting it, made it to a friend's, and then back home. I've put new spark plugs and wires in, and it needed it, badly, but it didn't work. I got a couple of codes off of it,
P0302- Cylinder 2 misfire detected(which I fixed with the spark plugs)
P1443 - which I can't find a definitive answer for
P0500- vehicle speed sensor malfunction
P0171- system to lean (bank 1)
So, the truck will turn over, and if I give it a lot of gas it'll start at stay started for a few minutes, but then cut off. When it is running it's running very very very roughly.
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Background- 2000 Ranger, 3.0L 2WD 170,000mi. This truck is not my daily driver, i try to drive it once a week.
I've never had this issue before... I drove all over town yesterday; multiple stops, no issue. Today i go to do the same thing and upon accelerating out of the driveway i lose all power for about 3 seconds. I get power back for about 3 seconds then lose it again. This continues for as longs as i'm driving. Also, no CEL. I go back to the house to look things over, can't find anything staring me in the face really.
Truck idles fine and the issue is not present when i run up the RPMs in park. I've been reading some other threads about similar issues and most replies begin with checking the regular maintenance stuff i.e. TB, MAF, IACV, pcv, etc. It seems like a complete loss of fuel or spark...but only when in gear with constant throttle???
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My ranger sounds like it's revving up real high when I take off but don't have much power. Know what this could be?
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1994 Ranger .. Last wednesday I had to get a jump because the lights where left on. Everything was normal on thursday. Friday morning. I went to go start the truck and notice that it would try once to start and then try a second time and it would start. Today I was driving it. The check engine light came on and when I get the RPMs up to shift up, I would loose all power and have to wait till it gets down below 10mph before I would get the power back.
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2002 ranger edge 3.0 5spd. Truck idles perfect, but when you get rolling and higer rpms feels like the engine is missing. loos of power and shakes. I replaced the usual, plugs and wire's, seemed to work for a bit but came back. I cannot get any info on the scanner and have checked all the fuses. I am thinking coil pack but don't understand why it idles perfect and only misses under acceleration. No check engine light on.
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My brother's 87 ford ranger 2.3L truck began to have problems. It would be running great, then start to misfire, run rough, sputter, shake and loose accelleration then die. Then it wouldn't start back up for a long time, sometimes til the next day. Little by little, the truck would drive a shorter and shorter distance between breakdowns. He first tried some minor work himself, (basic tune up) - replaced his rotor, cap, plugs, air filter, fuel filter, but that didn't fix it. He went to one garage (big mistake), who said the fuel pump pressure was fine but said he found a broken wire on the harness grounding out and it needed new ignition module and replaced it. (Cost was $350.00+), Garage promised to honor any additional work nec if it continued to have the same problem, and would be free of charge.
Five more breakdowns later and two more "better quality ignition modules", new battery terminals, and 1 new computer later, this joker did more unauthorized work and demanded another $200+ besides the fact of breaking his orig agreement "free of charge" if any further problems! Needless to say, second garage fixed the truck by replacing the magnetic pickup, part # DU 30-C (an electrical part that goes in the distributor and pulsates a current to operate the timing) (it does something like that) and the truck has been driven approximately 40-60 miles as of today, (3 days later), without breaking down. All the other times when picked up from incompetent garage, it wouldn't go more than 1 - 7 miles before breaking down and each time they didn't fix it.
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I recently picked up a 93 ranger sport 4x4 with 2.3L engine and 5spd.. Has run fine for the first 2 weeks of ownership but yesterday morning, it started cutting out on the highway. When I say cutting it is like all loss of power for a brief instant and then it right back without even losing any speed, I could watch tach drop from 2500 to 2k and then right back to 2500 again..
Did it sporadically all the way home about 10 miles sometimes once in a mile other times 6-7 times in a mile. Truck has 126k on it, and within last 26k miles PO replaced timing belt, coil packs, plugs, wires, ICM, and just before i picked it up from him a new EGR and fuel filter.
No check engine light
Fast forward to this AM
Wouldn't start at all, i can hear fuel pump spinning and she cranks and cranks but no start up.... played with multiple things including the ICM but found 2 of 3 heads rounded off so i cant remove it until i can get it in to my garage and dremel those suckers off..
Went and bought a replacement ICM figured i could plug it in run a ground from the bottom left hand bolt hole so i could get it fired up and in to my garage.. plugged the new one in grounded it and it still wouldn't start...
So I decided to replug the original ICM back in and grab my spark plug tester, remove number 3 plug wire on passengers side insert the tester and have my wife crank it over and wonder of wonder it fires up...
shut it down remove the tester and have her start it up again and it fires right back up so i let it warm up for 15 minutes.. grab my autoxray.. shut it down hook up the scan tool and run the KOEO scan.. gives me a passed 111 code... OK lets start it back up and run the KOER test.. wont start back up.. reinstall the spark plug tester to #3 wire and NOW it has no spark..
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2000 Ranger 2wd 3.0 ... I bought my truck last summer for $1k from my neighbor, it has hit a deer so the grill is busted,front drivers fender bent up and bumper is bent all to heck. The old girl is rock solid reliable though and gets decent mileage with cruise heat and ac so I'm happy.
Anyways on to the point, I am having two big issues with it, the check engine light randomly comes on and causes it lose power sometimes at others you don't notice it. I have not been able to get codes read because it goes off every single time I go to someplace with a scanner. The light will usually go off if you floor it for a long stretch maf maybe?
The other issue is the transmission, I don't know for sure which tranny it is but the overdrive button does not work at all even though the fuses are good and when I drive down the highway second gear you have to let off for it to shift sometimes ( I've been leaning towards the valve body gasket for that) and lately it has started a horrible vibration kicking out of overdrive or just downshifting on hills etc.?
I forgot to mention it has 255k miles on it and I don't know the history besides the balljoint I replaced this week and radiator when I bought it.
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Ok I've been plagued with this very random misfire/power loss/hesitation problem going on a couple of months. You could drive the truck anywhere from 50-300 miles without having an encounter of this problem. It seems to do it now mostly on contiguous long trips over like 30 miles. It one time threw up a P1131 code which quickly went away on it's own. This is a list of stuff that has been recently changed: plugs, wires, coil packs, air filter, pcv valve, fuel injectors, tps, idle air valve, MAF cleaned, fuel filter, and egr valve.
I sprayed with brake cleaner for vacuum leaks around the intake tonight after driving a continuous 50 mile round trip it messed a few times on the way back. When I sprayed the EGR valve mounting area it idled rough when it was hit with brake clean and idled up. So there's a leak there. Or is it stuck? It will be driving normal and usually when you come to a stop the engine will start missing really bad and then when you take off there's no power at all. You keep your foot on the gas and eventually it will feel like all the power is just turned on.
If it does it while you're driving highway speeds it will feel like you've lost a cylinder but it's not as dramatic as when you come to a stop and it starts missing. I can't be 100% but I don't think the EGR wasn't leaking before I replaced it and it was still doing the same thing. I'm wondering why the Check Engine Light won't pick up an obvious misfire when you can you actually feel it. And why if it was the vacuum leak would it only start doing it after many miles of driving?
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I have a 1988 ford ranger and my headlights won't turn on all my fuses are fine but no headlights! All the other lights work fine blinkers, parking, brake ,and tail lights! What do I need to look for????
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My 88 2.9 ranger keeps heating up badly while idling. Was waiting in the drive-thru at Wendy's and it was taking them longer than usual, the temp guage started climbing closer and closer to 'H'.. I revved it up a bit to a fast idle (1500-2000rpm) and it did not work much... figured the gauge was being screwy. But when i finally got my food and started moving the truck was pinging..it really was hot..
But as soon as I got her moving at a steady 40mph, engine cooled back down to normal temp as if nothing ever happened..i put an extra wide two row aluminum radiator from a 4.0 explorer in it, fan clutch is not very old, no coolant leaks that i can see.. can't figure out why it heats up so much so fast at idle. Not enough air or coolant flow?
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Any way to tell if the ECU is faulty? I hooked my analyzer up to my friends 1988 Ford ranger 2.3L and it wouldn't even detect that the ignition switch was on. He was driving it the other day and is shut off on him while he was making a turn and it wouldn't start back up. We have rebuilt the distributor by replacing the pick-up, rotor button and cap, and we had the ignition module tested and found it was good. We have also replaced the coil. When the ignition is turned to the on position, the fuel pump comes on and never cycles off.
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88 ranger. 2.9L manual. Just bought this truck. It ran great when I bought it. After a day or 2 it would idle rough. Almost die but it wouldn't. No check engine light. It seemed to do this intermittently. Some times I'd start it and it be fine. Other times I'd start it and I'd expect it to die at each stop light.
Now for the last couple days it dies on every start up. It won't idle. It'll start right away and then die. I can keep it going by keeping the engine rev'd but the check engine light is one. If I keep it running and start driving down the road it'll drive with the check engine light on for about 5 minutes. Then the light goes out and it runs like normal, even at idle, until I shut it off. Then it's the same story at next start whether it's right after I shut it off or hours later.
It doesn't seem to matter whether the engine is hot or cold. When the check engine light is out, it runs great the rest of the time whether at speed or at idle. To me it sounds like a sensor is on it way out. I figure if it was vacuum, it happen at every idle, and if it was fuel it happen all the time or at least every idle. Tried to get a code at parts store but the reader wouldn't work. It couldn't tell it was plugged in the the truck for some reason.
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I have tried about everything i know about cars on this truck!! It ran great when I got it until a head gasket got blown so I tore into it and replaced them both torqued heads to specs. Made sure valves wasn't to tight. Distributor is in correct spot timing is correct had ignition module tested good!!! Coil tested good replaced both fuel pumps and put new tank and sending unit in the truck b/c it needed it new fuel filter replaced return line firing order is correct 1 4 2 5 3 6 it is getting fire it will crank and crank sometimes act like it is going to start then not also I can get it to run for about 3 sec on 3 or 2 cylinders it seems to have plenty of compression as well!! only thing really I can think of that could be wrong is computer? Also one last detail tried pull starting it as well still wouldn't go.... V6 2.9L...
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It's an 88 2.9 and sounds like a little diesel! The fellow I purchased it from said the valves need tightened, I thought perhaps a timing chain, but figured valves would be an easier place to start. Yet, I'm not sure where to begin? Or how tight the valves need to be, are there torque specks?
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My engine has 2 ignition coils, and b went bad, but which one is b. ?
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I have an 88 ranger with the 2.9l. The headlights work and the markers do to. The brights don't though. and also none of the turn signals work, the brake lights work though but i don't think the reverse do, I can't see them. Do the turn signals and brights share a fuse on there own? How to diagnose it or what it may be?
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I've got a 1988 2wd Ranger with a 2.9l v6. I just recently got it running. It has been setting for awhile. I replaced fuel tank, both pumps, fuel filter, Plugs, Wires, Cap, Rotor, TPS. It ran great for about 100 miles. Then yesterday on my way to work about 4 miles down the road it started to miss/stumble especially at about 55mph while in overdrive. When I got home I pulled the codes and I got KOEO 22 Map sensor signal out of voltage(engine off), 53 TPS signal voltage to high, 95 Thermactor Air System Problem, or Fuel Pump Monitor signal, indicates circuit problem.
KOER I got 21 ECT sensor signal voltage out of range or loss of signal during normal operation or Crank Sensor problem, doesn't have a crank sensor I believe. But I did change the ECT sensor and it still stumbles and seems like it misses. Noticed it is sluggish getting up to speed kinda surges and bogs. Im at a loss it isn't showing any more codes. Checked all plug wire connections and made sure everything was making connection. The only other thing I can think of is that the ignition module on back of distributor is going bad. Not advancing the time correctly.
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