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I have a 1995 4 cylinder/2.3 auto Ford Ranger and for over 2 years the truck has been running extremely slow. I’ve been out of work for quite some time now and I haven’t been able to take it to a shop. I bought the Ranger used in 2005 and it originally had 183,000 miles. Back then the little bugger would fly as I’d constantly find myself going 70-75 mph on 55 mph highways.
Now I’m at almost 300,000 miles and the truck suffers just to go 45-50 mph and that’s with it floored. The check engine light hasn’t even worked in years. I took it to Auto Zone and they said that my connector that plugs into the scanner was broken so now I can’t even check to see if it’s throwing any codes. I last had the spark plugs and wires changed at 200,000 miles, but the truck hasn’t had a “real” tune-up since I’ve owned it. I should also point out that everything on the Ranger is original engine and transmission wise.
The only parts I’ve replaced are the heater control valve, EGR valve and the thermostat. I’ve always done regular maintenance such as fluid changes, filters, belts, etc. I should also point out that the truck runs as smooth as can be and is quiet with no off noises or knocks. Even the A/C is still ice cold and the heater will darn near set you on fire in the winter. I know my description is pretty vague, but is there anything in particular that I should be looking for?
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Without being able to read any codes. Going to have to start
with some tune up parts. cap,rotor,wires plugs,fuel filter if
there is one to change.also clean the mass air flow. You could try
a power balance test.another thing you can try is remove the o2 sensor
before the cat and take the truck for a ride.If power is restored. you
have a clogged cat.This is kinda a shot in the dark but I would check compression I remember hearing that the piston rings in the old ranger engines would wear out and allow to much blow by causeing loss in power.
It’s very possible the Catalytic Converer is partially plugged. You could remove the O2 sensor (if it’s not rotten or siezed)and drive a short distance to see if some of the power is restored.
Thanks for the tips guys. The first thing I did was go and buy a can of MAS cleaner to take care of that particular issue and I’m glad to say that it gave me about a 20%-25% increase in power right off the bat. Cleaning the MAS also seemed to take care of a slight hiccup the truck use to have when starting. Now the start up is nice and clean and she purrs like a kitten. Next I’ll move on to the O2 sensor and so on like you guys recommended. Thanks again folks. 🙂
Just thought I’d give a quick update. After the initial test drive after I cleaned the MAF, the truck went right back to being as slow as can be. Earlier today I took step two and removed the O2 sensor before the cat and took it for a little drive and again nothing changed. I guess I’ll move onto cleaning the throttle next. I’ll keep you guys posted whenever I can.
I have known this fords Rangers transmissions to go bad often. If it was used to tow and with the mileage I would think it is a great possibly. How is the car shifting?
I’ve never had a problem with the transmission. It shifts smoothly every time. It does have a tiny leak at the pan, but the last time I needed to add trans fluid was over 3 years ago.
Try disconnecting the MAF sensor and take it for a drive. It might not run too well at first and will set a fault code but it might help rule it out.
Give that thing a well desereved tune-up first and foremost. if that don’t fix it there is so many things that it could be…especially with high mileage. as was stated, exessive blow-by is a huge loss of power, but you should have gobs of oil on your plugs then and probably ill idle and such so… i have had a couple of the 2.8 and 2.9 engines and they are officially garbage to me. i have yet to see a good one. had one do the same thing in a bronco II, first bought it, lots of power, over the coarse of 40-60k miles it struggeled to do 50-55mph ended up scraping it but later heard that they were known for possibly having poor cam material and cams would wear out, less lift on the valves = less fuel/air in the cylinder and poor performance, but smooth running. i suppose you could check the valve lash and / or somehow check lift without a huge teardown. it probably needs a new set of valve cover gaskets by now anyways. possibly a measureable drop in compression due to less mixture added. not sure about that though because your cylinder volume does not change. somebody would have to back me up on that suggestion.
I know this is a stretch, but could the loss of power be a timing issue? I had my brother replace the timing belt a few years ago and I have no idea if he actually did it right. I just thought I’d throw that out there in case timing issues are known to cause power loss.
Can you tell I’m no mechanic? :unsure:
Timing can cause a power loss if the belt jumped time.
here are the timing marks.http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79044
yes, but so much off-timing will usually cause other issues besides powerloss a little bit off and a small amount of power lost on top or bottem range of the rpm band is noticed… the farther off you get either advanced or retarded will produce other problems ranging from backfire’s or missing, as well as overheating or higher then normal engine temps, hard starting, rough idle (can idle smooth if timing is not to far off) poor fuel economy and eventually a engine that just wont stay running or start at all.
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