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My 1995 auto 2.3 Ranger started doing this about a week ago. It barely goes up hills and only goes maybe 20-25 mph when floored and it takes almost five minutes just to get it going that fast. I noticed last night after work that the fuel pump doesn’t seem to be turning on anymore, but I thought a vehicle couldn’t start with a dead fuel pump? The Ranger has slowly been losing power for quite some time now, but it’s never been this bad before.
When driving with the windows down I noticed a “whooshing” sound similar to driving through water that would stop as soon as I took my foot off the gas. Also, the truck has been drinking gas. I just put 5 gallons in yesterday and it’s already below the E mark and that’s after just a 35 mile round trip. Does this sound like the fuel pump to you folks?
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I’d check into what the fuel pump and pressure regulator are actually doing. The pressure regulator has a vacuum line attached to it. If you remove that vacuum line (engine off) see if it has raw fuel in it. When the internal parts/seals fail–they allow fuel to be dropped into the intake. Makes for extremely rich running, rotten economy, etc..
It’s a place to start. That and doing an actually fuel pressure test will show what the pump is..or is not doing.
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This could be so manny things, from ignition components, dirty injectors to restricted fuel/ fuel pressure as Tedybear315 noted. Maybe a little more detail about the make of the vehicle and more detail about the symptoms would help. For example, does the vehicle jerk, buck, does it simply bog down, etc.,? You need to check for a restricted exhaust too, such as the catalytic converter substrate broken, etc. Good Luck
That was the next step LOL.
I did have a T-Bird with a roasted converter that did the same thing. And I’ve also had my Bronco II do the same thing due to a blown out regulator. Many different causes. So now ya got two ‘homework’ tests to do!
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[quote=”tomatofarmer1″ post=111306]This could be so manny things, from ignition components, dirty injectors to restricted fuel/ fuel pressure as Tedybear315 noted. Maybe a little more detail about the make of the vehicle and more detail about the symptoms would help. For example, does the vehicle jerk, buck, does it simply bog down, etc.,? You need to check for a restricted exhaust too, such as the catalytic converter substrate broken, etc. Good Luck
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d-jp1IIJVVk%5B/quote%5D
So far the truck still rides smooth. It’s just extremely bogged down. One note I forgot to add is that there is a rattle coming from under the truck whenever it’s in idle/park that goes away when it’s moving. To me it sounds like it’s coming from under the middle of the truck. This started a week or so before the extreme loss of power.
Hmmm… I’d get on that cat and exhaust. That’s where you’d likely hear it. You can get a rubber mallet and gently tap and shake the exhaust pipe to listen for loose material in it. Of course, Eric shows an easy way to do it with a vacuum gauge. This is just a quick way to begin diagnosing the issue.
[quote=”tomatofarmer1″ post=111360]Hmmm… I’d get on that cat and exhaust. That’s where you’d likely hear it. You can get a rubber mallet and gently tap and shake the exhaust pipe to listen for loose material in it. Of course, Eric shows an easy way to do it with a vacuum gauge. This is just a quick way to begin diagnosing the issue.[/quote]
This is one of those key bits of information….
There’s always a strong chance of the ceramic breaking apart and then causing severe exhaust restrictions. Cheap vacuum gauge, rubber mallet, and listening for rattles.
Good call on that one Farmer!
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Just a quick update. I took my Ranger to Advance again and had them use their code scanner. Before they told me they couldn’t because it wasn’t a 96 or newer vehicle, but I asked the guy if he would try anyway and it turned out that it worked. It’s throwing 2 codes and both are P0401 aka EGR insufficient flow. Would this cause the truck to be as slow as it is?
No, this is related to exhaust gas recirculation system. It could be caused by carbon build up in the EGR passage, EGR valve, etc. It would not cause these symptoms. I still recommend you trouble shoot the cat and exhaust pipe for a restriction. If you don’t think you can, take it by a muffler shop. They’ll likely test it for free. All the best…
Based on your description, and the EGR code, I would check for the exhaust restriction as many have suggested. A vacuum gauge is an inexpensive tool and you can quickly and easily find out if you indeed have an exhaust restriction causing your performance loss. More info on performance issues here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-performance-issues
I’ve got an appointment tomorrow morning at Midas to pinpoint the problem. When telling the guy on the phone about my issue the first thing he said was that it sounds like it’s a clogged exhaust/cat just as you guys mentioned. He said the extreme loss of power and god awful mileage is always a dead give away, but I’ll know for sure tomorrow. If it does turn out to be a clogged cat, are they hard to install yourself? Is any welding required.
Most cats are welded in place. There are exceptions. Regardless, you can still save money by purchasing a decent universal cat online. I did this a couple years ago. I found a universal cat for 75 bucks, then took the exhaust off the car and in hand to the muffler shop. They charged me 35 dollars to cut it and weld on the new one…not bad for 110 bucks. The CAT has performed well. If you just let the muffler shop handle it, you’ll have a LARGE hole in your wallet.
Sorry for the late follow up guys, but it was in fact a clogged cat just as you all suspected. My brother worked at this Midas a couple years ago so I know the manager which really saved my wallet, but I’ll get to that in a minute. The part with labor came to almost $500, but the manager told me that he could clean the cat out which would restore most of my power and mpg’s instead of installing a new cat. We don’t have emissions testing in this part of VA so I said go ahead.
Long story short, $200 out the door and my truck drives the way it did a few years ago and I’m getting 18-19 mpg’s again instead of 10 or less. I know $200 is still a hell of a lot, but since I know next to nothing about working on vehicles, I think I went the right route. Now my Ranger is just a really old slow 4-banger pick-up instead of a barely driveable really old 4-banger pickup.
I think 200 bucks is a victory, when you consider the time and effort you’d have to put into it should you repair it yourself. I’m glad you got all this sorted out. Thanks for the follow up post.. Hope you get many more miles out of the truck…
Thanks for the kind words tomatofarmer. I can’t tell you how many family members I had tell me to just “junk the old truck because it’s old and not fixable”. Shows what they know. Thankfully all of you pointed me in the right direction which led me to Midas so I can’t thank you guys enough. Now I just need the old girl to last until I can afford a newer used car.
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