Ford Ranger / B-Series :: 1997 - Randomly Jerks On Highway?
Jun 12, 2017
I got a 1997 Ford Ranger 2.5L that randomly jerks on the highway and I can't figure out what the problem is. This morning I had a 3 hour drive and it was fine on the first hour and then the last 2 hours it will randomly jerk on the highway and then be find for a little bit and then do it again. I don't know what the issue is? I did scan my car this morning and did have two code P0141 and P0113 not sure if these would have anything to do with it or not. Also my speedometer is hit or miss when it works, other than that everything else is fine on the car no check engine light or anything like that.
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I have a 97 Ford Ranger / 2.3L / 4 cylinder (L4) / 5 speed manual / XL Supercab / 140k miles. I had been having some Check Engine issues and ran rough in town stop light to stop light. But was fine on the highway.
On several visits to the parts store, their OBD tester showed:
PO303 (Cyl 3 misfire detected)
PO141 Bank 1 Sensor 2 O2 Sensor (heater circuit malfunction)
PO171 Bank 1 Combustion Too Lean (the most recent new code to show up)
And the following would show up sometimes, but other times not:
PO 402 EGR Flow - Excessive Detected
P1409 EVR (I cant remember the exact error message for this)
Regards the PO141 code, O'Reilly's sold me a Bosch O2 Sensor (Bosch 15719) and the sales rep told me it was the sensor closer to the engine. And with the attached cable length on the sensor showed was indeed the sensor closest to the engine. But I've been advised the Sensor 2 is for the 'downstream' sensor, furthest away from the engine. And the other sensor, that I replaced is the upstream sensor. And the error continued.
Then back issues showed up and I had back surgery this past year and thus drove the vehicle sparingly. Never resolving the check engine issues. (My bad). Ran on the highway ran fairly well. But recently noticed longer acceleration times and unable to top 65 in 5th gear. I bought spark plugs and plug wires and had plans to change next week.
Yesterday as driving down the Interstate, was 90 miles into my trip, I noticed loss of power even in fourth gear. (note it was the hottest day of the year at 100F). It seemed I used more gas than usual for that distance. I stopped for gas on the Interstate and power seemed to improve. Then about 130 miles into my trip I hit some heavy stop and go traffic, and wasn't able to keep an idle and the engine died numerous times if/when I didn't give it gas at a dead stop. The heavy stop and go heavy traffic and the issues persisted for a half hour for more than five miles. Then when traffic opened up the truck seemed to have a bit more power in 4th gear again. And up to that time all my dash gauges were showing fine. Then a couple miles or so down the interstate, driving 65mph in the inside lane, the check engine light started flashing quickly. And at the same time a sudden loss of power, rough sounding engine with heavy white smoke coming under the hood. And looked back in rear view mirror, with nothing but heavy white smoke. Managed to cross three lanes in heavy traffic and was able the vehicle to the outside emergency lane, finally coming to a stop.
Looked under the hood and saw oil dripping everywhere but with all the oil everywhere I could not find a prime source. Looked like the oil came from the top end of the engine and dripped down. Measured the oil at the dipstick and it seemed like I was at least a quart plus down (I checked the oil before I left on the trip). And it didn't look like any water was in the oil. And my radiator overflow tank was at the proper level. So I figured I lost all that oil during that period of "white smoke".
So had my vehicle towed home. Today in daylight, I did some more inspection and removed the air intake system (hoses and canister) from the air filter to the throttle body. There was significant oil up to the canister piece that fits on the air filter canister (but no oil in the actual air filter), and significant oil inside all the hoses up to inside the throttle body (up to the butterfly which I could see),
When I disconnected these hoses I noticed the blow-by hose connected to the intake hose system was not connected to anything. And a tube opening on the valve cover was open without the a blow-by hose attached and, with no clamp. So I assume all that oil and came out of that blow-by tube on the valve cover, (white smoke created by hot oil hitting the engine).
So appears to me that its not a blown head gasket or worse, which I first feared.
I have the vehicle parked at home.
QUESTIONS: So what are the suggested steps to troubleshoot and repair? Besides reattaching everything and putting a clamp on the blow by hose? And installing new spark plugs and plug wires. I previously replaced plug wires around 60k, even though the manual recommended 100k mile replacement. (And a couple yeas back I had the dealer replace the PCV, which was recommended in the manual and included in the warranty. The timing of the initial check engine lights appeared shortly thereafter).
Is there suppose to be a large amount of oil in the air intake system after an incident like this and should I try to clean/flush out the hoses and the inline canister?
When I disconnected the inline canister from the hoses in the air intake system, unfortunately I failed to document the direction which the canister goes. It has outside markings "ADP with a forward arrow with some horizontal lines, and then at the other end upside down markings with a greater sign PP less than sign. Should the forward arrow point toward the throttle body or toward the air filter (I'm thinking in the direction of air flow, toward the throttle body). I've taken some photos of the engine with air intake hose system unattached, if that might work...
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I tried to explain this to a garage in January with no luck. When it is raining I hit my brakes and my truck jerks like whiplash. Softly hitting brakes doesn't do it, normally hitting them does it (only in the rain), I had some welding done after I went to the garage.... They fixed the front passenger side now it feels like it is under me and it is now doing it when I brake in reverse too... I bought it October 2012 and it was safety inspected until October 2014. Trying to decide if it is worth keeping. I want to keep it but when I go to a garage they see dollar signs. It only acts up when it's raining. And I had the welding done in January and it was fine, until I got new tires last week.
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2001 M B3000 v6 my sons truck w 122k. He is overseas and I took it to deliver a CB750 bike to my brother in law... 4oo miles away from my place.
In the middle of nowhere TX it developed a bad miss or knock, almost a shudder in the 2 to 3 k rpm range. Idles ok just below 1k runs fine at 70 mph as long as the rpm is near or over 3k.
Not sure I want to turn around and drive back the 400 with it running like crap. I will take it to Autozone and pull codes tomorrow a.m. but what should I expect?
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I have a 99 Ranger 4.0 4x4. When driving on a hill, the truck cuts back and looses power. I can press the pedal and go into passing gear and it will pick up speed but that is the only way the speed will increase and not slow down. The truck jerks when this happens.
Things I have tried:
Replace all plugs and wires
Replaced Coil Pack
Replaced Mass Air Flow sensor
Replaced O2 sensor
Replaced throttle cable
Took truck out of overdrive
Changed to better grade of gas
Changed oil
I had Cat. Converter checked
There are no codes showing. Truck may drive OK on one trip but act up on the return. It seems to use a lot more gas when it is acting up. I now have run out of options that I know about.
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In my 08 Ranger, when I'm filling up with gas, and I flip the lever on the handle of the pump so that it stays on, and then gently let the nozzle rest, in all my older cars it would stay on until the tank was full, and then just click off. But in the Ranger, it clicks off randomly, with nothing to do with the amount in the tank. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the angle of the nozzle, because when I hold the nozzle lightly from where the hose enters the nozzle, so that the spigot it at a different angle, it doesn't click off.
Is this a design flaw? (because it's not like any other car out there in that respect) and can I do anything about it?
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I just bought a 99 f150 it has 257000 miles on the truck, and a motor and transfer case from an '01 with 215000 miles. I'm not sure about the maintenance on the truck but when I'm on the highway the truck randomly stutters. I was thinking it was coming from the tranny because the tranny was overfilled by almost a quart but really not sure.
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Ive got a '94 ranger with the 8 plugs and more often than not while driving and sometimes when it first starts, the cel comes on and immediately I notice a lil rough running and lack of power. Also my milage has dropped since this has started. Plugs, wires, o2 sensors, not to familiar with my gas saver. I love it cause I can just get in it and go. With twice the fuel milage as my bi truck!
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I have just inherited my recently deceased father's 1992 Ranger with the 2.3 liter engine. He was a Ford Mechanic but got to ill to worry about fixing the Ranger. So, let me begin, the engine dies randomly, (at idle or in gear driving doesn't matter what gear or speed), turning key to off and then to on will allow vehicle to restart every time. No "Check Engine" light has ever lit, I do have an "Antilock" light that comes and goes. The engine codes I keep getting are: 10, 218 and 222.
Code 10 is a computer check code,
Code 218 is "Loss of Ignition Diagnostic Monitor (IDM) signal/left side, and
Code 222 is "Distributorless Ignition System - Loss of right side ignition diagnostic monitor (IDM) signal.
These codes were from my Innova reader. I have read where other similar problems were fixed with a new Crankshaft Position Sensor, replaced mine, no change. Another symptom I just noticed is my temp gauge stays near the cool end when it should be higher.
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I have a '98 Ranger 4.0L SuperCab 4x4 Automatic
The other day i was driving, around 40 MPH and suddenly the truck felt like I hit rumble strips on the highway, I hit the brakes and when the truck got down to about 10-15 MPH, it went away. It didn't feel like an out of balance tire or anything like that. It felt exactly like I hit rumble strips. It was a strong, high frequency vibration. I then continued on my way, and it was fine for a little while, still doing 40 mph, then suddenly out of nowhere the same vibration came back. Once again, I slowed back down, it went away and stayed gone even when I sped back up.
Both front hub bearings are less than a year old, and a quick check of the driveshaft seemed to indicate the u-joints are still tight. Front diff/driveshaft turns freely and smoothly and the front hubs are not locked.
'm going to try and jack the truck up and check everything thoroughly, but I'm really at a loss here, as I've never experienced anything like this before in any vehicle. Some reading suggests that it might be transmission related to the 5R55, but I'm really unsure.
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About a month and a half ago I was doing 70mph down the highway and the truck began to lean out sputtering and sounding like fuel was not getting there, when I pulled over on the side of the highway because it killed itself and then the car would not start I noticed the ox sensor for the 3rd cat was ripped out from being caught on the driveline, I removed ox sensor and car still wouldn't start. I took the truck to my buddies shop and after a new ox sensor was installed with some effort the truck started 30minutes later, I did not think this was reason for the truck to not start but after a day it was running like a top again, little did I know. Last week driving down the highway ironically in the same spot as before the truck did the same thing sputtered to a stop and would not restart.
Side Note: on both of these occasions after the truck would sit for a day it would start run for about 5 seconds and die???? So I had it towed home again and began reading FTE, I saw posts about fuel pressure and spark and P0176 code for Flex Fuel, Inertia Switch and so on.
So I started with Fuses they all look good then the most popular post and 2 of the codes were P0176 and P0177 for flex Fuel they read OBD II flex fuel wont start....Another code was for EVAP and 3 codes for heater bank(it turned out to be a fuse but is or could something trip this to send the car down this path?
I Then figured I would try the Fuel Filter..This did not work.
2nd I tried was Fuel pump pressure is good based off others posts.
So I bought the Flex Fuel Replicator that eliminates the need for the flex fuel sensor, from the guy in Portland, well this didn't work either. Next I went to spark checked all plugs they smelled like gas and were slightly fouled I had just replaced these about a year ago but hell why not? so I replaced and got nothing still also checked the oil had some gas smell to it but my buddy said this was normal with trying to get it to turn over without success.
Checked inertia cut off it was normal, checked fuses they were good(except heater which has been replaced). Now I am stuck...
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OK,it's a Taurus but it's the 3.0 Vulcan.On the highway crusing easy,now and then I'll get a stumble.It's like the key is turned off and back on.The tach stays steady but the car stumbles like the key was cycled quickly.I had to put a fuel pump in it a few weeks ago and now it is starting every time but this stumble has me stumped.
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2003 Ranger (4.0 L-2wd)...
Codes - random misfire and cylinder banks 1, 2, 3, reads out lean fuel
Will be checking out injectors and rail pressure, however, trouble shooting in general for this issue.
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1999 Ranger 4.0. I have an issue with my ranger. Sometimes the truck runs awesome.While driving along the truck will miss and sputter and buck, when this happens, I almost can't maintain my speed. Sometimes when this happens if I put the truck in neutral and shut it off and restart it. The problem will temporarily go away. Occasionally it will go away on its own. When it goes away on its own it's like someone flipped a switch and all power is returned and running smooth. When the truck is at idle it depends on the mood of the truck, sometimes it's fine and other times it wants to die. I got to make this truck last awhile longer.
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168K, to date, replaced
rear 2 cat's
Timing chain and gears
cam sync assem.
Plugs, wires, dis block,
Why.............. Read on
This 2003 ranger 3.0 v6, run very hard at idle, yet it runs and you can drive it around town, ""at"" low rpm, and no hills but it gets from point a to point b
I have no pre ingintion, but a plug that was only 60 days only was burnt out completely on 3rd cyl. bank 1 or as ford call it #3, i am telling you this thing seem like it running on 4 cyl,s kicking back and forth, and replacing everything above made no difference.
On the highway, as long as it is flat or down hill 75-80 mph, as soon as a hill or power to pass is needed it bogs down and slows it self to about 45 mph, I have been though everything i can think of and my next move to to start pulling heads, but i wanted to ask here first.
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I have a 96 ranger with the l4. Right before I bought my newish truck last December, it's started miss firing and running really bad. I replaced the spark plug wires, most of the spark plugs, and both coil packs. Didn't work at all. Then I bought my new truck and parked. Fast forward to now. Fired it up, ran REALLY bad. We changed the wiring order from the 96 order to the 99 order.
But the truck idles from 500rpm (barely running) and randomly jumps up to 2-3000rpm and then back down. Driving it has NO power, rev it and it stays at 2-3000 for quite awhile. Sometimes it randomly dies. REALLY need to get it running quick and cheap. Getting ready to sell my daily driver to find something else and I need something to drive while I hunt for another truck.
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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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A while ago I had a '99 Ranger. Long bed, regular cab, 2wd, 5-speed, 2.3. I had really poor acceleration. I was used to Toyota pickups with the 2.4 22RE, and the Ranger was considerably slower to come to highway speeds.
So, I took it to two different dealers, and they told me "that's just the way they are." I guess I believed them and sold the truck. Now, I am kind of thinking about another Ranger. Do people here think the '99 2.3 has an acceleration problem? Are there certain years to avoid the I4 in a Ranger?
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I've got a 2003 Ranger 2.3L DOHC, 5 speed, 2WD. It has a check engine light with codes :
P0316-Engine Misfire Detected On Startup
P0704-Clutch Switch Input Circuit Fault
P2195-O2 Sensor Excess Lean Signal Bank 1-Sensor 1
P0171-System Too Lean (Bank 1)
The truck runs fine when coasting or accelerating but when holding a steady light throttle to maintain speed the truck starts bucking and jerking. It's doesn't feel like a misfire, more like a fuel cut out condition. When this happens and you come to a stop, you can smell that the exhaust is very rich coming out of the tailpipe. I've already replaced the upstream O2 sensor and I did a tune up about 15k ago. I'm thinking fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator. I doubt if this is related, but on start up (more so on a cold start up) the A/C compressor clutch kicks in and out 3-5 times and makes a terrible racket.
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Ok I've got this 98 Ranger with the 2.5L and the 4r44e automatic. The engine is used and has about 100,000 miles now and is it a good state of tune - so I think. The transmission was a remanufactured I bought a few years ago that was built with the shift improver kit, Kevlar bands, extra planetaries, 4wd pan, and external cooler. It's now got 92,000 miles on it and it's been serviced every 30,000 with a fresh 4wd filter and Mercon V fluid. It's outlasted the last 3 transmission I've had in my Ranger. I've got 315,000 miles on the body. For awhile it was randomly losing power while driving like it wouldn't shift, almost like it dropped a couple cylinders, then as you kept your foot on the gas it would recover and rev up and shift.
Then sometimes randomly at stoplights it would shake at a stop and have no power at take off until it hits 30-40 mph. Sounds like a converter, is what I thought. But now it's doing it more often but not the shaking at stoplights as much as randomly losing power while driving normal speeds. Last night I drove it about 50 miles after doing a fresh filter and fluid change and this time it did it so much it threw a code up P1131. Even though that's a O2 sensor code, could it be hidden by a transmission valve body problem? One transmission shop said it could be a valve hanging up just by me describing it to him. Could this be ignition or fuel related or is it all tied in with the transmission problem, if it is even a transmission problem?
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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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