Steve069

Hi all! My first post!

Ive been to many forums about this, and am trying really hard to avoid taking my truck into a shop to have it diagnosed.

Im about a 8/10 when it comes to being a gearhead and have tools and alot of knowledge on working on hot rods and such...definitely not a guy who takes his truck in for a routine oil change, etc...

Anyway, my current vehicle im having trouble with at the moment is my 2003 Ranger 3.0V6 2WD.

The truck has ran perfect all its life as I am the original owner, untill about 3 months ago it started acting up!

@3000 apprx RPM, the truck will BOG/STUTTER/BUCK back and fourth untill I let off the gas. I know the rev limiter is set to 3,000rpm in park/neutral, but this is happening while in drive on the highway.

This is really scary because its hard merging onto the highway when you have to keep it at 2,800rpm or lower or just risk basically stalling!

Ive researched online and heard similar stories about the camshaft sensor being the culprit. Well before that I thought it might be fuel filter related, so I changed that...no results. I changed the camshaft sensor and it seemed to run OK for the first few minutes, but then BAM...same thing.

Whats really making me hard to diagnose this is the fact is im not getting any codes whatsoever...the truck is just acting crazy.

This is a babied truck with approx 80,000 miles...oil & filters changed regularly..

Can anyone help me or give me some advice? I thought I nailed it with the cam sensor, but when it started happening again my patience is just getting worse!

P.S. There is a slight coolant leak coming from somewhere on the passenger side head/front block area....I'm hoping it is simply a water pump gasket but I haven't had time to get in there and check with my swing shift work schedule...I really hope this isn't a head gasket related issue for my problem, but I figured Id mention it to everyone.

THANKS FOR ANY INPUT!
STEVE

Bert

Have you checked the fuel pressure? It sounds fuel related. Even though it's not usual for a ford pump to fail that early, it still could happen. Check the volume too. It should put out about 1 liter (1.1 qt) in 30 seconds. You don't have to run the pump that long, just see if it would put out that much.

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Bert

Steve069

whats the best way to check the fuel pump pressure? And would it matter if the car is in park vs actually driving it?

My fuel pump went out on my 89 camaro last summer and it was absolute hell trying to diagnose the problem.

Maybe just attach a gauge to the fuel rail (if there is a valve for it?)

Steve

Bert

There's a port on the fuel rail to check the pressure.

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Bert

djames28

I have a 2.3 engine with similar symptoms - but just resolved for myself.

My coil pack was failing. It had noticeable cracks (seen only on close inspection).

Doing a spark test of plugs, I could not see spark (even though truck normally started with ease).
Other symptoms were sooty tail pipe and having to feather the pedal to rev the engine during acceleration.

Bert

Thanks for the information.

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Bert