Why does my ranger suck on hills? - Page 2

02RangerFX4 · #16 01-05-2016, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDU

He doesn't say what year... his sig says 98

Look at his profile pic.

1998Ranger4by4 · #17 01-05-2016, 08:17 PM

Yeah sorry to cause confusion, I have an 02 Ranger now, when I joined I had the 98, and I wish I could trade for an F-150 it's just not in the budget right now, going to college, so the ranger will have to do for now

02RangerFX4 · #18 01-05-2016, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1998Ranger4by4

Yeah sorry to cause confusion, I have an 02 Ranger now, when I joined I had the 98, and I wish I could trade for an F-150 it's just not in the budget right now, going to college, so the ranger will have to do for now

A transmission shop might be in your future

ranger_ferd · #19 01-05-2016, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02RangerFX4

A transmission shop might be in your future

^^^^ might as well trade it in while you have the chance...

JDU · #20 01-05-2016, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02RangerFX4

Look at his profile pic.

I'm old and half blind.
I still don't think he has a transmission problem.

1998Ranger4by4 · #21 01-06-2016, 06:19 AM

As much as my reluctance is to actually get it checked out I finally finished all the Maintenence on the truck that I planned and this kinda falls next in line. Although, I am worried about what results I'll get back if I do take it to a shop, not really planning on replacing anything major, if I end up deciding to pay the money to take it somewhere I will be sure to update what they find

Cliff51 · #22 01-06-2016, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1998Ranger4by4

Update on this whole lack of shifting no power thing. Today I came out of school and started my truck up til it got warm and then decided to leave, I got out to the highway and came down a hill out of town to a flat and straight road and for the longest time my truck would not drop rpms, I was doing 3K on a flat surface for about 1/4 mile or more before my truck finally decided to drop into 5th gear, I wasn't even accelerating and I actually backed off a bit to help it realize that, I can't believe that this kind of behavior is normal in any vehicle.... Transmission issues?

If it's cold enough, my B4000 does the same thing. I did have the trans replaced under the extended warranty at about 56K because it seemed to be slipping. Their diagnosis was the 2nd and 3rd gear bands were burned - I've never towed anything and the most weight I've had in the bed was about 350 pounds. Trans fluid was changed by the dealer at 28K.

The new trans shifts smoother than the old one, and the truck seems a little peppier. Because I wasn't real confident in the dealer, I asked my independent mechanic to check the trans at my 60K oil change. He put a scanner on it, drove it a while, and said it was performing to specs. He also said these transmissions won't go into 5th until the trans fluid warms up, and that is normal operation. We get periods of extreme cold here in interior Alaska.

As I remember he didn't charge very much extra for this; this guy is an excellent mechanic and takes care of all my vehicles except the Subaru.

It might be worth having a mechanic look at this issue for you.

Good luck!

1998Ranger4by4 · #23 01-06-2016, 01:13 PM

Sounds like I might be doing that in the coming future. I pulled out today and got on the pedal a little bit, I was pretty disappointed- I kinda feel it's getting worse

1998Ranger4by4 · #24 01-06-2016, 01:35 PM

Doing some research I'm getting also led in the direction that my catalytic converter may be clogged, or I have an exhaust clog somewhere and since I just put on a new exhaust from cat back it would have to be above that point, yes the problem persisted before I put on the new exhaust

nkfro · #25 01-09-2016, 09:38 PM

'Used' cars and trucks are only as good as their previous owners and the attention to the small things you and I routinely notice but others ignore.
My '99 standard cab with the 2.5l 4 cyl. w/automatic and just shy of 70000 miles had an exceptionally clean engine compartment with none of the oil weeping I would have expected and no signs whatsoever of cleaning.

And then there's the female round trailer lights connector mounted in the front bumper and detailed service records that indicated that it was towed behind an RV.

In other words, your '99 ain't my '99.

rd75 · #26 01-11-2016, 11:01 PM

I have an 03 with 33's same engine and automatic tranny, when I put the 33's on I noticed that it didn't have as much power as it did with smaller tires. I live in California too so we have a lot of hills everywhere. I never have a problem with it really slowing down to where it bothers me but it will have a hard time trying to figure out which gear it wants to be in and it will upshift and downshift a few times on a steep hill, but when it downshifts it will hang out around 3000-3500

desertrunner33 · #27 01-13-2016, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1998Ranger4by4

I don't have a ton of experience with rangers, only about a year's worth, and I'm already on my 2nd ranger because of my accident earlier this year. Now I upgraded from a 4.0 OHV in the old truck to the 4.0 SOHC and I still feel like my ranger lacks power for the supposed hp increase in the new truck, yes I'm running 32's but I still feel the ranger doesn't have any go to it, and on the flat it's fine but going up hills in doing 3K rpms and its sitting flat at 40mph, is this just how they are geared? I mean I feel the engine should steadily climb but maybe not, just sometimes feels like I'm on the brake pedal with the thing and it's being held back, feels like the transmission is sloppy shifting, I thought about taking it to a custom tuning shop to see if they could help me out but not sure if it's really worth the money. Yes I have done all the normal tune up tips and still not much help, anyone have any input?

Did you have any issues prior to this? I was having similar symptoms. I just replaced my injectors because one of the injectors was stuck open so it was letting gas into my exhaust making the exhaust hotter and melting the stuff in my catalytic converter. So I'm gonna replace my catalytic converter and that should fix it. I'll let you know if it works

1998Ranger4by4 · #28 01-13-2016, 05:36 PM

I did not have any major problems with the engine before this, the only thing I've changed on it was the purge valve and fan clutch, I should say the mechanic replaced them off of my request, one caused a CEL and the other made my ranger sound like an airplane taking off (kinda cool actually) but as long as I've owned the truck no other engine/exhaust/intake problems, no current CEL, everything is tuned up that I know of, I'm honestly just at a loss, kinda moving towards the idea I'm gonna drive it until I get more money and then have it looked at professionally or drive it until something throws a code or breaks. And yes keep me updated, I'm eager to hear how your results are with replacing the cat

Isaacc44 · #29 01-14-2016, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1998Ranger4by4

Well here in pa hills can go pretty steep, hmm not really sure how to describe the steepness of the hills, hills that other vehicles I've drove and ridden in will climb well or shift to gain more power to climb, and no my pedal isn't smashed to the floor and I've done the throttle cable mod, so there's no more slack in it, though if I pushed the pedal any farther I'd be at 4K rpms and yes I would accelerate slowly, but id be getting about 11 mpg so I tend to only do that when passing cars on the highway etc, I have an automatic transmissions if i haven't mentioned

I cut a big hole in the front of my air box and have a new filter to increase air flow tho the engine because I can't afford a cold air intake and I don't have to smash the gas as much going up hills (I also live in PA in a really hilly area) I also have a pretty free flowing exhaust which also helps.

1998Ranger4by4 · #30 01-14-2016, 07:51 PM

Already have a CAI and side dump 2.5 in exhaust