Hi, and thanks in advance to any help given. I have a 94 Ranger with the 2.3 engine and manual 5 speed transmission. It has 210,000 miles, and is my daily driver/work truck. Last week, as I was heading to work, i noticed a slight hesitation/loss of power within the 1st few minutes of my commute. It happened suddenly, and disappeared within a second or two. I drove 150 miles, and it was fine the rest of the day. The next day, within the 1st 5 miles of driving, it happened again, but worse. Duration was maybe 10 seconds, happened a few times. Next day, same. Next day, same. Friday i finally drove home(i was staying out of town), and I had concluded that my fuel pump was going out. I changed the fuel pump that night. It ran better for 100 miles. Then the problems started again. Changed the fuel filter and air filter and cleaned the MAF. Ran a fuel pressure test turned off, key on, running with pressure regulator vacuum hose connected, running with vacuum hose disconnected. All readings were within specs. Same problem, exactly the same. Never happens except for in the 1st 10 miles. Truck acts like its starving for gas, then I gear down, give it some gas, and eventually it catches up. Truck was tuned up 5,000 miles ago. Oil changed periodically, every 3-4000 miles. Truck has run very consistently since I bought it 14 months and 30,000 miles ago. Could it be the injectors? Possibly a loose connection on a ground or a power wire in the fuel pump circuit? I'm stumped and I haven't had time to really devote a ton of time to diagnostics. Thanks. I need to update my profile, this is a different and much better truck than my poor ol 96, RIP.

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I forgot to mention, I bought this pump from 1A Auto, it was $60. It is also a possibility that this pump is a piece of crap. I don't know.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

was there a lot of water in the old fuel filter when you replaced it?

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1999 xlt 2.5l 5-speed Supercab 159k
83 diesel 2.2l na
06 F250 6.0l psd
{click for lol}

No, just gas. Are you suggesting water in the gas tank? I took great care to clean the top of the tank prior to installing the pump. It was a sunny 85°. I don't see any way I could have water in my gas.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

It acts like it's running out of gas when it has the issue. It did it last night right after my post and again this morning. It's getting worse. Today was 1.5 miles down the road. Last night was 5. Once it does its thing and recovers, it runs normally. If it were waterlogged, it would do it all the time. I've been through 3 tanks since the issue started. I'm beginning to think it's the cheap fuel pump I installed in place of the old motorcraft pump.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

oh i'm sure you did fine installing the pump, i was thinking more along the lines of a bad fill-up or just atmospheric humidity taking a toll. but if the filter was clean, then that's certainly not it!

coil pack might be taking a dump?

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1999 xlt 2.5l 5-speed Supercab 159k
83 diesel 2.2l na
06 F250 6.0l psd
{click for lol}

It has no problem starting up. Would that cause intermittent failure? I'm trying to find a correlation between the truck warming up and the issues smoothing out.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

ah, i gotcha. well, the computer is running in open loop until operating temperature, and then it starts reading closed loop from all the sensors feeding in data. so maybe a MAF problem?

tho with the coil packs, i could see them arcing/shorting/resisting after they heat up fully. that was why i brought them up.

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1999 xlt 2.5l 5-speed Supercab 159k
83 diesel 2.2l na
06 F250 6.0l psd
{click for lol}

What's the best way to test the maf? I cleaned it with maf cleaner and installed a new air filter.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

oh, does it stumble right after cruising at constant speed (low throttle input)? if the egr valve is hanging open, it'll starve you of air. from the ****pit, it feels just like loss of fuel pressure

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do you have an obd2 monitor? you could use it to view the MAF data. that would be my first try if i thought it was the MAF. and to further test the maf, i'm sure you'd need to test the pins for voltage & look up the values somewhere. Or get ahold of somethign advanced like Forscan. pretty cool automotive program. does a lot more than a basic monitor

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1999 xlt 2.5l 5-speed Supercab 159k
83 diesel 2.2l na
06 F250 6.0l psd
{click for lol}

I do have an ODBII scanner, but my ranger is a 94. It is not equipped with an ODBII port. The check engine light is not on. I could try jumping the EEC test port and see if it gives me any codes.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

oh crap, sorry about that. man i really don't know about OBD1. there's a couple other guys here that i believe would know, i'm sure they'll pop in eventually

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1999 xlt 2.5l 5-speed Supercab 159k
83 diesel 2.2l na
06 F250 6.0l psd
{click for lol}

When you say "does it stumble right after cruising speed," it depends. Sometimes it does it while cruising in 5th. Sometimes while coming to a stop or at idle. Sometimes while accelerating. The only pattern is that it happens early in the drive(1st 2-10 miles/5 minutes or so). Could it be possible that the EGR sticks til it warms up?

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

now that i think about it, no i don't think the egr will be commanded open until its reached full op temp anyway, so it shouldn't have the opportunity to stick open until then.

and i'm trying to think of a possibility for a temperature dependent vacuum leak maybe, but i can't think of anything. does it have a cam or crank position sensor like the newer obd2 4cyls? if it were cutting out while its cold, then it wouldn't fire the injectors. just another thought.

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1999 xlt 2.5l 5-speed Supercab 159k
83 diesel 2.2l na
06 F250 6.0l psd
{click for lol}

I suppose that's plausible, but it really acts like its running out of gas. I had a cracked spark plug once, and it ran really really sh*tty. It was incomparable. I switched the fuel pump relay today with the identical air conditioner relay. This weekend I'll clean the IAC and egr valves. One variable at a time til the problem is found. It has to be electrical or fuel/air related.

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Could dirty injectors run crappy intermittently? I've never dealt with injector issues. What has me stumped is that it only happens after starting, and it never lasts that long. I'm just afraid one day its gonna completely stall me out and I'll be stranded.

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I also read about a simple egr test in which you just remove the hose from the egr and plug it, removing egr failure from the equation. If the relay swap doesn't fix it(which I doubt it will, but want to verify), I'll try that next.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues

It's not the fuel pump relay. Truck stalled out at the stop sign 1/4 mile from the house this morning. I noticed this time the voltmeter dropped significantly when the truck was acting up. The action is the same as a stall.

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96 ranger 2.3 SOHC 4 cylinder Never ending issues