I just recently bought a 1990 Ranger that seems very sluggish uphill, etc.

5-speed
No power steering, no A/C. I believe both were removed?

I've read some threads about changing the fan clutch, as this might be part of the problem? I'm having the timing belt and plugs/wires changed tomorrow. Should I try to get this fan clutch fixed too?

Any other suggestions for things to check would be great too.

seems sluggish compared to what? if your use to driving a v8 or a Mack truck i'd say your right . you need to give us some more info.

Feels sluggish compared to anything I've driven.

At the bottom of every gear the truck feels like it has no power, and takes forever to accelerate. Going uphill, or trying to pass on the freeway is a pain because pressing my gas pedal feels like it does nothing.

After a little bit, it feels like it "gives in" and starts speeding up.

you should do a tune up and clean the maf and iacv. see if that clears it up.

I just replaced the plugs/wires and the timing belt.

It has almost no noticeable missing any more, and the belt no longer squeals when I rev the engine. - I take these as good things. LOL.

It still feels a little sluggish though. I cleaned the MAF the same day I cleaned my air filter, so my next step is probably going to be the IACV.

Does anyone happen to have an image or idea of where it would be on my truck?

my friend had that problem with his civic.
he put a new fuel filter? i think thats what it was, ill ask him later.
but i know a tune up could help too.

Well, so far I've replaced:

Plugs and wires.
Timing belt.
Fuel Filter.
Cleaned the air filter.
Cleaned the MAF.

Planning on cleaning the IACV tonight.

What other "tune-up" things am I missing??

dose yours still have the dizzy? or are you all DIS?

sounds about how a 2.3 will run when the spout is left out after the timeing has been set...

No, mine doesn't have a distributor.

It's dual-plug, with coil packs.

Have you seen the How-to thread regarding the throttle cable? Check it out -Throttle Cable Mod. Take a look and see if you think your issues may be related to that.

pcv

It's been raining pretty good out here for a while so I haven't had a chance to do anything to the truck for a bit... but while driving it today I noticed something else.

Not sure if it has anything to do with my problem, but as soon as I start moving the truck the speedometer jumps up to almost 15 MPH. I could be just barely rolling, and there it sits.

Could this be a symptom or clue as to what's going on?

check to make sure your cat or muffler isn't clogged

Alright, I'm finally back...

I recently cleaned out the IAC and the EGR valve (and replaced gasket.)

The port that leads into the EGR from the intake was pretty well clogged. When I started, I could barely get a ziptie through it.

I started it up after working on it for quite some time, and having the battery unplugged... and it idled up fine. I thought it was fixed. After driving it for a bit it started idling rough again. Now, it even does something new. When I'm driving down the road and need to stop/slow down and I push in the clutch and put the truck in neutral my idle acts really weird.

Well, it actually surges now. I can hear the truck revving up kinda high and then dropping back down quickly... and then repeating until I come to a stop. Then it starts idling, roughly.

Any new ideas here guys?

In addition to this posting, I'd also like to explain my situation a little more in-depth...

Picture taking first gear out of a transmission, making second first, third second, etc. Then adding another larger gear where fifth was. When you tried to start off, the truck would bog down a lot because the first gear would be too large, right? That's what my truck feels like it does... if that helps at all.

Also, when my truck is very low on gas (1/4 or less, as of about 15 minutes ago) it seems to act like this more severely. I just went and filled my tank to over 1/2 and it doesn't seem to do it as much. Could this be an indication that it's my fuel pump? (Fuel filter has already been replaced.)

Not to sound completely foolish here, but could the previous owner have put a transmission in this truck that isn't working properly with it?

Any new help would be great. Thanks in advance.