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Ranger gone crazy

If I posted this in the wrong place just scoot me on along into the right one. I Bought a 94 Ranger 4 cyl 2.3 Pick up . The Tach has never worked and I am not sure the temp gauge does either. Truck has always had a slight stutter but mechanic said just use fuel treatment which did no good at all. It also has never had much get up and go. The other day it woulnt go faster then 30 and had NO power ...the Exhuast Manifold was glowing cherry red when we looked. There is no catalytic convertor ..we checked muffler with thermal gun in front of and behind muffler ..temps were normal ...We then changed the Ignition start module ..Check engine light went off ..tach started working and truck had LOTS more power - That only lasted a day and then it made a jerk going down the highway and all gauges went to zero. Truck would turn over but not crank ...later on that night it cranked and sounded perfect. We got it in the shop and put the overflow hose into a bottle of water and there were no bubbles ...we ran truck on OBD 1 and it came up with the following codes ..

IAT / ECT sensor - DAI - which is a engine coolant sensor

335 EGR / DPFE /PFECKT (DL8) - egr high or low voltage

341 Octane Adjust KPTO - open or in use (this is actually disconnected and from what I read ...its for information only and is used by Ford to adjust timing)

We also decided to go ahead and flush radiator ...and change thermostat ...there is no oil in coolant ...just bar stop seal. Flushed system well ....then changed thermostat ...Temp guage fluctated some but never went past first like of normal no matter what I did to it ...almost appeared to not heat up. Ran out of time and didnt get to use thermal gun to check actual tempature.

Oil pressure was on the L of normal and didnt budge

Ran test drive down hwy 52 ...strong ....Tach was at 2000 RPM and then wihtout warning it quickly feel to below 1 - I didnt lose speed or power but the truck started shaking some and check engine light came on.

Oh and I had a VERY dead battery ...it was 5 yrs old so I went ahead and replaced it just in case thats what caused all the guages to go screwy ...it had a very lose cable. None of the other guages did anything funky ...just the tach ..which didnt work before we put the Ignition Modulator on ...

So ...now I am stumped ...which part do I sling at this thing next????? :hammer:
 

smokey

Hitech hillbilly
Staff member
The temp sensors is what I would test then replace if bad.
You were running in cold loop then when the computer came on and read the input from the sensors and got errors it will revert to limp mode.
Fix the etc first and go from there. Fix the codes listed and clean all the ground connections a bad ground can cause all these problems.
 
Maybe time for you do just dom some maintenance to wiring connections.

These vehicles get strife with corrosion to electrical connections.

Parts cost money..let do the free things first.

Make sure you disconnect the battery and go over every electrical connection and ground spot ...clean it and then secure it.
This means uncoupling all connections... assess,clean and resecure

Once all that is done, reconnect the battery with all clean cables and posts etc.
 
Ok Smokey ...your gonna have to work with me here for a min ...I am a woman with enuff mechanical Knowledge to make me Dangerous but I am bound and determined to know my truck inside and out and handle this stuff on my own and since u replied first ...well ...you gotta help me lol The temp sensore ...that is like a plug looking thing in a piple right behind the radior ..hooked into the middle of a pipe right? Next question ...how do I test it? The Ignition Module that I had tested failed 4 out of 8 tests ...so that was for sure bad right? I have a few problems going on here not just one?
 
Maybe time for you do just dom some maintenance to wiring connections.

These vehicles get strife with corrosion to electrical connections.

Parts cost money..let do the free things first.

Make sure you disconnect the battery and go over every electrical connection and ground spot ...clean it and then secure it.
This means uncoupling all connections... assess,clean and resecure

Once all that is done, reconnect the battery with all clean cables and posts etc.

The great part about this is ...I work at a trucking company and I have a mechanic that works for me ..but he is a Diesel Mechanic and were both winging this together - He did do the batter cables and so forth when he replaced the battery today....He unplugged the temp sensor If I saw the right part and cleaned it ..but he didnt test it. He wants to go for the DPFE - 335 code next because its a common fail on Rangers according to some forums but I am the one paying for the parts so I would like to get it right on this next shot.
 

smokey

Hitech hillbilly
Staff member
Ok if I remember correctly you should have two sensors for the temp one is for the gauge the other for the computer. I will have to post later the test procedures I am posting from my cell.

Work on the codes in order. All the codes could be due to poor connections from corrosion.
There should be a temp sensor on the intake also left rear side.,
 
Ok if I remember correctly you should have two sensors for the temp one is for the gauge the other for the computer. I will have to post later the test procedures I am posting from my cell.

Work on the codes in order. All the codes could be due to poor connections from corrosion.
There should be a temp sensor on the intake also left rear side.,

Ok dokie ....the coolant sensor it is first. Both of them. Now I gotta help the mechanic find the other one. Should I go get a Chilton Manual for this or its not that difficult to find?
 
DSIIandDSIIIIgnitionModulatorTestcl.jpg
 

blacksnapon

Moderator
Staff member
Roughly 6-8 inches from the battery is a connector in one of the battery cables (dont remember which one). This connector is for the pcm. If you lose continuity there, the pcm doesn't work (no start, no tach, intermittent no power,etc.). Make sure its clean inside (I've even wired through it at times).
 
Gotcha ...going to check that next - we ran the truck this morning and we cant get it to have the problem again - the water at the gauge is one temp and the water at the sensore is 50 degrees differant. We took the EGR off this morning and it wasnt corroded -:) Thanks to the link u guys sent me from Auto zone I was able to test it and it seemed to operate fine. I checked ALL sensors that I could get to and none were corroded or broken ..followed wires also ...no problems ...I checked Vacumn hoses for any obvious leaks ..nothing. It had no coolant sensor Code this morning and check engine light was off - ran like a champ - took it down the road for about 20 miles and slight sputter developed ..but still no check engine light - ran diagnostic on it again and it showed the DPFE again ...so I got that replacement part and also went ahead and got the coolant sensor also - May not need it and will return if the DPFE does not fix the issue - so far none of these parts prices have caused me to have a heart attack. I am gonna blow a head gasket if this does not solve it cause I will be clueless on whats next !! Thanks guys and I will be back in a bit to give ya an update !!
 
Ok Fellas a big Thank you to yall !!! Your advice paid off !! We got it fixed and sure enough when we pulled the DPFE off the firewall there was MASS corrosion and restricted flow ...major gunk !! The hose coming out of it was brittle and just broke when we went to pull it off ...Got the new sensor (I am sure it could have been cleaned but I am sick of the problem and just went with new) - we also went ahead and changed the temp sensor - which didnt help my coolant temp at all but was worth a shot for 15 bucks. We put OBD 1 back on it and ran it through all the tests and it PASSED ...I have never been so happy to see the word pass in all my life lol The spark advance went from 15 to 35 ...not sure what that means but it must have been a good thing. Without you guys I dont know if we would have EVER figured it out. The truck is now running better then ever ..has lots of power and my tach actually works !! Thanks again so very much !! (Now ..onto the water temp problem lol )
 

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