2003 Ford Ranger Help- V6 Engine Diagnostics

Get Off My Lawn

Get Off My Lawn

Artist formerly known as Pink Vapor
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My son’s truck suddenly lost power with no check engine light. It starts right up and idles fine, when the throttle’s pressed it acts like a 3K rev limiter. Put it in drive, press the throttle, it’ll sputter and die. I pulled all the plugs, if anything they look a rich. The gap was ~0.010 large, I properly gapped and put them back in. No change
What do you think it might be?
 
Funny you started this thread Andy…I have a 2004. 4.0V6 174,000 miles.

Not trying to hijack your thread. But I’m kinda having the same issues.

Fuel pump died. Pulled fuel pump, pumped all old gas and water outta the tank. Put new non ethanol gas in it. Started acting funny around the same time. I’m sure it’s a coincidence.

Mine is smoking some also. I’ve changed plugs and wires. No improvement. I’ve been told it could be a stuck injector, and/or head gasket, or cracked head, and that if it was heads, it’d be cheaper to swap the engine, which I don’t want to do.
I’ve had to truck for a year and a half. I re-did the interior with new carpet. It looks awesome inside. I drove it home when I bought it and it ran fine. The idea was to sell it after. Things have been crazy this year and I haven’t had time to work on it much.

It’ll rev to 3k and stop and or die. Also sputters a little at idle. I’m gonna try the fuel filter next and I plug the MAF sensor and see what happens. Any advice from the crowd would be awesome
 
I'm not suggesting the maf is bad, but possibly dirty or has something stuck on it. Seen a dandelion seed get stuck on one and cause similar symptoms.

Just don't touch it. They make special cleaner for them,similar to electronics cleaner.
 
My old 4.0 got weird when the EGR gasket evaporated, had no notable issue in closed loop, once it got to temp rev'ed fine, but if you lifted the accelerator for any reason in drive may as well have turned the key.
Not revving seems more like fuel or maybe ignition than unmetered air to me.
 
OutLore said:
Isn't there a limiter when in P/N that's around 3k? The fact that it wont rev above 3k in either park or neutral might be a red herring.

def start cleaning the MAF and trying to run it with it unplugged.

Also seen sudden loss of power caused by blocked cat(s)...
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I think you are correct I know the escape has a rev limiter when in park
 
Without throwing a scan tool on it, any advice I give would be speculation. The video posted shows normal operation when in park or neutral and pressing the throttle.
 
Call me crazy if you want but I wouldn’t rule out a stuck lockup piston in the torque converter if it’s an automatic.
 
Clogged Cat. Drop the exhaust and see if it’ll rev normal. If so, go get you a new cat or cat back system.
 
Pop N Shots said:
Clogged Cat. Drop the exhaust and see if it’ll rev normal. If so, go get you a new cat or cat back system.
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I have a similar problem. My Dodge Dakota had a radiator hose blow and a head gasket failed when it overheated. I had a used motor put in which was missing on a cylinder. After a lot of back and forth they put in another used engine and it wont pull a flag down the road. There are no codes but the mechanics have speculated the cats may be clogged. They tested and there wasn't much difference in temp before and after the cats. They also put some kind of cat cleaner in but no joy.

Wouldn't a MAF sensor show a code?
 
J R Green said:
I have a similar problem. My Dodge Dakota had a radiator hose blow and a head gasket failed when it overheated. I had a used motor put in which was missing on a cylinder. After a lot of back and forth they put in another used engine and it wont pull a flag down the road. There are no codes but the mechanics have speculated the cats may be clogged. They tested and there wasn't much difference in temp before and after the cats. They also put some kind of cat cleaner in but no joy.

Wouldn't a MAF sensor show a code?
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In my experience, MAFs generally caused idle issues (rough idle or no idle) and didn’t cause me issues in the upper rpm ranges (this was on mustangs). In regard to the clogged cat, I have had clogged cats twice. Once on a 94 Mustang GT and the other on A 98 Chevy Z71. In both instances, the idle and low rpm ranges were fine and the problem presented itself when under load or upper rpm ranges. Ended up burning a valve in the Z71 😞
 
rdinatal said:
@Get Off My Lawn

Any progress??
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Nope, the MAF seems fine, no change when unplugged.
I think someone covered/disconnected the check engine light. When the key’s turned on all the other dash lights light up. I pulled ALL these codes with a tiny Actron, I wasn’t able to clear them with it to find which ones are current.
Codes:
  • PO446 emission
  • P1336 ?
  • P0743 torque converter
  • P0750 shift solenoid
  • P0755 shift solenoid
  • P0760 shift solenoid
  • P0765 shift solenoid
  • P2747 ?
  • P0442 evap
  • P0135 O2 sensor
  • P0141 O2 sensor
  • P0155 O2 sensor
  • P0113 air intake temp
  • P0102 mass air
I hope to look at it next weekend. A friend had the same problem & he went right to the crank sensor.
 
I was able to clear all the codes with my Actron. Cranked it up, put it in drive & it stumbled and wanted to die. I disconnected, cleaned and applied grease to two ground straps. Unplugged the computer, inspected the pins and sockets & reassembled. No change.
Here’s the screen shots:
IMG_2212.jpegIMG_2180.jpegIMG_2181.jpeg

IMG_2182.jpegIMG_2183.jpeg
 
I've messed with a 4.0 sohc quite a bit. I've never seen it stall when put in gear. There is a ford 4.0 sohc Facebook group that may help too. https://www.facebook.com/groups/4.0sohc/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT
You can watch the readings of the 02 sensors, might need a better scanner or a Bluetooth obd reader. The 3k rev limiter in park/neutral is to keep from doing engine damage. Try unhooking the battery, cut the headlight switch on for a second (drain any residual power), then let it sit for 10-15 mins, reconnect the battery, let it sit and it'll relearn how to run/idle. That's a lot of codes that may or may not be a problem. If they reappear after the relearn process then id look into them. I have a 03 sport Trac, for all intensive purposes it's a crewcab ranger. Shift solenoids are easy to change, drop the pan, and they are right there. I just recently changed old o2 sensors on mine, but it was for an idle skip and they were dirty after 277k miles.
 
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Fordtruckfan89 said:
I've messed with a 4.0 sohc quite a bit. I've never seen it stall when put in gear. There is a ford 4.0 sohc Facebook group that may help too. https://www.facebook.com/groups/4.0sohc/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT
You can watch the readings of the 02 sensors, might need a better scanner or a Bluetooth obd reader. The 3k rev limiter in park/neutral is to keep from doing engine damage. Try unhooking the battery, cut the headlight switch on for a second (drain any residual power), then let it sit for 10-15 mins, reconnect the battery, let it sit and it'll relearn how to run/idle. That's a lot of codes that may or may not be a problem. If they reappear after the relearn process then id look into them. I have a 03 sport Trac, for all intensive purposes it's a crewcab ranger. Shift solenoids are easy to change, drop the pan, and they are right there. I just recently changed old o2 sensors on mine, but it was for an idle skip and they were dirty after 277k miles.
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It’s a 3.0L, I did clear fault codes, disconnect the battery, pulled, inspected & gapped the plugs, looked for vacuum leaks, disconnected, cleaned & stacked ground cables. It went from 36 down to 10 codes.
I’m leaning towards a bad connection, many of the codes common problems are either a bad ground, or the fuse 28 circuit.
According to him, it was driving fine and suddenly pooped the sheets.
It’s a beater & I believe the person he bought it from ripped him off. The only light on the dash that doesn’t work is the Check Engine.
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
It’s a 3.0L, I did clear fault codes, disconnect the battery, pulled, inspected & gapped the plugs, looked for vacuum leaks, disconnected, cleaned & stacked ground cables. It went from 36 down to 10 codes.
I’m leaning towards a bad connection, many of the codes common problems are either a bad ground, or the fuse 28 circuit.
According to him, it was driving fine and suddenly pooped the sheets.
It’s a beater & I believe the person he bought it from ripped him off. The only light on the dash that doesn’t work is the Check Engine.
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3.0s often have cooling system issues, 4.0s have timing chain problems and the 4 cylinders won't pull a greasy string out of a cat 😂
 
I just replaced the fuel pump on my FIL's 2003 4.0. Had similar symptoms, all better now.
 
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Get Off My Lawn said:
It’s smoked & the ‘fuse tester’ showed it good.
I’ll just use the Fluke from now on.
Now I need to find a wiring diagram & trace this bugger down.
I stumbled into this site & it has been very helpful on three vehicles in the last month.
www.startmycar.com

2003 3.0l-and-4.0l-Engines Ford Ranger fuse box diagram - StartMyCar

www.startmycar.com www.startmycar.com
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Charm.li is a site I recently ran across for wiring and tsbs

Free Car Service Manuals from Operation CHARM — No strings attached!

Operation CHARM provides completely free repair/service/workshop manuals for over 50,000 models of cars and trucks manufactured 1982-2013. No sign-up or paywall.
charm.li
 
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JoeAz said:
Unplug the evap vent valve, the 4 o2s ( this fuse is for the o2 heaters) and the trans. Reconnect one at a time. See what shorts it is where I would be at
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You put me on the circuit, and man do I appreciate it.
IMG_3690.gif
I found a ground. The SFB (shite fer brains) that patched this thing together, then sold it to my son didn’t restrain any wires. The rt O2 sensor lead looked like it ran straight along the side of the motor, had loop contacting the bottom of the exhaust manifold. It rubbed through the heat shield and melted/fused the wiring to the manifold.
I repaired the wiring, replaced the fuse, cleared the codes, test drove it, voila! No more codes.
Thanks!
 
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Get Off My Lawn said:
You put me on the circuit, and man do I appreciate it.
View attachment 656848
I found a ground. The SFB (shite fer brains) that patched this thing together, then sold it to my son didn’t restrain any wires. The rt O2 sensor lead looked like it ran straight along the side of the motor, had loop contacting the bottom of the exhaust manifold. It rubbed through the heat shield and melted/fused the wiring to the manifold.
I repaired the wiring, replaced the fuse, cleared the codes, test drove it, voila! No more codes.
Thanks!
Click to expand...


This place is awesome......

.
 
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