Engine runs ok sometimes, other times dies after put in gear, or it may die when driving and may or may not restart.

5

Asked by rick82873 Jul 30, 2012 at 09:40 PM about the 1990 Ford Ranger XLT Standard Cab SB

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Ford Ranger XLT, automatic, Dual Plug ignition system, 4 cylinder, 2.3, fuel injection.  vin#1FTCR10A3LUA73667,  Truck will start and run fine , sometimes,  other times it will start and engine will stop running when placed in gear, other times after driving a short distance trucks engine will stop running and may or may not restart. 68,000 miles on truck, new fuel filter, new plugs and wires, timing has been checked. I believe it may be an electrical problem but not really sure where to start looking. any ideas would be helpful.  Thanks, Rick

1 Answer

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Try using a timing light or something to see if all the wires are firing. I have seen customers change all those same parts and find out one of the coils were bad. Really that was a weird design as one of the two plugs on a single cylinder fires on the compression stroke and the other fires a few milliseconds later to scavenge the rest of the unburned fuel in the cylinder. That really never went very far, Nissan also had that same engine and I think it was only in production 2 or 3 years.

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