I bought a totaled 1995 2.3l ford ranger for $500 to use as a ranch truck. Unfortunately the guy cut the catalytic converter off before I could buy the truck. he cut off both o2 sensors in doing so. I welded a straight pipe between the manifold and the exhaust.

Here's where i need advice - the truck runs good enough, but it idles inconsistently and goes through weird stages where it can lose power, bogs out etc. Is there anyway I can "trick" the computer to running somewhat decently without the sensors in place? With $500 in the truck I would rather not buy a completely new exhaust system for it

Thank you!

 

Welcome to the forum

You don't need a new exhaust system but do need one O2 sensor near the exhaust manifold so computer can set air:fuel mix once it warms up

Cold it should run OK, for now, but after 3 to 5 minutes it NEEDS an O2 sensor to tell it the oxygen levels in the exhaust.

So you will need to add a bung(a nut) of the correct size and install an O2 sensor, bung needs to be air tight, so welded on good, no air leaks.
Look on-line for where the original upstream O2 sensor was, i.e. distance from end of exhaust manifold, as that is important, within a few inches.

The CEL(check engine light) will be on all the time because there is no Rear O2 sensor to check if Cat is working, but there is no Cat so you really can't install one anyway

Outside of converting it to a carburetor engine, adding the O2 is the only way to get it to run decently after it warms up

Fuel injected engines are operated by "feedback" to the control system, in this case the PCM(computer), PCM can run the engine briefly when cold in Choke Mode(open loop) but after a few minutes it can't, which is what you see now and it will get worse and worse.
It needs Feedback from the exhaust to tell it if air:fuel mix is correct, thats what the O2 sensor is for, and that is Closed Loop operation.

The PCM "remembers" Fuel Trims, so after installing O2 sensor unhook the battery for 5minutes or longer and then reconnect, that won't clear all the memory but usually enough to cause PCM to "relearn" idle and O2 sensor levels so better cold and warm running sooner than later, but it will still idle up and down for a few drive cycles until it "relearns" settings that were cleared

 

Thank you Ron,

I've ordered the parts and will try this fix