Originally Posted by Dirtyspeed

Had it back for one week now. All better, even sounds better. Total bill was 198.02, I would have to say a lot better than the 4,000 the dealership was trying to cut out of me.

Originally Posted by Shovelhead

can you tell me what the problem was and the fix?

Originally Posted by Dirtyspeed

Hey All, new guy here. I posted this in another Ranger forum but this one seems to be more active so let me tell you my dilemma and maybe someone might know what I am dealing with.

About 10 months ago my truck, 2002 Ford Ranger, was dying when I stopped. It would happen at my second or third stop of a journey and it would die just about when I hit a complete stop around 5 to 3 mph and it would kinda jerk and then shut down. I would put in park and it would start up fine, I would put it in neutral and it would start up fine but I would put it in drive and it would die, like it wanted to get up and go but then just jerk and die. Now this would happen initially once an month, then once every 3 weeks then once every 2 then once a week and then it would do it every day and each time I drove. But also keep in mind that it would only happen at the second or third stop on my trip, after about 10 minutes of driving it never happened again though I usually didn't go too far for fears I would dead far from home so I am not sure if this is really the case but it has never done this at the end of my trip.

So the first thing I thought of was transmission until a tech that swings by my office every so often said it could be a fuel problem and try a fuel filter first. I did and it was back to normal... for around 10 months and then it happened again. I took to a Ford dealership so they could run a test, it was pretty severe at this time and died constantly in their lot, and they said it was a torque converter (and wanted me to get a whole new transmission for 4,000 dollars but that is another story). I told them about the fuel filter and they had no answer. I asked other people and they had no answer either though everyone thinks it is a torque converter but they have no answer for the filter fixing the problem. I told them to put in a filter and bingo, worked again though it almost died twice while heading home but never fully died, it chugged till just about death and then it stopped and the engine was running smoothly. But it is happening again, this time I was leaving my hockey night and it died on my second stop, but after that I made it home. So now I am not sure what it is. Part of me is thinking I have crap in my tank or maybe a bad fuel pump, or heck, maybe it is the torque converter but there is really no explanation of why a fuel filter remedies the problem, unless there is and no one knows it.

I am willing to fix it but I don't want to drop 1,000 or so bucks on a converter when that is not the problem. So now I have come to you, the Ranger community, to see if maybe any of you have experienced this or may know of a solution. But keep this in mind, the transmission tech at the Ford Dealership was almost positive that it was a torque converter locking but he had no explanation on why a fuel filter would get it working again.

I thank you for any suggestions.

Originally Posted by Dirtyspeed

Though it has not been taken apart yet the good folks at Dave's Transmission in Duluth have confirmed to me that it is the torque converter. But not the converter per se but something effecting the converter. Why a fuel filter solved the problem may be due to a leaky valve or something, I will let you know what it is exactly when they check it out. He said if it really was the torque converter it would have been dead a long time ago, which is why I didn't fall for the dealerships claim that I should get a whole new transmission.

So, we shall see in the next few days what it really is.

Originally Posted by Shovelhead

I changed my torque converter and that did not help . I did some research and found out that the transmission solenoids were not working properly, so i changed them 6 of them for $125.00 took an hour of time and now the truck runs perfectly. Hope this helps.