I have a 2008 Ranger 2.3L Duratec manual tranny 125K miles that I bought a few months ago and have put about 1800 miles on it so far. It occasionally takes an excessive amount of cranking from the starter, maybe 3-4 seconds at times before it fires up. The majority of the time it'll fire up normally within 1 second. I'm noticing the longer starts occur mostly if the truck was just recently fired up, turned off then restarted a few minutes later. The starter is turning quickly so I'm suspecting more a fuel or ignition problem and not so much a battery or starter issue.


I replaced the air filter when purchased so 1800 miles ago and I just replaced the spark plugs and fuel filter but still experience this occurrence. I always let the fuel pump prime up prior to turning the starter over or at least listen for the fuel pump to stop running after ignition on and before engaging the starter.


Anyone experienced this on one of these Duratec engines or have a good idea of what may be causing this? I've not checked the fuel pressure or done anything other than the mentioned routine maintenance of filters and plugs yet.

 

Gives this a try, don't just turn the key to inginiton and prime the fuel pump once. Do it 3-4 times before you crank it over and see if that changes how quickly it fires up. If it does you have a pressure leak (probably a fuel injector) or your pump is on its way out. You can also do a pressure / leakdown test.

my 09 2.3 had a similar issue that turned out to be a partially clogged fuel filter. I doubt this is the issue on yours since you just replaced the fuel filter but I definitely suspect another fuel pressure or leakdown issue.

 

Thanks a lot. I will start going in that order. I also found a YouTube video of low fuel pressure example and how to check it. I will go down your list and see what i find.
There is no coolant loss of any kind and no leaks whatsoever.

Thansk again for great info.