I've been having some troubles with my Ranger again.


When slowing down / shifting down, the truck shakes. When that happens the oil meter also moves up and down rapidly. This doesn't last long but always seems to happen when I've shifted down and am using the lower gear to slow the truck.


I've seen some information on the web that talks about possible bad u-joint / drive shaft. Not sure if that information is pointing in the right direction though.


Also, for some time, the truck makes rattling sound when accelerating after shifting up into fourth gear. Accelerating after shifting into all the other gears sounds fine. But fourth gear makes the rattle noise. Maybe connected to the other problem mentioned? Maybe not?


Any ideas?


FYI


The tires are all new and balanced. The oil and filter were just replaced today. Truck is a Ranger 1995 2.3L 5 speed manual transmission.

 

Yes, rear drive shaft issue

If its an extended cab then carrier bearing as well as u-joint issues

If you are touching the brakes at all when slowing down then add warped rotors to the mix, but that just shakes steering wheel mostly

 

If it's just a regular cab, just replace the u-joint?


How much do you think a u-joint repair would cost?

 

15 minutes to remove the shaft, 30 mins to replace the joints, 15 minutes to reinstall = 1 hour labor plus 20-30 bucks per joint at list price. $150 MAX at a local garage. Any more and your getting ripped off in my opinion. You could save some cash removing the shaft yourself and taking it to a shop. Removing and reinstalling the shaft is very simple on a one peice setup. Changing the joints is more complex and requires a press, or a vice and some old school skill.

U joints are easy to check, put the truck in park, set parking brake, crawl under and try to spin the driveshaft. If it clunks around, you got a bad u-joint.

 

Thanks for the info both. When I get some free time I will try to look at the ujoints / see if there is any play horizontally / vertically.


Today I was noticing there is rough idle and stalling when slowing / stopping. This is when the oil pressure meter is jumping. No problems with stalling when moving. Beginning to think this might be another sort of issue. Maybe bad alternator (although the one on there was just replaced a year ago). Bad idle control valve? Or maybe bad oil sending unit? Some of the info I stumbled on in forums. Any of this sound accurate? Or do you think it's still a ujoint problem?

 

Rough idle and oil pressure fluctuations wouldnt be connected with the u joint issue. Do you have actual oil pressure gauge thats bouncing around? If so what psi is it reading or biuncing between? or just an idiot light flickering? A bouncing guage would be expected with a rough idle as long as the pressure isn't dropping low. A light coming on intermittent could be a bad pressure sending unit but it could be a bad pump, low oil, clogged oil etc ​CHECK THE OIL AND PRESSURE ASAP! Another fella on here just toasted his engine because of a oil pressure issue.

 

That's what I thought. Ujoint would explain the shaking. But the meter?


It's an older ranger, so it's the meter with oil can symbol that has L and H. The needle keeps jumping between L and H. Only when slowing. The shaking comes when slowing and right before stalling. But it doesn't always stall. Sometimes it just shakes.


8 months ago I had pro mechanics (good reviews / good rep locally) look at the truck because I was noticing oil leaks. They told me the front and rear crankshaft seals were going bad and that was causing leaks. However, they told me it was "not crucial at that time to get them replaced. But to keep an eye on the oil levels." So I've been keeping a good eye on the oil level. Currently it's topped off. 5 quarts.

 

I'd get a mechanical guage (about 15 bucks from harbor freight or amazon) to make sure oil pressure is ok. They just screw in to the port from the sending unit to give you an accurate reading. It "could" be bouncing from shaking with the rough idle/driveshaft but I doubt it. I'm sure Ron will chime in here but like I said, don't mess around with oil pressure issues. No oil pressure = no more engine. Wanna chance replacing an engine with such a simple test? If oil pressure reads ok then I'd look into the sending unit and the reason for the bad idle (iac valve, vac leak, nasty throttle body etc etc).

 

After 1988 Ford changed to an oil pressure switch sender on the engine, so ON or OFF
The switch has two settings:
under 5psi is OFF, not grounded to engine
above 5psi is ON, grounded to engine

Oil Gauge has an internal resistor.
Key on engine off, gauge should show no oil pressure, ungrounded
Engine running it should show "normal" and not change with engine RPM, grounded.

The oil pressure switch is either Grounded, ON, or not grounded OFF, so there is no "variation" unless its electrical, i.e. the engine ground or the 12volt side.

It could be the switch connection(wire) or the switch itself is varying the Ground
Make sure engine ground to battery is good and engine to cab ground strap(on the back of the head) is good

Or the gauge could be the issue, although very unlikely

Yes, when engine RPMs drop below a certain point the alternator can not produce enough amps/voltage to run the electrics.

A Car battery is ONLY used to start the engine, its voltage is 12.3 to 12.8 volts
The alternator runs at 13.5-14.8 volts

So a battery "pulls in voltage" to stay charged while engine is running, having a lower voltage.

An alternator only produces about 60% of max amps at engine idle, say 700rpm, it only produces max amps at about 1,800 engine rpms.
If engine stumbles and RPMs drop then alternator amps drop and if amps drop below current required amps, i.e. fan on, lights on, ect....., then voltage will drop, and that will show as dimming lights and maybe gauge fluctuations.
It can also cause stalling since Spark and fuel pump voltage also drops, and computer can "brown out"(low voltage) and reset causing the stall.
Battery Light should come on if alternator voltage drops below Battery Voltage, Battery light tells you voltage is coming OUT of the battery not going IN to the battery, not a good thing when engine/alternator is running, lol.

Actual low oil pressure will cause "ticking" noise in valve train in most cases
From description your oil gauge is not going to 0 but jumping around in the normal range
I would replace the sender, not expensive, and check connection, first.

And use a volt meter to test battery, key off, needs to be 12.3-12.8v
12.8v is new battery
12.5v is 3/4 year old battery
12.3v is 5/6 year old battery and time to shop for battery sale
12.2v or lower is failing battery, cold morning will cause the "click, click, click" no start

And then test battery voltage engine running
Above 14v just after start up, this is Fast ReCharge period
After 5 minutes, or so, of running, 13.5 to 13.9v this is "normal" vehicle voltage

Test running voltage at battery and THEN move Volt meters Ground probe to engine metal and cab firewall metal(a bolt head)
Should read EXACTLY the same volts

 

Thanks both.



This morning I popped open the hood. Looked at the battery, automatically noticed the ground terminal connector was cracked. Also some corrosion. Replaced the terminal connector with new one. Cleaned the corrosion off with wire brush. Run the truck for around 3 hours today. No problems with the stalling, or gauge jumping around. Well, I saw a stall and gauge jump happen once during the 3 hour time period. As opposed to every time I slowed down like yesterday. There's still a rough idle though. But not as bad.



Kind of a side note: I dug up the paperwork from the last time I had the mechanics look at the main oil seals. They had written down in the paperwork that they were getting an error code of "P1359 Spark Output Circuit Malfunction (may be caused from oil leak onto front crankshaft)." So maybe the oil leaks are causing electrical problems intermittently?

 

That would be a long shot, not impossible but I wouldn't think it would cause any electrical issues

 

Thanks.


I have another question. About replacing the main rear oil seal.


Seems like a major hassle. Looks like I would have to remove the following:


Drive shaft
Transmission
Starter
Flywheel



Doesn't seem too complicated but more time consuming and some steps involved. Anything I should prepare for before working on it? I'm assuming I'll need the seal. And more atf for the transmission and more oil. Any special tools I will need? Once I start taking this thing apart I doubt I'll be able to drive anywhere. Don't have access to another vehicle right now.

 

Yes the rear main seal it very hard to get to, which is why you always change this seal anytime and engine is out of a vehicle, or transmission is out of vehicle.

The seal itself is not expensive but...............you may need a Sleeved Seal, so get BOTH and take the one you don't use back.

Front and rear main seals prevent oil from the front and rear crank bearings from leaking out of the engine, and these are "main" bearings so get ALOT of oil.
So a leaking front or rear seal can leak ALOT of oil.

The seals rubber ring rides on the crank shaft, so the crank shafts surface needs to be super smooth or it will just tear up the seal and oil will start to leak out.
One small scratch and seal can't last

Now you could pull out the engine then pull out the crank and have it turned to make it smooth again..............
Or you can sleeve it
Sleeve kit comes with a smooth sleeve that slides onto the end of the crank shaft, and a slightly larger seal that fits over the sleeve, so no need to pull the engine.

Once you have the old seal out you can feel the crank surface where the seal rides, if you feel anything then use the sleeve kit, your finger are very sensitive, trust them.

Google: removing rear main seal (your engine size here)

There are ways to get the old seal out without SCRATCHING the crank, and thats the BIG DEAL, you do not want to scratch the crank surface

 

Update:


The check engine light has appeared. So I had an auto parts store hook up an OBD reader to check the error codes.


Codes are:


P1131 Lack of HO2S-11 Switching, HO2S Signal Low Input


Definition:
Lack of bank 1 O2 transitions - lean


Explanation
Detected bank 1 O2 at its lean limit


Probable cause
1. Misfire on bank 1
2. Vacuum leak affecting bank 1 only
3. Fuel injector problem bank 1
4. Engine mechanical condition



The auto parts store recommended replacing the Mass Air Flow (MAF) Sensor




I also noticed a hissing sound coming from under the hood. Somewhere around the intake manifold. Checked all the vacuum hoses I could find and they look good. Can't seem to find where a leak may be.

 

There is no misfire code so...............
4cyl engine only has 1 bank

You hear a hiss, so vacuum leak is most likely

You can often find vacuum leaks by using starting fluid(ether) on a COLD engine.
Start engine cold and start spraying around the intake if there is a leak it will suck in the ether and engine will REV or PING, but you will hear a difference.
Then just try to narrow it down, you can spray it down a smaller diameter hose, for example, to get it into specific areas.

COLD engine because this stuff is flammable, think of dumping gasoline on hot exhaust pipes................probably not a good idea

Starting fluid is good to have around so not a waste of money to pick up a can

 

So I've finally narrowed down the problem. There is a leak in the lower intake manifold gasket. Just got a set of gaskets for the lower, upper, iac valve, throttle body gaskets. Figured I would replace all of them at the same time.


Do have a question about the gaskets. Do I need a sealant paste (or something similar) when placing the new gaskets?


Also, what steps would I need to take before disassembly? Emptying the coolant? Release the pressure in the fuel lines?

 

I only use sealant on the coolant passages, or to hold a gasket in place as needed.
But it also depends on if you can get ALL the old gasket material off, sealant is used when you have rougher surfaces that a flat thin gasket can't seal well.

Yes, pull Fuel Pump fuse in engine fuse box and start engine, it will die of course but that means no fuel pressure is left

If you are removing coolant hoses then drain the coolant first
I think the 1995 2.3l has coolant passage in the lower intake so then for sure drain coolant