Hi all, I did some searching and could not find what I was looking for.
My 3.0 was working fine and then I went out and the battery was dead. I don’t drive it too often so no real surprise.

I charged the battery and cranked it and drove it down the road and it was shifting funny, mostly hard into 2nd gear.

i have had a similar issue before with this Ranger so I ordered a new TPS of Amazon for it.
I replaced the TPS and it was basically the same issue.

The codes at the time showed errors for the TPS and MAF. Both really weren’t that old
The new TPS didn’t work any better.Interurned it thinking it was cheap foreign made junk and got another one. I tried several different companies with similar results.

I called ford to get an OEM one. They said they didn’t have one but could see if another dealer could ship them one but gave me the part number to see if I could fine one online
I ordered one off EBay with the part number they gave me similar results.

i took it to a local mechanic that I trust. He said my short term fuel trims were wonky and thought I may have a clogged cat (due to a previously leaky head gasket)

we gutted the cats temporarily to help further the diagnosis. I replaced the TPS and MAF with new ones from from Rock Auto.

There has been some minor improvement but still it runs rough when you first crank it up until it levels off, then it starts running a little rich. You cannot pull out in front of anyone because if you give it much gas it will almost shut off. If you take it easy and drive it, it will get to like 4k rpm and won’t shift. If you let off the gas it will shift into 2nd hard. One you are at highway speed it seems fine as long as you don’t let off the gas.

It has been a few weeks since I tried to troubleshoot, Seems like turning off overdrive made it worse but I don’t recall the added symptoms.I will try to get the recent codes and TPS reading. If I recall on the live data, the TPS had a reading of 0 which I thought was strange.

thanks in advance,
CBO

1998 3.0 automatic 4x2 210k

 

This might not explain all of the symptoms, but check the IAC valve. Idle rpm on live data shouldn't fluctuate more than +- 4-5 rpm or so once warmed up. If it's shifting rough when you let off the gas, it could be due to the idle speed not matching what the transmission is expecting due to a faulty valve. Only replace the IAC with a motorcraft OEM part, the other aftermarket parts use a stepper motor instead of the motorcraft solenoid, which doesn't play nice with the computer.

 

to check the IAC valve, bring motor up to running temp. unplug the IAC, the idle should drop and or stall. if so its working. if not you could have a vacuum leak. also with that many miles the motor should be on the 3rd set of O2 sensors. they are good for 10yrs or 100k mi. with out seeing live data there could be a chance thats the problem.