My very reliable 1999 Ranger 3.0 XLT that I have had good luck with for 26 years has now started to give me problems. The most serious one is that it won’t start. It turns over fine and acts like it wants to start, but it might seem to start running for a second or two and then stops. I recently had plugs and wires replaced. It only has about 117,000 miles on it. I did check for codes with a scanner but it came up as no codes. I’m not sure where to start. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

 

Check fuel pressure first, then check to make sure you are actually getting spark, then move to air, most likely if its not fuel or spark the air problem would be like the MAF sensor or something of the likes.

 

if it is a spark issue or sensor issue wouldn’t there be codes showing up? Here is a little more info. I removed the battery because the terminals were very corroded. While I had it out I put it on charge for the day and cleaned the cables and terminals. It did not appear to do the usual full charge. I believe the battery is around 8 years old give or take. I also removed the air filter just to see what happened. Put the battery back in and tried it. It started right off and ran for probably 15-30 seconds before stalling out. It restarted again but didn’t run as long. The air filter wasn’t terribly dirty. Do you think it could be the battery?

 

most likely its not your battery if your truck starts nicely, you still might want to do a test on your battery. if its not your battery make sure your alternator is charging your battery. if it's neither of those, does your truck have VATS?

 

You won't get a specific MAF code on that older obd2 PCM. In fact you can unplug the maf and see if it does anything differently when you try to start it. As far as checking for fuel and spark, my bet is that you have neither because the PCM isn't allowing it to happen. Check the PCM and fuel pump relays and diodes.