Hello, I am a new memeber however I’ve gone through a lot of the forums. There’s a long story about this noise but I’ll try to keep it as short as possible

I own and daily drive a 1995 Ranger XLT ext. cab 3.0 5spd. It has 450-550k miles, (odo broke at 177k 15yrs ago) driven everyday since my mother bought it new in ‘95. Original motor and transmission, neither rebuilt.

A few years ago the original fuel pump went out and I replaced it in a weekend with a few friends. Ever since, the truck will stall out under hard braking/cornering if under 1/4 tank.

Here’s where my problem shows up. A few weeks ago I was leaving my neighborhood for work, and stopped at a stop sign, the truck died as it does when I’m low on fuel, so I tried to restart it, and got nothing. I went to WOT for a couple seconds while cranking and it backfired into the intake, sputtered and coughed to life.

Ever since I’ve noticed a new sound from the engine bay. A very audible clattering under high load, as in pulling up hills or low rpm shifting, sometimes sounds a lot like a knock but it’s never consistent. Sometimes the truck pulls very strong and other times it’s a slouch. Does anyone know what could be happening?

 

Welcome to the forum

The Stalling issue reads like fuel pump is sucking air when fuel level is low, so fuel pressure drops to 0 and engine stalls
The fuel in the tank sloshes around quite a bit when stopping or cornering
Could also be a leak in the pumps line to top of tank, when its covered with fuel its a small leak but when exposed to air pressure drops and engine stalls
In any case, I would pull back the bed and check the assembly
Rangers have 2 different size of tanks, 16.5gal and 19.5gal, if you put a 16.5gal pump in a 19.5gal tank then pump won't be at the bottom of the tank
3rd party pumps are often spring loaded so fit either size

3rd party fuel pumps are MUCH less expensive than Motorcraft, but they often fail, but under a 1 or 2 year warranty, just a pain to swap them out


The new sound could be pinging/knocking, pre-ignition, it happens under load as engine cylinders get hotter, the fuel pre-ignites, so fits symptoms, uphill and "lugging" the engine
This can be caused by LEAN fuel mix(low fuel pressure), so in line with a fuel pump issue
It can also be cause by failing EGR system
Or Carbon build up in the cylinders

First thing I would do is to test fuel pressure, there is a test port on the engine, looks like a tires air valve
30-35psi with engine running
Then run RPMs up to 2,500 and hold it there, if pressure starts to drop its a pressure issue

You don't mention the Check Engine Light(CEL) coming on
Is it working and has it come on?

If engine was running LEAN I would expect the CEL to come on and a lean code
I assume you are on the 4 set or O2 sensors, they only last 100k or 10 years which ever comes first, these control the lean or rich conditions in an engine

 

No I do not suffer from a CEL however my father thinks it’s burnt out, as far as my O2 sensors they’ve never been replaced to my knowledge and I do know that one has a wire that I cannot for the life of me get to stay connected, my dad accidentally ripped the wiring off the rear sensor and band aided it with splices years ago

 

I also forgot to say that the motor has never been rebuilt which means that it is the original timing chain. could the loose timing chain cause valve clatter issues?

 

3.0l Vulcan engine timing chains never wore out, and stretched chain would cause a noticeable lack of power, but no noise as described
If you think you hear valve train noise, it would be from low oil pressure, more noticeable at low RPMs when oil pump is spinning slower
Run a thicker oil, 40w

You have a computer problem if you don't have a CEL coming on with 25 year old upstream O2s, simple as that
The rear O2(downstream) doesn't matter that much its just there to test Cat converters
But should set a code if it was unplugged at any point

You should do a "sanity test" on computer
Start engine and unplug MAF sensor, CEL should come on instantly
Also unplug TPS and CEL should come on as well

Over 400k mile engine could certainly use a rebuild, and if it is a "rod knock" it will be sooner than later

 

Well driving to my parents house this evening, smoke started pouring out behind me. I stopped at a gas station and popped the hood to find my passenger side spark plug wires on fire. Before I got a chance to grab a towel the plastic heater control exploded a put it out. So it healed itself but I did notice right as I was shutting it down that the oil pressure gauge was freaking out and the check gauge light was on so I believe my oil pump could be done

 

Bummer

The wires for oil press sender are behind the passenger side head, so could have been shorting from the heat

Can't see how a fire could start unless passenger valve cover had been leaking oil for quite awhile and exhaust got hot enough to start it burning, burning oil means LOTS OF SMOKE

Failing oil pump wouldn't start a fire

The noise you were hearing could have been spark plug wires "arcing" to metal on passenger side, and THAT can ignite oil residue from valve cover

 

Yeah that’s exactly what happened the passenger side valve cover had been leaking for probably 15 years and the food disintegrated finally after never being changed in the 25 years that my parents have on the truck so it ignited the oil on the side of the block and cause a fire and then when it was running rough because the cylinder was dead. I went to the local wrench a part and picked up 180k mile 3.0 and matching transmission that also came with a brand new clutch, slave cylinder, fly wheel and also happened upon some body parts that I’ve been keeping an eye out for. Going back this coming weekend because there was a 2wd with a 4 inch rough country lift on it.