Hi all,
I have a 2005 Ford Ranger, 3L, V6, 212,000 km. RWD
I have been having an intermittent flashing engine light when hitting around 3000 rpms. The pedal doesn't feel responsive and I can no longer accelerate once the light is on. I have to shut off the truck and once I restart it, it seems to be fine again. This has happened twice within the last thousand km. I have had 3 mechanics look at it and no one seems to know what is happening. It is not storing any codes. I am not losing any fluids and they are staying clean. One mechanic said it was possibly the timing cover and/or gasket and another said it could be the water pump and the other said nothing was wrong with it (They took it for a spin and could not get it to happen.) I am at a loss as to what to get fixed. I have spent too much on getting people to look at it and coming out with no answers. I need to drive long distances often without cell service. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum

Flashing CEL(check engine light) means computer is shutting down cylinders(fuel injectors) to prevent engine damage.

Where do you get your gasoline?
Could you be getting some "bad gas"(too much water) every now and then?

It is odd there are no P03XX codes, misfire codes.

If you have the cash I would replace the coil pack on speculation.
Coil packs can test as OK but can still be bad after warmed up

There are 3 coils in the Pack, at 3,000rpm each coil is sparking 3,000 times a minute(waste spark), 1 bad coil kills 2 cylinders until it recovers

manual or automatic?
The computer has a REV Limiter, 3,000rpm approximately, but it should only be engaged when trans is in Neutral or Park, or speedometer is under 5MPH.
Could be faulty
It also cuts fuel to engine, but no flashing CEL

And could be computer itself is packing it in.
For $20-$40 you can get a Bluetooth OBD2 reader that works with Smartphones, and ALL VEHICLES sold from 1996 and up
And can watch live data from the engine, maybe catch computer F*ing up, or other data thats causing computer to react badly

To test a computer you can unplug a few sensors while engine is running, CEL should come on and you can read the codes to make sure computer is "sane"
If you don't get codes or get the wrong ones then computer is to blame

 

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! I will try out your suggestions.