Good afternoon

new here. I have an 02 3.0 ranger. I have noticed the engine has been running a little rough recently.Yesterday I was driving and when I came to a stop, the engine shut off on me, it would not immediately restart and I had to give it about five minutes to where it restarted and I was able to drive it about 60 miles, but it still felt like it lacked power. This morning I got on the highway and the same thing happened, It was lacking power and I noticed a small click at about 2500 RPMs. As I was driving down the road eventually I felt like I had a loss of power, as in when I would press on the gas the RPMs would go up but I would not go any faster and eventually the engine died. As The engine died, I heard a loud pop, looked under the hood I noticed the upper radiator hose had blown. I got the vehicle parked in a good spot and now I’m looking into troubleshooting it. I did replace the hose and filled up the coolant reservoir. I am able to start the engine with the gas pressed sometimes, and it will only stay running with the gas pressed. Anyone have any idea what this could be? Thank you

 

Welcome to the forum

Does the CEL(check engine light) work?
Does it come on with Key on, and then go off after engine starts?

And does it/did it stay OFF when driving?

If CEL works and its not on when driving then you have a mechanical issues, not an electronic issue
Mechanical issue in this case could be dirty fuel filter or failing fuel pump, OR "BAD GAS" if you got gas recently it could be it had too much water in it, which is what "bad gas" is, and "bad gas" will have the exact symptoms you describe


If your CEL does NOT WORK, does NOT come on with Key on, then bulb is burnt out or previous owner disabled it
And you will need to "read the codes" in computer memory to try and eliminate what's not wrong so you can get to what IS wrong, lol

You can get OBD2 Bluetooth Readers for under $20, ELM327 model has been around a lot of years and works with either android or apple smartphones, APP is free

2002 3.0l can have several issues that will cause what you describe besides low fuel pressure or Bad Gas
Vacuum leak
Failing CAM sensor/synchro
Cracked Coil Pack
Partially clogged exhaust
Failing computer(PCM)<<<<<super long shot, PCMs rarely fail

 

yes, the CEL comes on and stays on and I get a p0118 “engine coolant temperature sensor circuit high voltage” reading

 

Important part to leave out, lol

Replace ECT sensor, its a 2 wire 5 volt sensor at top front of engine
Should have a light green/red stripe wire and a grey/red wire

NOT a red/white wire, that's the 12volt sender used for dash board temp gauge, they look alike, "look" being the key word, electrically they are very different

Picture of locations on a 3.0l of BOTH ECT sensor and Temp Sender: https://www.ranger-forums.com/attach...ant-sensor.jpg

LOOK at the wire colors, that will tell you which is which


ECT sensor tells the computer coolant/engine temp
Colder temp is higher voltage from ECT sensor
So with P0118 High input computer things temp of engine is say -10degF, so it runs the engine Super Rich, i.e. flooding it out so it can barely start or run, so like trying to run an engine with Choke on Full

This may not be all the issues but its a start

 

I replaced the sensor, and the cel is gone. The engine still runs really rough though and is hard to start.

i appreciate the help

 

Cycle the key on and off 3 times, then try to start engine
If it starts faster then you will need to check fuel pressure

If its still slow to start then warm up the engine
After its warm, temp gauge above 1/3, and idling, unplug the 2 wire connector on IAC(idle air control) Valve, looks like a can on its side near the throttle linkage
With IAC Valve unplugged idle RPMs should drop to 500, or engine may stall, if so then NO Vacuum leaks
If idle stays high then there IS a Vacuum leak
CEL should also come on but will go off when IAC Valve is plugged back in

"Bad Gas"
If you got gas recently, day before this problem, then if could be "bad gas" gasoline with too much water in it
All gas has some water, just condensation from storage tanks and transport tankers, and underground tanks at gas stations
Water can't mix with gasoline, and water is heavier than gasoline
So when a tank of gasoline sits the water settles to the bottom
The storage tanks, tankers, and gas station tanks all have water traps, and they should be emptied daily....................but EVERY GALLON of water that comes out is worth whatever a gallon of gas is worth because that's how its sold, so..............................
Sometimes they may go a few days/weeks, lol, without removing the water

In your gas tank, fuel is pumped from the bottom of the tank..............................where the water "lives"