I just purchased a 97 ranger, 3.0l auto. This might be normal but thought I would ask...

When I start out in first gear, the rpm's go up to about 1500 and the truck starts to go. It seems as the truck has a stall converter. Iam use to the torque conterter kicking in instantly in first gear in my other vehicles. Is this normal in all 3.0l engine with the auto tranny? Once it is rolling, there is more than enough torque in all gears. The transmission is not slipping at all and goes through the gears perfectly. Well, except for the normal 2nd to first gear "thump" that most rangers expereince.

I changed the filter and fluid in the tranny about 300 miles ago.

thanks..

 

What about your plugs? Know if they were ever changed?

 

Iam not sure when they were changed. I think the wires are original as well.. maybe I should start with a tune up. The idle is perfect and it runs great..

 

yeah plugs/wires are a good place to start

 

Why? it is his tranny that is seems to be the problem, the engine is idling properly, and there is no miss, He states that it is revving up to 1500 rpm, he would feel a miss by then if his plugs are going.

To OP

Are you sure that you flushed the tranny correctly? Did you fill it up with enough fluid?

I have a stick, so I am not all that familiar with this tranny, more people will chime in.

 

Thanks for the reply. It is an automatic. There is enough fluid and the tranny shifts great. The truck did this before I flushed it. There is not a miss in the engine, it runs really smooth.

I wonder if it could be the tps that is out of adjustment or needs to be replaced? When I start the truck, it cranks quick and revs up to about 2k or so for about 40 seconds to 1 minute, then idles down to 1,000 rpm. It even does this in cold weather. Usually, a normal the vehicle will rev up for a while until it warms up (the iac usually controls this). Could the iac be the culprit as well? The warm up period does not seem to be long at all. It then drops to 1k and stays there at idle.

Then, if I give it just alittle gas when at idle, it will rev up to 1,500 rpm and then slowly idle down. Does it every time. It does not have the quick "throttle response" as a vehicle should.

I scanned the pcm for any codes and there are not any at all.



Iam really stumped on this...

 

is it x cab?

 

Is it extended cab?

 

No, it is a regular cab, 2wd.. Thanks...

 

Anyone think the TPS could be causing this to happen? Maybe it is not sending the correct signal to the PCM. Does anyone know what the correct measurements (while it is running and throttling up/down) ans voltage should be for the tps? I can scan the pcm with my scanner and view the live data to see if the tps is operating within it's normal specs.

thanks..

 

ive got no idea if its the same on a ranger, and i doubt it is, but on my 5.0 mustang its .98 volts key on, engine off.

 

Thanks for the info.. Will check the voltage.

Someone told me it could be the torque converter could be going bad?

 

Problem is that it's an auto. There have been plenty of horror stories in here about the auto being like dogs and having lots of mechanical issues.

 

my 4.0 does the dame when u start it revs to about 2 grand then drops to 1 and if i hit the gas it takes a lil to come back down. and when im driving down the road the motor sounds real loud even at like 2 grand

 

first of all, every auto is going to have there own stall, one way to test it quickly is to do a quick stall test. a stall is basically how many rpms it takes before the input shaft starts to spin.

to do stall test:

1. Never hold it for more then 3-5secs, when you stall your creating a TON of heat.
2. what your going to do is hold the brakes while its in drive, and you are trying to "redline" the engine, you wont be able to cause your engaged in first, the rpms will only go to a certain rpm, this is your stall for your trans.
3. let the tranny cool down under rpm idle. this is a must for proper cooling.

ill try and find the specs for your truck in a sec. and from there you can tell if somin mechanically is going wrong,

 

Will try the stall test....

Kingquadrunner- That is exactly my problem. Looks like we have the same issue...

 

let me no if u find anything out from ur test i had a 94 exploder that did the same thing so i just thought it was normal for the 4.0 and i have a couple buddies who have ranger that are sort of doing the same thing just not as loud mine does it worse when its cold out when it was warm this weekend the noise was still there but not as loud and if i let the truck warm up for 10-15 min before i drive the noise is a lot lower. but keep me up dated on what u find