hey there first post. i searched around and found nothing relavent to my problem.

i have an 03 ranger super cab with the 4.0 in it.

i dont put many miles on it but its cold as hell where i live. (traveling between utah and idaho border ALOT).

it seems to do it when the headlights windshield wipers and music is on pretty loud. i have 2 subs that probably take a bit of electricity so maybe its something electrical... anyways... heres the symptom

the engine just cuts out and then kicks back on. it is for like a second then comes back on. so if i've got the RMP's up above like 2500 its really unpleasent. it rocks the truck pretty hard. i seem to notice it more when i'm shifting from 3rd to 4th (i have a manual 5spd transmision) but maybe its because i dont notice it with lower RPM's in 5th and 4th.

any advice on how to start troubleshooting this would be much appreciated. i've had it for over a year and have had no problems with it. absolutely None! so i wanna keep it, i think its a good little truck.


i've also watched the gauges to see if they bounce when it happens and the headlights to see if they flicker when it happens but they dont.

 

I've personally had this happen on two different cars. One was a loose aftermarket chip plugged into the PCM. The other was a stock 03 mountianeer that had water getting into the engine room fuse box. That one was hard to figure out because it only did it every once in a while. I just analized what was going on when it haoppened.. the only common thread was fog / rain / snow. Sure enough when I figured it out we found water was causing it.

Neither of those threw a CEL by the way.


Rich

 

yeah i'll have to check the fuse box thing out. it does it every once in a while (like when its snowing). i dont beleive the truck has a chip in it. thanks for the info i appreciate it.

 

Crawl underneath the truck where the driver's seat is, There is a square wire plug held in with a bolt. Remove it and clean the terminals with contact cleaner and then apply a coating of dielectric grease. It is a common place for water to get in and cause problems.