Hello, I have recently encountered several problems with my 2001 Ranger. I was driving on the highway and realized that my Ford ranger would not accelerate above about 50mph. Pushing on the gas pedal to no avail, I pulled off to the nearest exit to go park and diagnose my issue. However, when the intersection stoplight turned green, my truck would not accelerate. It made strange thumping noises, and was barely moving at a crawl. A few minutes went by, and I managed to get it to start moving slightly to a nearby turn. However, the steering appeared to be extremely stiff, and I had to really crank it to get it to turn. Also, the brakes require a lot of force now to get them to activate as well. Lastly, whenever I try to start the truck now, it starts... but slowly winds down to either a very weak grumble, or it just totally dies.

I have no clue what could be causing all of this so suddenly, but I have heard it may be a fuel pump problem as gas may not be getting to the engine properly. However, I'm not sure if that would explain the funky steering and brakes. Any idea what could be causing all this??

 

Fuel pressure needs checking for sure.

Your steering and brakes are powered by the engine - check your fuel pressure first.

 

With everything going out like that at once...could have thrown a belt. Have you checked to see if your belts are still on there?

Like Madmaxx led to, maybe you lost a fuel pump and were getting just enough to keep it running. Would the engine rev up at all and just not speed up? Or would it not even rev up? Were the lights dimming at all?

 

Step one

Open the hood and look at the engine and accessories.

Make sure everything looks normal ( like mentioned check your belt or belts also )

Check all your fluids.

Did the check engine light come on before this or has it been on all along and went ignored?

Hopefully you did not spit a belt and keep driving it until you blew the head gasket.

 

That exact experience you described happened to me a few weeks ago. I was on the highway, couldn't break 50, so I took an exit, came to a stop, then had trouble getting going again. Then my brakes went, then my power steering. Eventually, the dash lit up and I E-braked to a stop. After that I had a no-start. Changed the fuel filter and the truck started again but didn't last(another no-start a few miles later), so then I replaced the fuel pump. All is well.