Well I have a problem and I'm bringing it to ya'll here for my first post. My Ranger is a 98, 4.0 V6 4x4, with 169,000 miles on her. I just got this truck around Christmas time and the old man who had it took extremely good care of it. He has all the records of every oil change and everything. Right now the truck seems to jerk forward and backward when I get to around 35mph. Mostly when I get past that speed up to past 40 then she's alright and sounds fine. It sounds like it's going in and out of gear or in and out of OD. I'm not really sure on the motor, that's not my specialty.

I also took the exhaust off today and am running just straight cat. converter. What are the advantages and disadvanteges to this? It also pops when I run it, how do I fix that?

 

Sounds to me like maybe the TQ convertor clutch is not acting right. I'm pretty sure that under easy driving conditions it's around 40mph where it goes into lockup.

There is no problem running just a cat.

As far as popping. That's not good. When does it do this? Load? No Load? Accelerating? Constant speed? Deceleration?

Rich

 

It starts popping when I start accelerating, more when I go down on the accelerator a little harder. Pretty much when I'm trying to get up to speed quickly

 

So it sounds like its load related. I'd guess its something in the ignition system. Coil maybe? I donno.. when it comes to electrical stuff I'm not that good. But at the same time.. in all my years of shade tree mechanics.. what you describe has usually been a bad coil or *something* in the ignition system.

Rich

 

Thanks, so how do you suggest I go about fixing the jerking problem? I'm terrible when it comes down to anything with motors.

 

Sounds to me like you can either guess and just replace parts. Or have it diagnosed by a professional.

It's kinda like going to a doctor. Sometimes you can figure it out on your own and just deal with it. Sometimes.. not.


With that many miles it could be one thing.. or several things at once.

Rich

 

Well this is gonna be a b*tch. Thanks for the help, any other input would be good from anyone else. You think it could just be something basic like new tranny filter or new fluid Wydo?

 

That would be the first thing I'd try. Drop the pan, install a $3 drain plug, new filter, and refill. Drive it a couple hundred miles and then re-drain and fill.

If it gets better or goes away then you know it was degraded fluid. I'd drive another couple hundred miles and re-drain/fill just to get mostly fresh fluid in there.

If it doesn't get better you probably ought to go see a tranny shop.


btw, draining the fluid yourself.. your only changing about 1/3rd the fluid when you drop the pan. The only way to change it 100% at one time is to have a professional flush or to disconnect the tranny cooler line and pump it all out. Which I'd not recommend if you've never done it before. If doing it that way you really need two people and to NOT let it go dry.

Rich