I inherited my grandfather 1988 Ranger. (only 56K miles) It is a very basic truck with a 5 speed manual 2.0L. It is equipped with a carburetor and manual fuel pump. The truck had sat for a couple of year and I ended up replacing the gas tank, sending unit and fuel pump. It ran great for a day and then it started losing power and stalling out like it isn't getting gas. If I let it sit for a day it will fire right up and idle no problem but as soon as I drive it 100 yards or so it loses power and dies.

It seems like a loss of fuel pressure maybe? Any thoughts of what I can check to determine the problem?

 

Welcome to the forum

Do 50/50 test to see if its a fuel or spark issue
Test is very basic and has been around since the 1890s, first spark plug engine, so time tested, lol

Remove air cleaner from carb
Start engine, REV it or drive it until it stalls
Try to restart, if it doesn't start
Spray fuel, gas or ether, into carb and try to restart
If it starts by adding fuel manually then you do have a fuel flow issue
If it still doesn't start then its a spark issue
50/50 instant results

Float valve in carb can stick, so its letting in fuel a drip at a time, so full float bowl after sitting awhile, once running the bowl gets emptied and engine stalls, so have to wait for enough drips to get it full again, and repeat

TFI spark module and coil, either can quit working after they get warm, 100yard seem pretty fast for that but not unheard of

 

It will start if I spray starter fluid in the carb so I don't think it is spark.

It is weird because I can start it and let it run idle for 4 minutes or so and it seems fine but as soon as I drive it, it konks out. It doesn't really completely stall out but doesn't have enough power to drive. When I pump the gas pedal the engine doesn't rev. I experimented around and took the gas cap off and it ran idle for 10 minutes and I finally shut it off. I tried to drive it with the cap off and it still loss power.

 

Rebuild the carb

Carbs have an Accelerator pump that is kept full from fuel in the float bowl
After engine stalls, pump the throttle linkage while looking down inside the carb, you should see gasoline squirting out in a stream from the accelerator pump, not spurts, a STREAM
You won't because float bowl is empty
Rebuild carb

 

Ok great. I will see if that fixes the problem. Thanks

 

Also I assumed you replaced the fuel filter in the frame rail when you said "replaced the gas tank, sending unit and fuel pump"
If not then replace that first

Also on some carbs there would be a small filter on the end of the fuel line from the pump at the carb

 

I know you won't believe me but I don't see a fuel filter anywhere. I followed the fuel line from the tank along the rail to the manual fuel pump and then from the pump to the carburetor and there is no fuel filter.

 

That would be out of spec for any Ranger(any vehicle) of any year

Did you find a connection between the gas tank line and the line that goes to fuel pump, that's where a filter would have been, previous owner may have just connected the 2 lines together and never put a filter back in
Not very big, can look like this: https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/...ZSf/s-l300.jpg

Is there a filter on the carb?
Would be on the metal line at the carb

If there were no filters then yes, carb for sure needs a rebuild and passages and Jets need to be cleaned out
Install a filter, for sure, between tank and pump, required, not optional

Filter at the carb is an extra precaution, users choice, so optional
This is actually used to prevent a fire
If some debris get lodged in the float valve, so holds the valve open, carb can overflow and gasoline can get on the exhaust manifold.............poof a fire
Not really an issue on the 4cyl Lima engines since exhaust is on the other side of the engine, but on a V6 or V8.........well like was said its a precaution

 

I will look again but I didn't see a filter. Sounds like a carb rebuild is where I need to start.

 

And add a filter, required not optional