My wife's 99 four cylinder Ranger just stopped yesterday; quit on her while rolling down the road. She tried to restart, but it would only crank, doesn't even try to fire.
So I've wasted today checking everything me, my family, my friends, random mechanics and passing homeless people could think of: fuel pump, fuel filter, sparkplug wires, coils, fuses, relays, fuel pump cutoff switch, battery, alternator, fuel lines, air intake, fuel pressure and, of course, everything checks. Right now I am waiting on the computer to reset and wondering which bridge I should push the truck off, so I can at least get the insurance money for it.
Any help?

 

did you check the starter silonoid its probly not but hell never know..

 

There are actual mechanics you can get an opinion from lol. Take it in, ask em to find whats wrong, then fix yourself!

Aaron

oh, and homeless people lie for food, don't trust them

 

does it have spark, can you here the fuel pump turn on when you turn the key on.

Chad

 

how many miles on it? chances are the timing belt snapped. on the front plastic cover on the engine there is a round rubber plug up near the top, pull that plug out and have someone crank it over and see if the camshaft spins with the crank when its cranking. if it does not spin then your timing belt snapped and no matter what you try it will never start until you replace the timing belt with all the pulleys lined up properly.

 

Prior to the '00 4.0L Ranger I have now.... I had another '00 Ranger which was a 3.0L FFV. Owned the truck for 2 years and then suddenly the engine started dieing while on the highway, in residential areas, dry and wet weather.... No common denominator....
First time this happened I had the truck towed (nice to have AAA) to the dealer under warranty..... Dealer had the truck for 2 days; and found NOTHING !!!
A full diagnostic was done and NO CODES were found ????
The next couple times the truck died... I found that if I waited... the engine would restart. The waiting period varied and this happened in dry, wet, cool and hot weather.... Tried troubleshooting the problem myself, but each time the problem would not surface.
After the Ford dealer having the truck four times for diagnostics and troubleshooting and still nothing was found; I decided to consult a friend that is a Jeep dealerships head electronics specialist.
He had encountered problems several times where NO CODES were available during troubleshooting. Unless the OBD II reader is connected at the moment the problem occurs..... diagnosing the problem can be hard to locate !!!!
The final straw was when the truck died during one of the HEAVY rains San Diego recieved during the winter of '04 and spring of '05. Once the truck restarted.... I drove immediately to the Ford dealer and traded the truck.
Never did find out what caused the problem....

OR 4x4

 

could be a sensor of some kind

 

if it was a sensor it would have popped up as a code of some sort....i would imagine.

 

Three basics--air, fuel, spark. Start with the easy stuff first.

Check for any blown fuses, or loose ground connections.

Check to see the air filter isn't plugged or oiled up. No collapsed air ducting, obstructions, etc.

Turn the key to on, listen for fuel pump. If you don't hear it, check the fuses. If you do, check to see your fuel filter isn't plugged up. Pop the line from the downstream side of the filter (truck OFF!), you should get fuel running out. Disconnect the line at the fuel rail or carb, turn the truck on, see if you have fuel there.

You say the engine cranks, so that will eliminate the starter. Does it crank normally, or slowly like it has a weak battery?

Pull a wire from a spark plug and secure it close to a ground, like the engine block. Crank the engine and see if you have a fat, hot looking spark. No spark could be a bad coil or ignition module. Do you have a distributor or coil packs on your truck? If distributor, pop the cap off and check the rotor and cap for damage.

From your description of what happened, it doesn't sound like a timing belt. Those letting go at speed usually make all kinds of expensive noises. I'm going to guess an ignition problem. Have had the same symptoms on two of my other vehicles and it was ignition both times.

If all the above checks ok, get a mechanic to help you out.

 

might want to learn a bit about the lima 4-cyl engine before making statements like that. it is a non-interference engine which means the timing belt can break and nothing in the engine will hit, hence no nasty noises from the engine if it breaks. what he described sounds EXACTLY like the symptoms of a broken timing belt on a lima engine. which a broken timing belt is a REALLY REALLY easy thing to check for. it's also quite easy to replace too.

 

It was the timing belt. The mechanic we had look at it said it was cool. He's a moron and unfortunately we still have to deal with him sometime, since he's a relative. The belt snapped and now we are looking at taking the front part of the truck apart, according to Haynes, to get the thing changed. Anybody got a quick and dirty way to do it?
Getting tired of my wife hollering for her truck. Of course, I told her not to buy anything from Car Mart. Hence my SN.
Thanks for the suggestions btw, guys.

 

Quick and dirty? Chainsaw!

otherwise i bet tireiron knows

 

Good Call!

 

its actually a relatively easy job... lets see if i can give the dirty way. the haynes manual is pretty decent with its steps too.

1. pull off the fan and the serpentine belt.
2. loosen the crankshaft bolt, it can kind of be a pain to get it loose sometimes and there are some tricks to getting the crank immobilized. depending on auto or stick there are different ways.
3. pull one of the plugs from cylinder 1, then you need to spin teh crank by hand to TDC on the compression stroke, so when you spin it and you feel the air blow past your finger over the number 1 hole thats the compression stroke.
4. pull off the crank pulley and then work off the timing belt cover, you may need to remove one of the accessory brackets to get it off, i dont know what gets in the way on the 99.
5. with the cover removed, line up the triangle on the camshaft sprocket with the triangle on the back cover at about 4 o'clock and line up the diamond on the aux shaft sprocket with the diamond on the back cover.
6. loosen the pivot bolt and the other bolt on the timing belt tensioner (you need to loosen both) and rotate the tensioner back out of the way then tighten down the other bolt to hold it out of the way.
7. work the belt onto the sprockets starting fromt eh crank up around the aux to the cam and then onto the tensioner being sure there is no slack between the 3 sprockets.
8. loosen the tensioner and gently let it tighten up the belt.
9. before tightening anything rotate the crank at least 2 times by hand and make sure all of the alignment marks line up, if not pull the belt and fix it so everything stays lined up (TDC on the crank is having the keyway at 12 o'clock)
10. if everything looks good and stays lined up tighten up both bolts of the tensioner, put the cover back on, put the crank pulley back on, torque the crank bolt, put the serpentine and fan on and you're done.

thats the low down of it, anymore specific questions feel free to ask, and depending on mileage you may want to replace the thermostat and waterpump while you are in there as it is very easy with everything off.

 

That's how we ended up doing it, and it runs like a dream...but now we have new problems. The speedometer doesn't work, it sputters on left turns, won't shift at all and the door chime stays on constantly even if the door is closed. Any suggestions?

 

Bump!

At least you made good progress man!

Aaron

 

did you clip any wires inbetween any parts? how about wires still unplugged? what about fuses? what did you disconnect when doing the timing belt? (i assume these problems were not there before replacing the belt)

 

Check all of your grounds,by simply ohming them out.A loose or coroded ground conection,can cause alot of problems.