This has been going on for about 2 years now and I don't know why I let it go that long. Anyway, it's a 2.3 automatic with almost 300,000 miles and it feels like it's making maybe 65-70 HP if that. It literally takes me a good quarter mile just to get up to 55 mph. I've always taken proper care with regular oil changes every 3,000 miles, new spark plugs 30,000 miles ago, new fuel filter, air filter and I never dog it or let anyone else drive it. Also, the battery is about 6 months old. I don't know much about working on vehicles so I'll just describe what's been going on.

Sometimes the truck doesn't want to start and I have to jiggle the negative and positive cables on the battery before it takes off. Then there's sometimes when I go to start it and it barely turns over before it finally catches. There's also times when I start the truck and it will rev up really loud for about 5-6 seconds before coming down. I know that the starting issues are probably due to the old splayed battery wires that I need to replace, but could that loose connection be causing such a huge drop in HP?

 

You need to replace those cables and terminals. They look horrible. As for the HP you only have like 100 and nots not even at the wheels so yeah its slow.

 

I understand that this model Ranger only had 112 HP when new. The point I'm trying to make is that I bought this truck when it had 183,000 miles and power wise it felt like a V6 back then compared to now. Could the loose battery connections have anything to do with this or is my Ranger just an old tired pickup truck that's on it's way out?

 

I have driven that model ranger before and if you think it feels like a V6 then there is something wrong, considering when I test drove it (the 4 banger) and it takes almost a quarter to hit 55 anyway, where the V6 (in my case 4.0L SOHC) has another 100 horses on top of that. But I am thinking those battery cables are bad in my opinion, also check your grounds, and maybe have the electrical system tested, if it isn't electrical, that would knock out possibilities for what could be wrong