i just bought my 3rd ranger. my two previous were 4.0s and ran like tanks. my new to me rangers a 94 2.3 5 speed and today i put some gas in it and a soon as i started it, it sounded like a dirtbike and i had no power and everytime i clutched it stalled. after a 10 mile drive i was pulling into my driveway and it died and all the lights went out and nothing but my check engine light is on now and nothing will turn on. ive only had it 3 weeks

 

did it run fine prior to this? and how many miles are on her?

 

alternator maybe?

see if you can get ahold of a scanner and check the codes

 

it ran great prior to this and i ended put a battery in it it started but still ran bad. its got about 160,000 on the motor and the guy said the tranny and clutch have about 10,000. ive put a new coil on it and had to put a fuel pump in it to. i tried to see if i could lemon law it but i do all the work on my vehicles myself so i cant. but ive put less than 3,000 miles on it and ive had to put about $300+ in it

 

my code was somethin about "left side diag low" and when i looked it up it said it could be a vacumm leak but sometimes it runs good and sometimes it doesnt and when i put a vacumm gauge on it my readings were like it jumped time

 

well its deffinatly a vacum leak, there should be a vacume diagram under the hood, so you can look at that and check all the hoses.

 

It does sound like vacuum. Check the fuel pressure regulator vacuum and verify it's correct. I think that if the pressure is improper and therefore not dumping the proper fuel...but I'm not under your hood so it's your eyes we'll have to use. Check the vacuum lines all over the engine for leaks and if you see none, one could be clogged. My trick to clean vacuum clogs is to have a bowl with some seafoam in it and let each vacuum line suck a little from it slowly. Seafoam is a general treatment to clean fuel systems and carbon deposits from just about anything and is available at most all auto part stores. Hope this helps and let me know what you find.

 

ill try that but how do i check my fuel pressure regulator?

 

will a vacumm leak cause a misfire? i talked to a couple master techs i work with and they said the 2.3s were bad for jumpin time

 

I think your regulator can be checked by vacuum and really only by disconnecting all injectors and seeing if fuel comes out. I have never heard of a misfire from a vaccum leak, I have seen more emission light codes thrown from a vacuum leak and a shaky engine at idle, but if you have like literally no vacuum then yea I would probably say that it could cause a misfire. What is defined as jumpin time? I doubt that the engine would lose timing from anything and I've never heard any issues with the 2.3L for timing, but Im not the genius...I just know what I know and can try to help.

 

At 160K it is due for a timing belt.
The one on it now may have jumped a tooth.

 

yea it could have definitely jumped a tooth on the timing belt...I forgot you have a 93 and I have an 03. Mine is chain driven and I didn't even think about how many miles you had. I would say there are many other possibilities, but definitely start exploring.

 

i was told the 2.3s were bad for scheering the keys on the crank but idk i cant just rip it apart and check its my daily driver