Off Topic Forum

2000 Ford Ranger. 66K Miles. Just rebuilt the entire front end, due to a lack of grease. Of course, all the joints were 'lubricated for life'. They stop living when the grease runs dry.

Anyway, rebuilt the front end and put shocks all around. Truck started throwing error codes and missing. WHAT?

Short story made much longer. Truck finally stopped twice as I was returning from reading the codes again. Managed to get it running and get home. Codes indicated a vacuum leak. Swell. Just swell.

Open the hood and the rubber pipe from the air filter on the left, and runs to the intake on the right has fallen completely off on one end. Yeah, a little leak.

Now, for whatever reason, this hollow piece of plastic pipe has no less than three sensors on it. One by the air filter, one in the middle, and one at the intake side of the engine.

And those three sensors apparently have to all see the same things for the truck to run. If they disagree, you are now a pedestrian.

Gawd, gimme a six cylinder with a carb and points. These things are starting to scare me.

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Wayne Sanders
Rose Lodge, OR
(TD 4288)

"I don't care to belong to any club that accepts people like me"-joined Willamette Valley Club in 2011

79/65 MGB - Carmine- V-6 - T-5

This car is now very nearly completely done. Sure to find something else, but not now.........And 12 years later, I'm starting to fix things that were new when we built the car. It's pretty well de-bugged!

Modern?!? A 2000 model is 24 years old!

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Eric Russell ~ Mebane, NC
1961 MGA #61, 1981 Alfa Romeo GTV6, 1984 Alfa Romeo Spider, 1991 Honda ST1100

Hey, anything only 24 years old is just off the showroom floor to me!

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Wayne Sanders
Rose Lodge, OR
(TD 4288)

"I don't care to belong to any club that accepts people like me"-joined Willamette Valley Club in 2011

79/65 MGB - Carmine- V-6 - T-5

This car is now very nearly completely done. Sure to find something else, but not now.........And 12 years later, I'm starting to fix things that were new when we built the car. It's pretty well de-bugged!

After I replaced the v/c gaskets on my Tacoma it had a lean code. I made a smoke machine and found a leak at the throttle body gasket. I guess when they say ‘single use’ they really mean it.
I still have 99’ of extra vaping wire if you need some a make your own smoke machine.

I agree with Wayne! My truck is a 2003 that I bought in Nov of 2002

However while my Cherokee is a 2001, but my wife's Subaru is a 2017

I bought an Autel BX 808 scanner. The downside of that scanner is the Technical troubleshooter is YouTube.
But the price is only $500.
And then there is the All Data DIY. $30 for 30 days for one car only. And $60 per years.
So I have a 2009 F150 with a windows switch issue and no heater fan. So now we have the can bus issue. So you have to figure out if one component on the can bus is pulling the voltage down or if is just worn components.
Which requires an oscilloscope because a Fluke meter only gives a voltage average and not a true pattern.
So I think I will go with a Pico 2204 with Hantek accessories.
The tool thing never ends.

If you have a sensor failure on a newer car never use aftermarket sensors. The calibration and durability of a sensor such as a Duralast is not good enough for the modern cars.

2000 Ranger?

You got one from the golden age of automotive engineering.

It's only gotten worse.

The thing that gets me about this whole thing is that three little sensors can shut down an otherwise totally fine engine.

The only difference between running and not running is the sensors.

You'd a thunk they'd have put in a "limp home" mode or something.

---

Wayne Sanders
Rose Lodge, OR
(TD 4288)

"I don't care to belong to any club that accepts people like me"-joined Willamette Valley Club in 2011

79/65 MGB - Carmine- V-6 - T-5

This car is now very nearly completely done. Sure to find something else, but not now.........And 12 years later, I'm starting to fix things that were new when we built the car. It's pretty well de-bugged!

If I remember the Ford strategy correctly. The truck will run with the mass air sensor or the air charge temperature sensor unplugged. The computer assigns a default setting. We used to diagnose the airflow sensors that way.

My newest vehicle is a 1993 GMC C3500 flatbed truck. As long as I can keep fixing this truck and my older vehicles I will not buy anything newer. Sometimes newer technology is more trouble than it's worth to me.

Here is my solution for the complexity of modern trucks. The 1993 Toyota. $400 from my older brother.

My 2004 Ranger had a similar problem and it turned out a rat or something similar chewed the line at the filler tube and caused a vacuum leak.

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Gary

Murphy's law

Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe, and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he'll have to touch it to be sure.

Right there w/ you Rick. I’ve been driving my ‘96 Tacoma since ‘02. It’s ‘modern’ but still pretty simple.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-04-16 07:58 PM by PaulP.

1986 Ranger bought in 1987. No computer! Has 290 thousand miles on it and still runs fine. Took it off the road last year and just use it on the place for light work. Carbs been replaced and body's falling apart, but it's been a good truck. I wouldn't buy a new one!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-04-17 09:37 AM by Paul J.

Here in the UK there is a current story regarding a recent electric/battery car from a well known French company. The heater fails and then the A/C compressor fails (explodes?!!). while the car is still under warrantee. The garage finds various excuses for not immediately fixing the problem and the warrantee expires. The owner then finds the heater is needed but can now only be repaired at his cost. The result is a bill for (equiv.) $11,000 from the manufacturer.

Net result; one car a couple of years old and now going to the crusher. Not one case but many. Who needs electronics to ruin your day?