2000 3.0 power glitch

Fordblue213 · Oct 22, 2016

Here is one I cannot find an answer to thus far:

I was driving my truck home on the interstate and before I got onto an elevated section, the truck seemed to stumble. It turns out that everything electrical reset. The stereo reset, the cruise control shut off, and all the gauges cycled like the key was turned off for a fraction of a second and was turned back on.

I pulled over and looked under the hood with the truck still running and the belts were fine, nothing cooked, battery in good condition, alternator charging fine. I drove the 45 minutes home and it did it 2 more times, different traffic conditions,

I have been over all of the ground connections. The truck has an aftermarket stereo and amps, so I have already run 4 gauge wire from the block to the firewall and from an alternator mounting bolt to the negative side of the battery.

It also has a 4 gauge wire from the alternator output to the battery positive.

I tried moving the key every way possible and it wouldn't do it again. I checked my battery terminals and they are fine. I moved the wires around to the main power fuse under the fuse panel and it ran fine the whole time.

I am offshore for work and can't look at the truck right now, I am just trying to see if anyone has any suggestions for me to try when I get back.

I was considering putting an analog volt meter in the cab run to the battery directly so I can see if the gauge twitches when this happens. I was thinking a battery possibly dying and shorting out randomly, but I would think the alternator could carry the load if that happens, or the battery would fail permanently instead of intermittently.

Thanks

RonD · Oct 22, 2016

Yes, the alternator is powering the electrics with 13.6volts when engine is running(14.6v just after starting)

Same with alternator Ground, battery needs to be there but is only really used to start the engine, and alternator.

So best bet is power wire from engine fuse box to ignition switch, or main power bus in the engine fuse box
Not sure on 2000 but 1999 Ranger feeds cab fuse box and ignition switch from one Maxi Fuse in the engine fuse box

ick · Oct 23, 2016

if the stereo is resetting (like the clock resets time and you lose presets?) then the radio and probably the rest of the truck is losing all power so you can rule out a lot. Usually the ground has multiple points from the battery plus power from a properly working alternator will supply ground to the truck so look for a loose connection on the 150 amp mega fuse at the main power distribution box under the hood on the drivers side. clean the connections if they already tight and beyond that start looking for a voltage drop from battery to mega fuse and from battery to ground.

Fordblue213 · Oct 23, 2016

The stereo didn't lose presets or reset its clock. It like the key is switched off and right back on. Almost as if all ignition and accessory power flickered for a split second before the engine to come to a stop and picked right back up.

The stereo is fairly new, within a year, so it might be able to hold settings if power is lost for only a fraction of a second.

I guess I could drive with a map light on and see if that flickers as well if it happens to do it when I want it to.

mattressmunky · Oct 25, 2016

Check/replace camshaft sensor. My truck did the same thing for two weeks before chk engine light came on.

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Fordblue213 · Oct 26, 2016

You mean the cam position sensor that replaced the distributor?

I'll check it out. I replaced the factory one at 100k miles due to the chirping noise of the bushing going out. I put in a Motorcraft replacement and the truck now has 180,000 miles, so I guess it might be time for that project again.

I just had the upper intake off too to work on an injector and it would have been really easy to get to......

Fordblue213 · Nov 1, 2016

I got home from offshore today, checked the oil and coolant on the truck and started it up. Right away, I got a check engine light: code P0340 camshaft position (cmp) circuit a

So it looks like its time to swap it out again and see if the problem persists.

Thanks for the help in this direction.

Fordblue213 · Nov 10, 2016

I have been driving my F150 while waiting on parts and time to change out the cam position sensor.

I did the swap today. I changed the synchro while I was at it. The old one was still in great shape. Just a little shine to the gear where it rides on the cam gear, no wear at all. I put on a BWD sensor from OReilly auto. We will see if that fixes the issue.

Fordblue213 · Nov 12, 2016

I swapped out the synchro and sensor, I am now getting a P1309.
Looking at the tutorials on here and how the sensor plug should be 60 degrees towards the passenger side from the rear of the engine I think I see my problem. When I pulled the old one, the sponsor plug was pointing nearly straight towards the rear of the truck. When installing the new one, I got the vane in the same position as the one I removed, but rotated the housing more towards the passenger side thinking maybe I got it a tooth off when I did the 100k mile swap.

I'll rotate it back to how it was and see if the code goes away.

It seems like if the vane is a tooth off and the housing has enough room to rotate a tooth's distance to get the sensor back in alignment with the vane, it should be okay.

Maybe that's why I was off from the 60 degree towards the passenger side and never threw a code before. I was a tooth off on everything and got it lined up, just all a tooth clockwise.

Fordblue213 · Nov 14, 2016

I ended up being a tooth off clockwise, so having the sensor pointed straight to the rear of the truck got it close, but not close enough to not throw a code.

Got the alignment tool as a loaner from Autozone and got it all sorted out, part number 84-8400T. Its a 4 piece assortment and my truck used the black one.

The hardest part was getting the engine at top dead center, as there are no pictures specific to a 2000 Ranger 3.0. So here is a picture of how I did it:

When I last shut the truck off, it just happened to come to a stop with the #1 cylinder being near TDC on the compression stroke with the missing tooth pointing at the crank sensor. Like this, the vane was right in the window of the synchro, but this was not TDC on the engine.

After much searching to see where the actual timing pointer is on this engine, it is just past the crank sensor hidden in the shadows on this picture.

It ended up being that if you put the "TDC" mark on the balancer directly under the crank sensor, then the "0" mark on the balancer is right under the pointer cast into the timing chain cover.

When I rolled the engine over to this, the vane was now past the window in the window of the synchro, so I had to pull it and move it one tooth counter clockwise looking down at it.

The "60 degrees for a 3.0 and 75 degrees for a 4.0" are where you have the arrow of the alignment tool pointing when you begin to stab it. As the teeth engage, it will rotate clockwise and the final position will be more like 30 degress away from the rear of the motor.

Used the alignment tool and got it to drop right in all at once. Put the sensor back on and fired up the truck. Its running much happier now and I have been to Autozone to return the tool and then to lunch and back home. No CEL thus far.

Fordblue213 · Nov 16, 2016

The truck seems to be running fine with the new synchro. It is back to wanting to run smooth some times and have a random miss other times. When there is a miss, it throws a code for a misfire on cylinder 6.

From what I am reading, this can be a common issue and it usually comes down to being a plug, wire, injector or compression problem. I am going to pull the plug tomorrow and look to see if anything is obviously wrong. I picked up the compression tested from autozone tonight and will run a compression test on cylinder 6 while I have the plug out.

Can I just pull the wiring harness connector from the coil pack to keep the truck from starting when cranking to do the test?

The only time I have had to compression test an engine, it had a distributor and I just pulled the coil wire.

Thanks

Karu89 · Dec 29, 2016

Just press the pedal fully down aka wide open crack the engine

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2000 3.0 power glitch

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