Fords4Us
Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2012
- Messages
- 51
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 8
- Location
- Snohomish, WA
- Vehicle Year
- 1983
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger
- Engine Size
- 2.8L
- Transmission
- Manual
It's been a long time since I've posted. I did a Duraspark conversion on my truck about 8 years ago, and it ran well for many years after that. Then I started having an odd, sporadic electrical gremlin which I could never track down. I ended up parking the Ranger for a few years, figured I'd end up coming back to it and solving the problem. Well, it turns out that time is now. I'd like to get the Ranger back in service. So here's a description of the issue. Maybe someone here can help me figure it out.
The pattern always plays out like this:
1. I'm driving up a big hill, generally in either 2nd or 3rd gear, so my RPMs are relatively high as the engine is under considerable load.
2. For whatever reason, I need to shift, so I put in the clutch. <BOOM!> The engine stalls, and I lose all electrical.
3. I usually have enough momentum to try to restart the engine by popping the clutch. I can feel the vacuum of the engine pulling in fuel to try to restart, but there's no ignition. If I'm stopped and try to crank the engine over, I don't even have my starter.
4. And here's the kicker - if I wait just a minute or two, I can restart and drive away like nothing happened. The problem doesn't reappear until I'm driving up some other hill.
It doesn't happen on every hill, but it happens often enough that the truck became unreliable, which is why we parked it. My hunch is that either the distributor or ignition module is overheating, and temporarily failing. I know distributors do eventually burn out, and I've read that the ignition modules also need to be replaced every few years of regular driving. I can go ahead and replace both, but that feels like a shotgun approach. Can anyone give me any solid ideas of specifically what might be happening? As always, thanks in advance!
The pattern always plays out like this:
1. I'm driving up a big hill, generally in either 2nd or 3rd gear, so my RPMs are relatively high as the engine is under considerable load.
2. For whatever reason, I need to shift, so I put in the clutch. <BOOM!> The engine stalls, and I lose all electrical.
3. I usually have enough momentum to try to restart the engine by popping the clutch. I can feel the vacuum of the engine pulling in fuel to try to restart, but there's no ignition. If I'm stopped and try to crank the engine over, I don't even have my starter.
4. And here's the kicker - if I wait just a minute or two, I can restart and drive away like nothing happened. The problem doesn't reappear until I'm driving up some other hill.
It doesn't happen on every hill, but it happens often enough that the truck became unreliable, which is why we parked it. My hunch is that either the distributor or ignition module is overheating, and temporarily failing. I know distributors do eventually burn out, and I've read that the ignition modules also need to be replaced every few years of regular driving. I can go ahead and replace both, but that feels like a shotgun approach. Can anyone give me any solid ideas of specifically what might be happening? As always, thanks in advance!