Occasional hard starting

shovelmike

shovelmike

New Member
99 Ranger supercab 4.0 auto: Occasionally it is hard to start, turns over fine. I don't hear the pump prime the system the first time I turn the ignition on, so it's off and on a few times til I hear it prime, even then at times it acts like it's not getting sufficient fuel. I replaced the ignition switch, no change- fuel pump relay, no change- fuel filter, seemed restricted and seemed to have fixed it for a couple of weeks. Back to the same problem, I checked the fuel pressure.....the Haynes manual specifies 56-72 psi. key on engine running or not. With the key on and engine not running I only show 25 psi., but with engine running it is 65 psi. I shut it back off and got back under the hood, and it was at 25 psi. and slowly falling.
I have a pump, sender, regulator assembly on hand ready to install in the tank, just want to make sure that's what it needs before I go busting knuckles changing it out. Does it sound like the regulator leaking?
 
Sounds to me like the pump is going. Go ahead and throw that baby in there and see if it helps. Can't do no harm to put a new one in :D
 
sounds like the pump is on the way out the door. mine does this occansionally but not often enough for me to change it till i go to the 255lph pump for my turbo set up.


just take your bed off to change the pump, it makes it so much easier than dropping the tank
 
Thanks

Thanks guys, I probably will lift the bed off. I have a bed liner, I wrestled with it a few days ago to see how hard it was to pop out of there, I'll probably recruit my sons to help me manhandle it and the bed. I found that I also need a larger torx bit than I have in my garage, I will swap out that thing, and see if it helps.
Thanks again for the help. Sincerely: Shovelmike
 
Thanks

Yes, thanks, lifting from the center worked great. I got the bed off and pump/regulator/float changed. My wife and son carried one side of the bed and I got the other, just need to recruit him again when he's back home tomorrow to help set it back on.
Hopefully that fixes things!
 
try starting it with the bed off to test if it works better now. you can always drive w/o a bed if need be. just rehook your tail lights back up and zip-tie them to frame
 
I definitely agree with you on the wisdom of trying it out before the bed's on, just in case the pump's faulty. It still seems that you sometimes have to switch the ignition off and on a few times before the pump will prime, don't understand what's up with that: Relay, ign sw., filter. and pump are all new!
There have never been any performance problems once it starts.
 
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have u checked for power at the pump with a test light or multi meter?

could have a bad ground, i have a chevy 1500 that had a problem like yours but it always had great pressure, it happen to be the ground off the pump was bad from rust and corrosion ( love ohio )

i did everything you did and then after everything it was a bad ground.
 
Thanks, ZRanger. I didn't check for power, got the bed back on now, I assume that the ground comes off the wiring loom somewhere under there, I'll see if I can trace it down. We get a lot of Winter road salt here in Missouri too, so that is a likely concern. I'll let you know what I find.
Hey....I'll bet that 383 Camaro is fun to drive!
 
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