Recently (one month) purchased a 1994 ranger with 84,000 miles on it. Runs great when I am driving it. But when my roommate drives it she says it stalls. She states that if she drives the truck for any time or distance with the air conditioner on, if she turns the truck off, it will stall immediatly after restarting it like as soon as the engine turns over. I am thinking it’s a power issue that maybe the airconditioner is draining the power. The part I don’t understand is why I can’t recreate the stalling. She also says that if she revs the engine as it’s stalling the engine stays on, again I have not been able to personally experience this. In my opinion it is either a power issue or a fuel injection issue, any input would be helpful.
I do not know about the ranger in particular, but other fords of that era a similar problem and solution was replacing the fuel pump.
I think that’s a good as any place to start. With “only” 84K on the Ranger or any vehicle that old, some fuel pumps are sensitive to fuel contamination which a seldom driven truck may be a candidate for especially in the ethanol years. With the injection systems also sensitive to fuel pressure, it seems to be quite reasonable.
I think you just have a sticking idle air control valve. That would explain why it starts but immediately stalls but will stay running giving it a little rev.
The nice thing about that “guess” is that you can start by just cleaning it - at a cost of about 1hr time and about $3 worth of throttle body cleaner (or similar).
Thank you Cigroller, dagosa, and waterboy, I will start cheap and move up from there. Just wish I could recreate the problem then I’d have a better idea on exactly what it sounds and feels like.