I have a 1996 Ranger, 3.0 V6, 5 speed with air. Two recurring problems.

1) Sometimes when I kick it out of gear, the revs don't drop. They stick at about 2200 rpm until I come to a near complete stop. Sometimesthe revs drop to1400 just like they are supposed to do. One time kicked it out of gear and revs increased to 2200 rpm and stayed there.

Not the accelerator cable.

Engine seems to ping a lot and the "sticking" problem seems worse when the pings are worse. Doesn't ping all the time. Changing gas doesn't help, changing octane doesn't help, octane boost doesn't help. Had fuel system flush and that doesn't help either problem.

Dealer is at a complete loss and of course he claims it doesn't do it when he drives it. So what is the problem? How do I cure the pings and the sticking?

2) Shock absorbers. Only have 84000 miles on it and will soon be on my fourth set of shocks as the rear ones are leaking. Never carry any significant load. Can somebody recommend the best shock available? Have tried Ford and aftermarket.

 

Ever any CEL along with the problems..

 

ENGINE: At 84,000 miles, when was the last time you performed any basic maintainence? Plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter and so on...Also when replacing the plugs/wires, use a dab of dielectrical grease in the boot ends to eliminate any possiblity of SPARK LEAKAGE. Since you have a since coil pack (actually 3-in-1), you can get pinging due to spark leakage on the coil pack causing cross firing.

SHOCKS: My personal preference for the Ranger/Explorer are the Monroe REFLEX. Ran these on my 1997 Explorer Sport. Made the tires hold the road way better then the OEM and the set of Rancho's I tried. I will be installing these on my 2004 Freestar in the front and a set of SENSA-TRAC LOAD ADJUSTING SHOCK ABSORBER (Part # 58624) in the rear.

 

Many thanks for the replies.

Never had a CEL.

Also, mainenance has been very regular according to the maintenance schedule. Very finicky about doing so as much of my driving is short trips and because of the location - Tucson AZ.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Checked my 04 Freestar with auto tranny. Runs at 2200 RPM when in neutral at 60MPH. RPMs slowly drop as speed decreases. Thismust benormal so that the engine RPMs are up to speed with the tranny speed for re-engagement into drive as my 00 Taurus does the same thing.

 

Truck has a 5 speed manual transmission. Condition is not normal. Even dealer says it should drop to 1400 rpm.

Are there any real mechanics out there? It seems the ones I deal with - all they can do is plug in the computer - look at the screen and say every thing is ok. Is there any one out there who can diagnose based on symptoms. The new crop of "mechanics" are clueless.

 

RH20Man is correct 1996 should not maintain engine speed to match vehical speed. This is a OBD2 trick. However, you may want to do some resistance measurements on TPS. It sounds as if it may have a dead spot.