Looking for some advice on my 2003 Ranger XLT. Its the 4.0 V6 with an automatic trans. First of all, I got this truck from a dealer who had the flexplate replaced a few weeks before I purchased it. Anyway, I was driving to work about a month ago and I suddenly lost all power to the drivetrain. Stepping on the gas was causing the engine to rev but no power to the wheels. Had it towed to a shop where the removed the started and discovered that the flexplate was cracked again. Had the torque converter, flexplate, and bearing replaced, ended up costing about $1800. That seemed to fix the issue up until yesterday. I noticed a strange engine sound and after taking a look under the hood, it looked like the crank pulley was out of alignment/wobbly. That coupled with the fact that the engine sounded all around terrible, I took it back to the shop today where they dropped the started and found that the flexplate is cracked AGAIN!! Thats 3 flexplates in about 3 months. The shop is saying that they're not sure why this keeps happening and for the life of me I have no idea either. If anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate it!

 

If the crank pulley was wobbly, you have bigger issues than just the flywheel. You need to verify whether that harmonic balancer is trashed. They're basically rubber insulators, and the rubber breaks apart like a motor or transmission mount and will cause the crank pulley to wobble, and eventually come off.