Gretting! New member here! Bought the truck 4 months ago. I have a 1998 2.5 2x4 161k miles that has recently been giving me issues. The problem started driving down the highway and the truck completely cut out in terms of power just dead. I have to turn the key off then on and it will fire back up without a beat. I drove it to a gas station to fill because it had a 1/4 tank, I figured maybe there is a low fuel cutoff or something. (On a side note I keep a log of all my miles and mpg per tank and I was about 40 miles short of when I usually fill it up.) Anyways that seemed to fix the issue. I went through that whole tank no issues and then filled it up when I normally fill it up. About 10 minutes into driving it did the cutoff thing again, flipped the key back and forth kept driving. Any ideas? Does the fuel pump have a sensor that kills the ecu if it senses it's not working right?

I appreciate any feedback, hopefully someone knows what is going on!
Will

 

Welcome to the forum

1998 was first year of 3rd generation Rangers, also first year for the 2.5l Lima engine, and first year of Returnless Fuel system, fuel pressure is 60-70psi, previous years used 30-40psi.
Just FYI, nothing to do with the problem

No, there is no cutoff for low fuel or pressure, except engine would stall with low/no fuel pressure.

When engine lost power and you stopped were all the dash lights on, just like before starting an engine, i.e. battery light, CEL(check engine light), and were all the gauges still working?

Just wondering if electrical power was cut, stopping the engine.

Fuel pump is 20 years old and could be the problem, but my 1994 fuel pump is still working, knock on wood :)

When you turn on the key the computer will turn on the fuel pump but ONLY for 2 seconds, so listen for this, turn key on and off as much as you want until you know what the fuel pump sounds like, won't hurt anything, fuel pump is not quiet, you will hear it HUMMMM

next time you have a stall listen for the key on fuel pump for restart, to see if fuel pump is working

Computer does monitor Fuel Pump power, it powers up fuel pump for 2 seconds then waits for engine RPMs to get above 400 before it will power up the pump full time.
This is a safety measure in case of accident or broken fuel line, wouldn't want electric fuel pump to continue to pump out gasoline and feed a possible fire.
Computer would set a code if it was sending power to the fuel pump but didn't "see" power on the wire to the fuel pump, and it would turn on the CEL with that code being set.

The computer power monitor is in the cab, not at the tank so wouldn't detect wiring issue at the tank or a failing pump.

One other thing you can check just after a stall, do not turn ON key, you can turn it off.
On the engine is the Fuel Rail that feeds gasoline to the fuel injectors, on the fuel rail will be a fuel pressure test port, it looks like a tires air valve because that is what it is, a schrader valve, has the small pin in the center that release pressure just like on a tires valve.
Press that center pin to see if there is Fuel Pressure in the system, be careful, if there is pressure it can squirt a long ways.
This could tell you if engine was stalled from lack of Spark or lack of Fuel
If no pressure then yes fuel pump was turned off or shut off on it's own


Under the steering column, above brake pedal, is the ignition switch, it is a slider type switch, the key rotates and a rod pushes and pulls the ignition switch into its 4 positions.
ACC, OFF, RUN, START

Does the key "feel" tight and OK, or loose, if loose RUN could be sliding ignition switch enough to get to OFF, cutting power to spark and fuel