Tach problem

Stinger · Jan 12, 2006

Dunno...why don't you unplug one of the coil packs and see if the tach reads half.

Shawneebear93 · Jan 21, 2006

Well I haven't gotten around to fixing the car yet, no money and no time since school started back up. Car is still running great, save for the low tach and check engine light, even after ~75 miles of driving or so. Does anyone see this as terrible on the engine? Being that I have to put off fixing it? If it's a problem I'll get the money and do it tonight or tomorrow, but if not, I'll do it next weekend.
Thanks for all your help guys.

glowstang93 · Jan 21, 2006

Has it died on you yet? Mine actually physically stopped running when the check engine light came on and the rpm's dropped. I depend on my car for my daily transportation and really didn't want to be footing it to work. If you have other means of transportation it can wait, but as pointed out in other posts on this issue, it will only get worse. If you don't get it fixed, make sure you got good sneakers

Stinger · Jan 21, 2006

I drove mine like that for about 1.5 years...it was an intermittant problem but the CE light was probably on 50-60% of the time. It won't do any harm to the engine.

If it leaves you stranded...wait 30-45 minutes and it will fire up and drive home.

Shawneebear93 · Jan 22, 2006

The CE light has not come off since it first popped up, but it has not died either. It is my sole means of transportation so I'm going to get to it soon. The only place I really drive it is to work, and I'll live if I'm late for that!

Shawneebear93 · Feb 19, 2006

UPDATE

I bought an ICM today from AutoZone. $109.99. Came home, removed the old one and replace it. Tach is still reading half and the CE light is still on. So I drove it around the block and nothing has changed.
Then I realized I forgot to disconnect the negative battery cable (as the directions say), would that cause this result?
Or does the computer need a few days or miles logged to accept the ICM, or do I need the codes reset???

glowstang93 · Feb 19, 2006

I never disconnected my battery when replacing mine, so I doubt that is your problem. When I had the same problem, I replaced the coil packs also and so far so good. Coil packs were $60 each from O'Reilly's . Did you ever have the codes pulled or take it to a shop?

Shawneebear93 · Feb 19, 2006

glowstang93 said:
I never disconnected my battery when replacing mine, so I doubt that is your problem. When I had the same problem, I replaced the coil packs also and so far so good. Coil packs were $60 each from O'Reilly's . Did you ever have the codes pulled or take it to a shop?

I took it to my mechanic when the problem first arose and he pulled the codes. He wrote them down, but I don't remember them right now. In an earlier post I wrote in this thread I listed a description of the codes I could remember. Maybe I'll replace the coil packs next weekend?

Shawneebear93 · Feb 25, 2006

Anyone else have any ideas? If it's obviously not the ICM I'm going to return it and ... either leave it alone or what? Coil packs? I'd like to know by the weekend what I'm going to do so I can fix it over spring break.

Stinger · Feb 27, 2006

Swap coil locations (front to back, back to front) and see if the dead spark plugs follow the coils (switch sides) or not. If the loss of spark follows one of the coils, it is bad, if not...the coils are still good.

Shawneebear93 · Feb 27, 2006

Stinger said:
Swap coil locations (front to back, back to front) and see if the dead spark plugs follow the coils (switch sides) or not. If the loss of spark follows one of the coils, it is bad, if not...the coils are still good.

Where are they? Can I get a picture anyone? And what do I need to get to see if they have spark or not?

glowstang93 · Feb 27, 2006

Here is a link to Advance Auto parts site. This is the picture of one coil pack. The coil packs are what your spark plug wires connect to. One end connects to the coil pack and the other end to your plugs. Remember don't get the wires mixed up or that will be another problem

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=BOR&mfrpartnumber=E96&parttype=190&ptset=A

Shawneebear93 · Mar 28, 2006

Got it back from the shop today. Said it was the ignition coil, O2 sensor, and apparantly the wiring harness was melted?
Didn't get a bill yet.
Oh and they put the tires on the Ponies! Pics tomorrow!

glowstang93 · Mar 28, 2006

tealtiger93 said:
Got it back from the shop today. Said it was the ignition coil, O2 sensor, and apparantly the wiring harness was melted?
Didn't get a bill yet.
Oh and they put the tires on the Ponies! Pics tomorrow!

Glad you got it back and running. I didn't think our cars had ignition coils, but when I did a search on a parts site, it came up with the coil packs. So did he replace one or both coil packs? Which wiring harness was melted? Just curious. Later.

Shawneebear93 · Mar 28, 2006

glowstang93 said:
So did he replace one or both coil packs? Which wiring harness was melted? Just curious. Later.

Not sure on either account. My Mom talked to him and all she knew was it was the coil pack(s), O2 sensor and a melted wiring harness.

Shawneebear93 · Apr 3, 2006

glowstang93 said:
So did he replace one or both coil packs? Which wiring harness was melted? Just curious. Later.

He replaced one ignition coil ($96.25). The wiring from the O2 sensor to the computer fell on the header and melted ($77 for the sensor and $28 for the wiring).

FVBonura · Oct 7, 2010

I have the same problem

My 92 2.3L is doing the same thing. The tach is running at half the reading it should be, the check engine light comes on and stays on, but otherwise the car runs fine.

I pulled the plug on the front coil pack and the car ran worse. I pulled the plug on the rear coil pack and there was no change. Pulling either coil pack plug resulted in the tach reading zero. I am guessing something is wrong with the rear coil pack but I differ to your wisdom and advice.

Delray Dude · Oct 13, 2010

FVBonura said:
My 92 2.3L is doing the same thing. The tach is running at half the reading it should be, the check engine light comes on and stays on, but otherwise the car runs fine.

I pulled the plug on the front coil pack and the car ran worse. I pulled the plug on the rear coil pack and there was no change. Pulling either coil pack plug resulted in the tach reading zero. I am guessing something is wrong with the rear coil pack but I differ to your wisdom and advice.

I had similiar problems with my '93. One Obvious problem is your rear coil pack is not firing on one or more cylinders. Your front coil pack is probably firing on all 4 and might be ok. The DIS is more than likely causing your tach problem and triggering the CEL.

If you have a junkyard around that is fairly cheap and offers a warranty, get a coil pack and the DIS, you might do better to rob one off a newer Ranger - anything from 93 to 2000ish they are the same unit and same engine.

Your O2 might be fouled out due to misfiring.

FVBonura · Oct 17, 2010

Update

Excellent call Delray Dude. As predicted, two of my cylinders are not firing on the rear pack.

I just removed, cleaned and reinstalled the O2 sensor so it is OK.

I decided to swap the coil packs to see if the same two dead terminals would move.

Well the two dead cylinders reappeared on the front coil pack that was firing fine up front when moved to the back. This pretty much isolates the fault with the ignition module.

I also noted one plug was still not firing up front when I moved the rear coil pack to the front. It would appear I also need at least one coil pack too. Lucky me!!!

Question:

Will coil packs from a 4.6 also work? I think my chances of finding an old 4.6 Crown Victoria in the junkyard might be good as well.

Question:

Would a younger Ranger also use the same ignition module?

Question:

I noticed the rusted and damaged remains of some sort of heat shield, mounted on the exhaust manifold, below the coil packs. Something tells me this is a contributing factor to coil pack failure in the rear pack. Anyone find ways to insulate coil packs or repair the heat shield?

Delray Dude · Oct 18, 2010

FVBonura said:
Question:

Will coil packs from a 4.6 also work? I think my chances of finding an old 4.6 Crown Victoria in the junkyard might be good as well.

I think they might - IIRC they used 2 coil packs 1 for 4 cylinders and the other for the other 4. and I think they may work the same - just be sure to note the firing order -

FVBonura said:
Question:

Would a younger Ranger also use the same ignition module?

yes. any 8 plug Ranger - '93 and up has the same DIS module mounted on the front of the intake. I've "acquired" one off a '96 Ranger and worked great on my Mustang.

FVBonura said:
Question:

I noticed the rusted and damaged remains of some sort of heat shield, mounted on the exhaust manifold, below the coil packs. Something tells me this is a contributing factor to coil pack failure in the rear pack. Anyone find ways to insulate coil packs or repair the heat shield?

Not really a heat shield - but more of the warm air duct that went to the lower back side of the air cleaner box - to provide warm air to the engine on a "cold" day start up.

You are better off getting the factory 1993 or 1994 Ranger exhaust manifold - it's a true shorty tube header - literally bolts in place from the cast iron manifold that is stock, no moving of the exhaust pipe - weighs about 20 pounds less, looks better and runs way better. Only issue is the EGR tube. But I blocked mine off on both ends - keeps the crap out of the engine. You want the 93 or 94 Ranger "header" because the O2 bung is located on the bottom of the header. the 1995 to 1997 is the same header but they located the O2 bung into the exhaust pipe. Those will work, but you have to weld in the pipe with the O2 bung, where as the 93 / 94 bolts in with no problems.

The Ranger header will radiate less heat out than the cast iron manifold, and will cool off quicker - plus it helps in the horspower area too.

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