So this may be a long read but if anyone knows much about this stuff I would appreciate the time and input.
The vehicle is a 2000 Ford Ranger 4cyl 5 speed manual.
So the first thing. The brakes had been shaky and smelled for a while and gradually got worse, esp on big hills. I talked to my dad as it was his truck since 50,000 miles. It now has 167,000 and I have had it since 150,000. He was not much help. He just insisted that there cannot be anything wrong with it since he had just put new rotors, bearings, pads and everything less than 10K miles ago (he had it written down). After asking around the general consensus was that it was most likely a rotor issue. I bought new rotors and a friend’s dad helped me swap them out. He said there did not appear to be any issues with the old rotor that he could see but we went through with the change anyway. What we did notice is there were a few very subtle black burn lines around the spindle and a lot of the grease was burnt. Once we finished the rotor swap all the vibration, shake and burning smell was gone. It seemed just fine. This was in January. We set all the bolts for everything with a torque wrench to the suggested spec. Fast forward to a week or so ago. I rolled into the parking lot at work and attempted to back into a parking spot. It rolled back a couple feet and stopped. I could tell the truck was trying to back up but something was binding up and stopping it. I finally managed to get it back enough to drive forward. There was no issue with forward. On the way down the hill that night I heard a crazy amount of rattling from the passenger side front tire area. Then about a block from home something flew off under my truck. I rolled in 1st gear up in front of the garage and turned off the truck and used the park break to stop myself. The problem was the caliper had come loose. The 2 bolts that hold it on came out. They didn’t seem to break off or strip out though, I found this strange cause up to this day I had not noticed any sign that would indicate they were getting loose. I bought new bolts and set them in place. From there I noticed a little break squeak but otherwise seemed alright. However there was a lot of grooves in the rotor on one side from the caliper binding up on it. So since no one could see any issue with the original rotor that I took off in January I bought new bearings and put that rotor back on. Now it seems to be starting to shake again when breaking from high speeds or on a hill. So I am assuming my very first original issue really was the rotor. If there is something wrong with the rotor what could it be if even some knowledgeable people did not see any issues with it? Also, is there any issue putting a rotor that was used on the driver’s side onto the passenger side? I was thinking of taking the driver side rotor that I took off in January and putting it on that passenger side as I never had any issues with that driver’s side rotor.
Second thing.
When my dad had the truck I would drive it a bit and it always got 24 MPG or so freeway and 19-20 city. Now I am lucky to get 19 on the freeway. When I did the rotors in January I also did a big tune up. New plugs and wires, new serpentine belt, new EGR valve, new EGR feedback pressure sensor, new shocks, new tranny fluid, new fluid in rear end, new rear speed sensor, new air filter, new tires, and it is always maintained with the routine oil changes. After that there was still no change in the fuel economy. My dad had some issues with something similar and had a reputable shop work on it. I don’t know what all they did. I do know they either cleaned the injectors or replaced them (I think my dad said they were replaced). This was at about 140K miles. Now I am having an issue that my dad had before he had that shop work on it. If it has not had ample time to warm up it will shudder and shake and sometimes die when I go from higher RPMs to letting off the gas completely. I will start it up, let it run for 60 seconds or so and head down the road. A few blocks away I roll up to a stop sign. I let off the gas and roll up to the stop. When I do that it begins to shake, sometimes quite violently, and once or twice it gets bad enough that it dies. When I noticed this issue I tested it the next time I started the truck from being cold. I left it in neutral and revved it up a little. Then I took my foot off the gas completely. It does the same thing and shakes badly, sounds like it is struggling. This happens mostly when the engine is cold but I have had it happen a few times even after I have been driving a ways. Any ideas? Injectors? Fuel filter? Could this be related to the issue in fuel economy?
Thank you for your patience to read all this and any help provided.
