My son has a 1998 Ford Ranger 2.5l (4 cylinder) He replaced the head on it and all is well now but battery light stays on? Alternator and Battery both check out to be ok. Runs fine at night time with lights on (thats usually how I test if alternator is bad haha). When at idle, it idles rough and shakes, at a light it will stutter before moving. If AC is on it is worse (I think it sometimes dies if AC is on and he presses the gas from a stop).
It drives fine, he drives about 15 miles to work each day (on the highway in Houston) and has no issues at driving speed, just battery light is constantly on and idle seems to be an issue. Anyone know a common problem like this that he can check out to see if he can figure it out?
Please dont think we are bad parents because we got our son a Ford, we think it is important for our children to know how to work on vehicles and what better way than giving them a Ford?? {black}:laughingoutloud: (Just kidding! It was his choice, he works on my toyota when they need work too so he knows how to do stuff. We have a camry that is just sitting in the drive way that he could drive)
Well personally start with a mechanic like me or a place like AutoZone that will load test your battery and alternators free. Generally it just means the alternator is wearing out it has to reach a certain parameter of both voltage and amperage you can only test it with a good testing machine. If it's not that it would mean the wiring a slightly off but as long as it runs I've had people drive them years that way
maybe the AC compressor or clutch is bad
Turns out it was the alternator!! It worked enough to keep the lights on at night and never caused the battery to drain but as he was fixing another issue, something happened to the alternator so he had to change that... light went out and it runs better at idle now too!