Ignition problems of the 2001 Ford Ranger

I sent in a hard copy letter and an e-mail to Ford service in June of 2009. Upon stopping at a party store with my foot applying pressure to the brake pedal, my Ford 2001 Ranger v6 XLT 4x4 motor suddenly accelerated nearly going into the store. I tried to stop it by shifting into neutral but it was too late. The only thing, which prevented me from crashing into a wall and possibly severely injuring myself or someone else, was a protective post which stopped the vehicle the Ranger went over the top of the cement post and was wedged between the bumper and frame. I turned off the ignition to stop the engine. . Needless to say, severe bumper and front-end damage was done. The range has 35,000 miles. This is the third incident of this dangerous condition. I was stopped at a traffic light at gill and freedom in the spring of 2003 when all of a sudden the Ranger accelerated through a red light. I jammed the brakes and nothing happened was able to put gear shift in neutral to stop vehicle. There was no traffic and no damage to Ranger. Second incident occurred in the parking lot of walled lake western high school. Used same technique to stop vehicle after it jumped a curb and ended in the middle of adjacent street. Again, no damage. This happened in 2005. . Read more...

Problem 1- vehicle regularly stalls or idles so low power steering and power brakes are lost. Problem occurs when slowing for and entering corners and when coming to a stop. Local dealership tells me this is normal and to not worry about it. Problem 2- clutch does not engage when pedal is released. After a moment it releases on its own accord and truck jerks forward violently. Clutch slave cylinder has already been replaced once.

This problem is caused by memory shorting in the engine computer and is partially corrected by disconnecting pos battery terminal switching ignition on/of several times than reconnecting pos battery terminal and starting engine without touching throttle . Than let motor warm up completly , than drive gently until computer memory is reprogramed. This partial fix came from jacobs electronics not Ford which charged me $75 to tell me it was a memory short in the computer. They also believe that the spark booster caused the problem which is impossible because it occured when the truck was new to me at 22 miles. This memory problem if not corrected requires excessive throttle input to start the truck in first gear to avoid stalling which is a safty hazard. Additionally the computer has calibration difficulties which result in slight missing or roughness while driving normally even with the spark booster which greatly helps engine performance and reduces emmisions. The tail pipe has no carbon deposits in it. When ever and if an after market computer becomes available for this vehicle I will install it.