Inertia switch below passenger side dash board defective. Had to be reset frequently (no less than once weekly for 3 years), until it caused small electrical fire beneath passenger's feet. Engine stopped while driving 65mph on I-17 in central phoenix. Heavy traffic caused difficulty maneuvering across 3 lanes to the shoulder of the road. An arizona department of public safety officer was near by, and assisted to prevent a collision. Passenger put out the fire with onboard fire extinguisher. After replacing the inertia switch (which was badly damaged by fire), there have been no further problems.
2003 Ford Ranger electrical complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 17 of 17, newest first, as owners wrote them.
On august 4th,2007 my ford truck would not start. I had stopped at walgreens to pick up aspirin and upon returning to my truck, it would not start. As before I pushed the fuel pump reset switch. The truck did not start. So I removed the reset switch from under the dash to find it had melted and had melted the plug.
While driving north on I-17 headed to flagstaff, az, at 60+ MPH, the engine on my 2003 ford ranger suddenly cut out without any warning. This caused me to have to navigate my vehicle from the left lane over to the right shoulder of the highway without the benefit of power steering or any engine power. Fortunately, I was able to get onto the shoulder without incident or injury. If the highway had been more crowed this could have LED to an accident. After being towed to a ford dealer, I found out that the electrical connection to the fuel pump, which is routed under the passenger floor board, had become frayed and disconnected, thereby shutting down the fuel pump. As the mechanic who serviced my ranger seemed to be familiar with this problem, I wonder why there ins't a recall for this potentially dangerous problem.
Dt:consumer reports: his 2003 ford ranger caught on fire one night while the engine was running. There were electrical sparks coming from the front left tire well. He fought the fire with bare hands and snow. He attempted to drive the truck and lost control and it slid into a snow drift. He tried to drive the car out and he started to dig the car out of the snow when he noticed the sparks again and a glow coming from somewhere in the engine. He tried to put the fire out again with a snow shovel. By the time the time the fire department showed up, it was on fire again. After the fire dept. Hosed the fire down with a standard 2'' hose, it caught on fire again. The fire dept disconnected the battery, put the fire out again and the fire didn't start back again. The dealership said the fire was due to driver abuse of the transmission and clutch system. The damage consisted of the following: the complete destruction of the asbestos lining on the clutch plate, including the shearing of the retaining pins, the slave cylinder had a giant hole, ' of the main seal was missing with no hydraulic fluid remaining inside the cylinder and the internal parts scorched from fire. They said the fire was inside the bell housing. Scorched marks were all over the rear of the engine as well as the fire well itself, including the insulation that is mounted on the underside of the hood in the same area. The dealership did drive the truck after the fire. There was no damage done the fly wheel.
2003 ford ranger experiencing problems with the door locks.*mr door locked spontaneously, was informed that ford could not fix the problem. The consumer had to purchase a spare key to keep outside the truck. *bf
While driving at 55 MPH vehicle lost power. This problem occurred six times. Electrical inertia switch was defective. Dealer replaced the switch once, and needs to be replaced again.
There was a shortage in the leonard cap wires which caused the vehicle to have no brake lights. Further inspection revealed there was no fuse used to install the cap. The consumer felt that had a fuse been used it would not have disables the vehicles brake system. The consumer paid to have the cap replaced and was later reimbursed. *cb
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