In my 96 2.3l ranger I have an exhaust leak and I was wondering if it could cause a sputter I seemed to notice when I noticed the leak... On take off it sputters in first... and thats it... and it makes a low grone when I take off... Also 1 other quick question how hard is it to change the head gasket on a ranger?

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Life isn't worth living unless you have:
#1. Kissed some lesbians
and
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What do you mean "sputter" like loss of power? And the head gasket isn't to bad if you have the time,tools, and patience.

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1998 Ranger
1986 RX-7

yea its pretty much loss of power off the take off

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Life isn't worth living unless you have:
#1. Kissed some lesbians
and
#2. Have driven a ford.

Could be the loss of backpressure hurting your low end power, but I don't think it would cause it to sputter in the sense of it wants to die. I would guess something along the lines of MAF sensor, or fuel filters.

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Proud owner of a Black 2003 Ford Ranger EDGE . Regular cab, 3.0l, 5spd manual, 2wd, 4.10's. Added Security, tint, step bars, Gibson SS Cat-Back exhaust, adjusted bumper, fog light mod, Jensen 75x4 watt amplifier, (4) Polk Audio EX368 Speakers, 200W MTX Amp driving a Sony XS-L101P5 10" sub in a custom box.
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id check the fuel filter, if you jump on it while at a cruise and it lags or sputters i would check the fuel filter.

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1999 F-150 AirRaid, 4.10 gears, tint, superchip, see my gallery for more.