allright everybody i have a POS 98 Ranger i went to go to the movie store and going up my hill i went through first gear and then second and when i shifted into 3rd my truck died on me i do the same thing every time i go up the hill i never have had problems going up this hill when to restart my truck and it was making a loud whining noice when i finially got it restarted i got home and poped the hood when i poped the hood my exhaust manifold was glowing redish orange why is my truck doing this please help

 

Sounds like you have a restricted catalytic converter. Could also be due to sticking fuel injector or bad tune up dumping raw fuel into exhaust system.

 

Sounds like a pluged CAT to me.

 

My 96 Ranger did the same thing. It's a 5-speed and whenever I would get on the gas a little bit, it would "chug" hardcore. I had a check engine light on and my light would start to flash and I later found out that this flashing means that raw fuel is being dumped into the cat. My 3rd cylinder and plugs were miss-firing, so I changed plugs and wires and it stopped. She runs great now.