Ford Repair: 89 ford ranger, fuel pressure gauge, 89 ford ranger

Question
the fuel pump pressure on my ranger W/2.9 engine only reads up to 20 lbs. with ign.on/ engine off, with engine running it will read 35 lbs.at idle. it is hard starting when cold.should i replace the fuel pump?   thanks. Tom.

Answer
Spec on this Ranger is 35-45 running, normally the pressure will be slightly higher with KOEO. If you can check the fuel flow (volume) this might help figure it out. Sounds like you have a fuel pressure gauge, if it has a valve to bleed off the pressure, depress this valve with the engine running, if the idle slows or dies, then the fuel volume is low and this could be a pump, or clogged filter. Fords can clog a fuel filter within 15-20K miles, so if you have not replaced it for a while it is a cheap thing to do to recheck your problem.