1997 Ford Ranger

Engine Mechanical problem
1997 Ford Ranger 4 cyl Manual 140000 miles

I have a manual 97 Ranger with about 140k miles. We inherited this car about a year ago and we use it as our backup car for when my wife and I both need to go somewhere. I've been driving it a lot more in the last 2 weeks than I had been and I noticed it squeaked at low speeds and I couldn't remember ever hearing that before. Then, just yesterday I noticed the power steering would go out for a couple of seconds when I was starting from a stop and once or twice at around 40mph. I checked the power steering fluid when I got home and it seemed full. Today as I was driving it the power steering problem got significantly worse and I noticed that the battery voltage gauge is low and whenever the power steering cut out the charging system light came on. I also noticed that when that happened the engine would still rev even after I had let off the accelerator. Furthermore, when the power steering was working the engine temperature gauge went up and then went back down whenever the power steering went out. Lastly, I stopped at the store on my way home today and when I got back in the car the AC wouldn't work (air blew, but not cool). When I got home today and parked the truck in the garage I noticed a faint smell of burning rubber.

I don't think this is related but I'lm trying to give as much background as I can. The first time we filled it up with gas a lot of the gas leaked out from somewhere on the bottom (not from the gas tank opening). Since then we've only filled it up to about 3/4 full and haven't had any more problems with gas leaks.