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97 4wd Ranger has a bad skip


Firexit1A

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I bought a 97 4wd Ranger w/ 4.0. I drove it home and at just about 70 miles it developed a skip and ck engine light came on. Not running hot. It has a code Po300 in it . I cleared the cleared and in half a mile the skip came back. The previous owner recently did plugs and wires. The wires are autolight. I am not familiar with Ranger's as I have never owned one. This is a really sharp looking truck and I'd like to figure this out!

thanks,

Brian
 


RonD

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Welcome to TRS :)

No other code, just P0300?

300 is random misfire so not specific to one cylinder, 301 would be misfire on cyl #1, 306 misfire on #6

You said a "skip" which usually means 1 cylinder is misfiring.

I would do this:
Cold engine
The Coil Pack is on the passenger side rear of engine
It has a 4 wire connector, unplug it so no spark
Crank engine a couple of times, key all the way off and then on each time

Then pull out all the spark plugs and keep them in order, they should all be wet with fuel, if you find a dry one then that fuel injector may be failing, and look at the tips to see if you can see any signs of which cylinder(s) might be misfiring.

They are newer but should still show signs of use, very white and clean could be a bad spark plug, I have gotten a new spark plug that failed after a week or two.
Gaps on the plugs should be .054, a fairly large gap


Because the plugs and wires are new you could have purchased someone else's problem, the new plugs allowed them to sell it.
So you may need to do a compression test unless spark plug tips give you a clue to the problem.
 

Firexit1A

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I decided not to fix it myself. I took it to a local shop I trust. Runs great now. Apparently the plug wires were el cheapo and shorting om the engine. They put new wires on and she runs like a top!!!!!
 

RonD

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Thanks for the update

Never would have suspected Autolite, or Motorcraft, wires as a problem.

But I guess every factory in the world has some parts made on Mondays or on a Friday before a long weekend, lol.
 

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