Truck died suddenly. Won't start.

Ty S · Aug 18, 2016

I need car advice. Truck died coming into my driveway Saturday. Turns over but won't start. I changed the spark plugs and made sure I had spark. I do. When trying to start I can smell the fuel and fuelish haze comes out the airbox and smells like fuel so that seems fine. Trickle charged the battery. I'm a little stumped now. I've been reading online a lot. I checked my fuel inertia switch too which is fine. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

2002 Ford ranger 4.0 auto.

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chewy012 · Aug 19, 2016

Is sounds flooded...? If it turns, and you have spark and fuel, it should fire. Try the flood clear test. Kinda one of my favorites I've learned from here.

Foot the the floor in the gas pedal and turn the key. It should not fire, or even try to fire. If it does, that suggests you have a leaking or stuck open injector.

It's a quick and simple test, and will give you a start

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RonD · Aug 19, 2016

2002 ranger 4.0l is a 4.0l SOHC engine, so has a known Timing Chain issue.

Did you have a rattling noise in the engine for a while before this happened?
It can come and go at certain RPMs

The fact that a gas smell is coming out of the "air box" means air is being Push OUT of the engines Intake, not Pulled IN, which usually means valve timing is off or a bad intake valve.
You could remove the large air tube from the intake and put your hand over intakes opening while some one cranked the engine.
Your hand should be sucked toward the intake, if hand gets pushed away and wet with fuel then valve timing is off.

Because the 4.0l SOHC is an interference engine, Valves CAN hit pistons, I would do a compression test as soon as possible.
I think you will find both banks lower than they should be and one bank under 100
4.0l SOHC should have 170+ psi compression, cold engine all spark plugs removed test.

Engine needs to be removed to fix timing chains on this engine, there is one in the rear of the engine.

chewy012 · Aug 26, 2016

You ever figure it out? Or at least get it up an runnin'?

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Ty S · Sep 15, 2016

Sorry for no update boys! Timing chain failure. (Mechanic said "catastrophic") no timing chain rattle before it went so that sucked. There is now an 08 motor with half the miles transplanted into the truck. I should have it back tomorrow!

Ty S · Sep 15, 2016

@RonD you're a smart man. I was in denial haha. The new motor had a compression test after it came out of the truck and they were all around 190-210. With the kms that the truck had it wasn't worth trying to rebuild the motor. I was better off buying the new motor for 800$ and having half the miles.

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RonD · Sep 16, 2016

Thanks for the update.

That's too bad about the original engine, the '08 engine will have the newer design timing chain setup so should be trouble free now

Ty S · Sep 16, 2016

Yeah it was an expensive fix. Getting the truck back today

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Ty S · Sep 19, 2016

Who wants to guess which side the guides went berserk on? Chain seems to be fine still.

Truck died suddenly. Won't start.

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