Rex2nr
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2015
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Rochester, NY
- Vehicle Year
- 1999
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0
- Transmission
- Manual
1999 ranger, 4.0, 5spd 4x4, 196,000 miles
2 weeks ago I took a vacation and painted my cap, shaved my tailgate handle and repaired up any rust. I only drove the truck to get a cup of coffee and hit the grocery store- about 3 miles total- the whole week. The next Monday morning I left for work and filled up the truck at a gas station 1.1 miles from my house. The truck was running good, and looking better too.
I stopped for a cup of coffee near work, and jumped back on the express way. The truck stumbled pretty hard on the ramp, and settled back down once at speed. It ran fine the way home, and the next day. Wednesday it started to act up quite a bit, to the point I was considering having it towed home (aaa, why not?).
I found the the 4th cylinder had no spark. I tested by pulling the plug, and holding it against the head with vice grips. I started off replacing the wires since one looked a bit corroded when checking the plugs. The plugs all are a nice grayish and clean. I swapped in a new coil (ultra power performance coil) and now have spark at all cylinders. I found the coil I got is actually for a 97-98 3.0 ranger. It has the vertical plug. My truck had the horizontal stock, so I had to adjust the plug wires location to get it to even run.
I also did a compression test. I got 127-117 on a cold engine and had to use a plug non-fouler cut down as an adapter for the tester, due to the depth of the threads in the head. Those numbers are great, for 200k.
I have also checked fuel. When trying to find the correct firing order, I took a break, and pulled the plugs to do the compression test. At this point the engine wouldn't start. All the plugs had fuel on them, and had turned a black, damp color. I. Don't want to say they were fouled, but did not look as good. I had used 6.5 gallons of the 87 octane I filled up with initially. Last night I filled up with non ethanol 91 octane to hopefully eliminate bad gas. No change, though that ethanol free stuff smells nice and potent. I dumped the gas from my filter, and that shot out nice and clean.
I have no check engine light.
The truck is running better, but still misses accelerating. Any suggestions to try next?
2 weeks ago I took a vacation and painted my cap, shaved my tailgate handle and repaired up any rust. I only drove the truck to get a cup of coffee and hit the grocery store- about 3 miles total- the whole week. The next Monday morning I left for work and filled up the truck at a gas station 1.1 miles from my house. The truck was running good, and looking better too.
I stopped for a cup of coffee near work, and jumped back on the express way. The truck stumbled pretty hard on the ramp, and settled back down once at speed. It ran fine the way home, and the next day. Wednesday it started to act up quite a bit, to the point I was considering having it towed home (aaa, why not?).
I found the the 4th cylinder had no spark. I tested by pulling the plug, and holding it against the head with vice grips. I started off replacing the wires since one looked a bit corroded when checking the plugs. The plugs all are a nice grayish and clean. I swapped in a new coil (ultra power performance coil) and now have spark at all cylinders. I found the coil I got is actually for a 97-98 3.0 ranger. It has the vertical plug. My truck had the horizontal stock, so I had to adjust the plug wires location to get it to even run.
I also did a compression test. I got 127-117 on a cold engine and had to use a plug non-fouler cut down as an adapter for the tester, due to the depth of the threads in the head. Those numbers are great, for 200k.
I have also checked fuel. When trying to find the correct firing order, I took a break, and pulled the plugs to do the compression test. At this point the engine wouldn't start. All the plugs had fuel on them, and had turned a black, damp color. I. Don't want to say they were fouled, but did not look as good. I had used 6.5 gallons of the 87 octane I filled up with initially. Last night I filled up with non ethanol 91 octane to hopefully eliminate bad gas. No change, though that ethanol free stuff smells nice and potent. I dumped the gas from my filter, and that shot out nice and clean.
I have no check engine light.
The truck is running better, but still misses accelerating. Any suggestions to try next?
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