163.3Cu.in V4? Leaking fill neck?

[Slysdexia]

Well, got this '94 Ranger about two weeks ago, and it's not firing on all cylinders. It's either missing 1 and 3 or 4 and 6, as I'm not sure on the exact orientation of everything . Either way, the front and rear cylinders on the pass. side aren't firing, maybe at higher revs, but certainly not at low revs in motion, evidenced by the two sets of smoke rings it blows when sea foamed.

Fresh-ish air filter, nothing else in the air box (though it's tabs are all broken off, and one nut has come loose and seized upon the end of one of the screws), brand new fuel filter. Checked which cylinders by using well insulated channel locks and some thick gloves and pulling the wires out individually from the coil pack .


The filler neck leaks profusely when the tank gets even slightly overfilled, and likes to drip additives, like fuel system cleaner, on the ground when you attempt to add them.

 

[Ozwynn]

the filler kneck is dry rotted and needs to be replaced. prolly should replace the air box. replace the plugs and wires, do a compression check while you got the plugs out. check your coil packs... I forget if that engine has 1, 2, or 3 coil packs. there is a little device you can get that plugs in between the plug and the plug wire to see how strong the spark is. you may need coil packs, you may need a head gasket, may just need new plugs.

 

[Slysdexia]

Well, when we pulled the wires, the two not firing kept arcing internally when the wire was removed and out of normal reach. Plugs are on the list, as what it's got are Motorcraft single tip platinums. It's got a single coil pack, a great big epoxy block with a plug in the side and six plugs on top.

High RPM behavior isn't indicative of bad plugs, and the one I pulled wasn't even all that dirty, and though the gap was larger than expected (going in ignorant of spec), the electrode tip still had a sharp edge.