1990 2.3L problems!

[supz]

Hi all thanks for reading this thread. I've got a 1990 Ranger 2.3L and I've been having a ton of issues with it lately. Here's the scoop. I replaced the fuel tank sending unit recently and reused my old fuel pump. I took the truck to my work, left it sit over night, started it up and had it die soon after putting it in reverse. Tried cranking it a few times, had it start up and die shortly after. Then it would crank but not fire up. So, I started to diagnose the problem. I figured the fuel pump had died so I replaced that. Tried to crank it and the starter solenoid got stuck and kept continuously cranking the truck. I pulled the negative cable off and changed the solenoid. Truck would start but would almost immediately die out unless given full throttle, then stopped starting at all. I changed the fuel pressure regulator today and now the truck starts and idles VERY rough. When the vaccum line is pulled from the top of the fuel pressure regulator it idles a little less rough, very strange. It begins to buck and almost stall when idling. It puffs white smoke on idle but when given throttle it does not puff any smoke at all. It does drive but when put in reverse it stalls. It is a manual transmission truck. At this point the sending unit is reading inaccurately again too, so it appears that I will need to replace that again too (I have the bed off though so its no big deal). Whatever happened to this truck was a catostrophic failure. I'm thinking about replacing the throttle position sensor next. That is the last guess I have for what's wrong with this truck. I am trying to avoid having it towed to my mechanic for further diagnostics and cash, but I'm just about at my wits end with it............ Can anyone offer any suggestions or opinions? Maybe I am missing something! THANKS

 

[dorman68]

You might want to try cleaning your mass air flow sensor with mass air sensor cleaner.

 

[supz]

thanks for the suggestion, however I do not have a MAF in this truck

 

[travisl1345]

have you checked the timing belt?? if you have maybe the o2 sensor... or a bad ground somewhere in the injection wiring maybe....

 

[Bryan22]

i would get a fuel pressure reading at the rail and go from there. Trying to trouble shoot by throwing parts at it will be a very costly procedure. Also you might want to do a compression check. what's the smoke smell like? oil/coolant/fuel?