93 3.0l bogs down and misfires accelerating

[lifesakick]

I have a 1993 ranger 3.0L 4x4 automatic supercab 140k Nice truck until now
I was driving my truck on the freeway yesterday going 70 mph when it just died, I pulled over found there was no spark, removed the distributor cap and found the rotor broke and it broke the cap also (strange but it was 6 below so I thought the cold may have done it)
I replaced the cap and rotor and it started up fine and started on my way home. I only made it about 2 miles when it started to labor badly and backfire as I pushed on the accelerator, when I floored it, it then accelerated up to speed but began to labor and misfire again as soon as let up on the gas pedal a little. I was able to make it home but it acted if it were out of time or plug wires were on wrong.
So this is what I did so far, I rechecked the firing order, checked to see if the rotor broke again (it didnt, and wires were in order) I put on a new mass airflow sensor, put a timing light on it (read 15 btdc at idle) I also set timing mark on TDC and checked rotor position to make sure timing chain didnt jump spots, I didnt have a fuel pressure gauge so I just depressed the pressure pin while it was running and it sprayed all over so I assume it has good fuel pressure, checked the fuel pressure regulator to make sure no gas was coming out of vaccume line, used ob2 and found No codes, reset comp anyway and disconnected battery also to do reset, checked vaccume lines, checked pcv, checed icv. while doing much of this it was idling and running smooth, then it started to run rough and I tried to revv it up and it backfired and labored even when not in gear, so I shut it off and restarted and then it revved and idled good again, but still acted up when driving it. I am at a total loss as to what could have happened when the distributor rotor broke and even why it broke in first place. I have never incountered anything like this before, it almost acts like the timing is way off or it isnt getting enough fuel, or even like the catalytic converters are plugged, but it was running perfect before the rotor broke, So I will ask the fellow members with all there combined knowledge for help solving this, or any suggestions. Thanks

 

[Fordisthebest30]

did you check the blinker fluid? that there blinker fluid is critical

 

[martin]

The only think I can think of is perhaps it bent the shaft on the distributor. Take off the cap and spin the motor to see if the rotor is spinning true or if it wobbles.

 

[lifesakick]

I will check the distributor shaft tonight after work.

 

[roofer]

not sure on a 3.0, but a 4.9 straight six has a sheer pin to hold the drive gear on the distributor shaft. It can and will almost shear, enough movement to throw off timing. I've had it happen twice on the sixes, two different motors. Be carefull pulling the shaft out, could knock off the gear. Good luck.

 

[lifesakick]

dont know if gear spun on shaft, but will check saturday,, Keep the ideas coming, Ill try them all until it works, it may be an old ranger but it is in really great shape, so its worth my effort ot fix it.

 

[RonD]

Cap and rotor broke.............I would pull the distributor for sure.

Before you do put the engine on TDC and since there are TWO TDCs make sure distributor rotor is pointed at #1 wire on the cap.
Then pull distributor out and check it over.
It will have a wobble, cap can't break unless rotor hits it.

I would get another distributor first to have on hand, can see you not needing it but ..........you can always take it back.

 

[lifesakick]

The strangeness continues. So I let the truck sit since thursday, I started it today and let it warm up for 10 minutes before I drove it to my buddys to work on it.
When I started to drive it, it was a little sluggish but running better than last time I posted here, As I drove it to my buddys house the power came back and was running as if there never was a problem.
So now I will ask, What could fix itself by sitting for 3 days? Now I dont know what to do as it is running fine, I am pretty sure that it isnt going to be reliable this way.
So now I need ideas to what could possibly have changed to make it run correctly without me touching it.
I need to make sure it really is fixed, as it is my main vehicle I use to drive to work.

 

[McCormack]

Just throwing out ideas - what you're experiencing with the misfiring and lost power sounds like a classic case of a plugged fuel filter, so if it were me I would replace the fuel filter just to make sure that that isn't the problem.

 

[RonD]

Yes, when did you last get gas?
Could there have been some water in it?
The water is heavier than gasoline so will settle in the bottom of the tank, so car sits overnight and you start it up and it starts to run like crap after a few minutes when water makes its way to the fuel injectors, you shut it off and try to find the problem, while it is sitting you are mostly sucking the water, eventually most of the water is gone.
If you take it out on the road fuel and water mixes around and you start to get more gas than water so things seem better.