96 Ranger 2.3 wont start...throwing codes...

[Mark_88]

Did you actually check for the piston compression and TDC position?

Moving the cam only gets you the same results if you don't ensure the crank is at TDC on the compression stroke.

Sorry for belaboring the issue...the crank needs to be set first, then the cam...otherwise you will just frustrate yourself to no end...although hypothetically what you did should have worked...but I personally don't like to take chances and have made enough mistakes to know that doing the whole thing right usually saves plenty of time.

 

[Emoticon]

Just in case anyone ever runs into this issue in the future I figured out what the problem was. I wasn't doing this with a service manual or anything on hand, just the stuff from what I could gather on the internet. I did not realize the oil pump and cam shaft use the same sized sprocket with just different sized bolts. Since they appear to be interchangeable I figured out this means that there are separate timing marks namely a diamond for the oil pump and a triangle for the cam shaft. So each sprocket has TWO marks about 30 degrees apart. My sprockets were all covered in crap and I didn't clean them well enough to notice the triangle on either sprocket, the triangle markers are much smaller and harder to see so what I was doing was lining up both diamond marks with the marks inside the timing belt housing. This caused the timing on the cam shaft to be about 30 degrees off, thus causing the non-start. So what you should see when liming up the timing marks is:

-On the cam shaft sprocket the diamond should be at the 12 o'clock position exactly and the triangle should be lined up with the cam shaft timing mark inside the housing.

-On the oil pump sprocket the diamond mark should be lined up with the oil pump mark only not the triangle.

-Then the crank mark is obviously lined up with the notch on the outer housing.

So there you have it, kind of a dumb mistake to admit, but I can see it happening to others who are not 100% familiar with the process and don't have a service manual handy.