Cranks but won’t start, please help

[DougMerry]

Hello I’m sorry if this is in the wrong section but I couldn’t find where ignition issues were supposed to go. I’ve got a 2001 Ranger with a 2.5 and manual 5 speed that I have owned for 15 years and haven’t had any issues other than normal maintenance with 185k on the odometer. About two weeks ago it would turn over normally but wouldn’t start. I put a gas rag in the intake and still no start. I used my back up vehicle and 3 days later got around to looking at it and it started right up on my first attempt. This and the gas rag ruled out my idea of fuel pump, and loosing prime. A friend told me the crank case sensor was probably going bad so I changed the crank sensor, timing belt, water pump, had the battery checked for amps, and checked to find no engine codes 2 weeks ago and thought the sensor had fixed the issue. Yesterday when I got in it the same thing happened again. Turns over but won’t start. After about 20 try’s it finally fired up. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don’t know where else to go with such an intermediate issue. Thanks

 

[Pez]

Is your fuel pump coming on at key on? Remove the fuel cap and key on. Listen for the hum out of the filler neck.