Fuel filter change help! Ranger burning gas after filter change

[Nonstopmaximum]

Alright so a couple hours ago I changed the fuel filter on my 94 Ranger with an Autozone one and after I start my truck up it burns gas out the wazoo leaves a big grey cloud out the exhaust and runs super rough. I swapped back to the old one in the meantime and still runs rough and leaves big cloud. The black Autozone one is listed as compatible with my engine and looks similar enough to the old filter but the tubes are a bit longer. Going to check back on it tomorrow but anyone have ideas?

 

[franklin2]

You did not touch anything else during this filter change? It's obviously not the filter at fault.

 

[Nonstopmaximum]

Cleaned out the IAC under the hood several hours before and that's it. I went under the truck to only do the fuel filter job and that's when the craziness started. So now it'll startup decent enough but after a minute of driving it starts the cloud out the exhaust I don't know if it's the filter or something else causing problems in the fuel line.

 

[Nonstopmaximum]

Ok I gave it a bit of a longer drive and refill of gas and now the cloud is mostly gone but truck is still running rough.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’d suspect a problem with the IAC

 

[Nonstopmaximum]

I'll go to store tomorrow and see if I can get a new IAC. Old one looks ok after cleaning but the gasket is in rough shape.

 

[Nonstopmaximum]

Alright guys so I jumped the gun too soon on the filter and just found out red flag no 1 with my IAC. I'm pretty sure this one is not supposed to be fitted on my Ranger. The numbers on it gives no results but going off appearance it looks like it goes either on a later year 4.0 or a different engine even though the connector goes in just fine. My store didn't have the right IAC so I'm getting a new one shipped here asap.

 

[rumblecloud]

I agree with you. The one in the pic looks different than the one on my 94 4.0.
Let us know the result.

 

[Nonstopmaximum]

OK so the main culprit I think was dirty fuel line and fuel injectors since Seafoam with the old filter fitted got rid of the problems after a 15 minute drive and my Ranger is back to normal. With the new filter my truck was stuck on smoking vibrating gas guzzler mode no matter what so might have been that too. I took a look at my drain pan and this is what was chugged out. Going on the IAC route I bought a new 94 IAC only for it to not fit. Turns out the connector on my wire harness works only with 95-97 IACs and that's why I had that one on there. I got a new one anyway and didn't make a difference from what I can tell. I'll ride with the old filter for now until I can get an OEM or higher quality filters.

 

[Uncle Gump]

If your old fuel filter was plugged... it could have lowered volume and pressure of the pump to the fuel rail. The ECM would increase injector pulse width to compensate fuel delivery.

You put a new filter on... fuel pressure and volume increases. It takes some drive time for the ECM to figure out that the old pulse width is making the engine run to rich. The ECM will tweak pulse width to get fuel delivery back to where it needs to be.

 

[franklin2]

Or, unplug the battery for a couple of minutes and start the ECM learning process over. Maybe that would work.

 

[SenorNoob]

That's good. Takes a week or so for mine to get back to normal after I have the battery disconnected...