Misfiring ?

[Broo]

Today after 23 years of driving, I had to be towed for the first time and the Ranger was the victim.

Symptoms : sudden loss of power, big engine vibrations at idle and engine can't get over 3K RPM. Check engine light flashing. I limped my way a bit before calling it quit. For a few seconds, it seemed like power was back only to bog down a moment later. This pattern repeated a few times.

According to what I read in search results, it may be misfiring problem.

The truck is a 2006 with only about 79K miles. Plugs & wires were replaced at 60K. Coil pack was replaced about a month ago. The original one still worked fine, but was cracked, so I replaced it.

Had the truck towed to a mechanic friend who will diagnose it tomorrow.

 

[RonD]

I would get the codes to see if there is any thing besides misfire codes

2004 to 2006 Rangers with the 3.0l engine had an exhaust valve seat recession issue.

Fords TSB here: http://www.therangerstation.com/for...technical_service_ bulletin_tsb_05-26-3.shtml

Might not be the problem but would be the FIRST THING to check, because if it is the problem then you would be wasting time and money on non-fixes.

So compression test

Cam Position Sensor(CPS) can cause similar issues on the 3.0l

"Bad gas", when was last time you got fuel?
High water content(bad gas) in the gas tank will also cause similar symptoms
Water is heavier than gasoline so settles at the bottom of the gas tank and that's where fuel pump pickup is located

 

[rangerenthiusiast]

When was the last time you changed the fuel filter? The fact that you mentioned 3K also rings a bit of a bell for me. When I picked up my ’92 Ranger earlier this year, it had a terrible vibration anytime the RPMs fell under 3K. Turned out that my fuel injectors were clogged beyond all reason and the truck really shouldn’t have even been able to run. Replaced them and never had the same issue again.

Starting with a compression test is definitely a good idea. I bought a gauge and tested mine before dumping any money into it. It was my first time using one, but I found the instructions here and it really isn’t difficult for anyone who has a little bit of mechanical ability. Good luck, brotha.

 

[Broo]

According to the code reader, misfiring on cylinder 1. Single code. After some testing, seems my almost new coil pack is bad. Getting a new one tomorrow. I should have kept the cracked but functional one as a backup.

The fuel filter was changed at my 60K tuneup. As for the injectors, I try to avoid this problem by using Gumout as a cleaner 2 to 3 times a year. May help, maybe not.

The fuel is about 2 weeks old. It's E10, can't get much else around here.

Compression tester is MIA

I had not seen this TSB, will keep this in mind. This is the kind of problem you'd think would happen at the beginning of an engine's production, not after 18 to 20 years of continuous production. Sheesh...

Thanks for the pointers guys

 

[RonD]

Only thing anyone has guessed, which seems plausable, was the 3.0l heads got got some mis-sized exhaust valve seats that didn't come to light until they started getting this common failures of the seats

TSB is dated 2005 so it seems they caught it pretty quickly

Ford Dealer might be able to look up your VIN and see if heads were swapped under warranty