ford ranger wont start......

So I bought a 1991 ford ranger 2.9 v6 and can not figure out what might be wrong with it. any help would be great. This is what i have done. In this order

New battery New spark plugs New fuel injectors New fuel filter New Cap and rotor New coil

So i started by getting the new spark plugs since the old ones looked bad. Cleaned the fuel system and put new injectors since the person i bought the truck from said that a farm helper had put some diesel in the truck and thats what started the issue. Checked that there is a ton of fuel at the rail by pressing the tire fill looking vale. sprayed a lot for a few seconds. checked that i have spark and i do. Took a plug out and turned the motor with my finger trying to plug the hole just to see if i have compression and i do. Would not start. my grandpa and step dad thought it might be the timing so we tore it down and checked the chain alignment. right on the money. so i have spark fuel and compression. i thought it might be the spark is not strong enough so i got a new coil, cap and rotor. also bought a distributor but the one i got from a junk yard would not fit for some reason so i am gonna go get another this week and try that even though i do have spark. Maybe the module which is attached to the distributor is the cause even though i have spark. who knows. when i had the timing cover off i also replaced the water pump because the old one looked bad. i just dont understand what the issue could be. So another suggestion was to try and get it to go on starting fluid. No help. I feel like i am at the end of what i know could be an issue. Plenty of air since the air filter is newer and even if i take the intake hose between the throttle body and air cleaner box (air cleaner box houses the mass air flow sensor) to inject the starter fluid i still get nothing. The worst part is it will run for a brief moment after a week of sitting out at my grandpas house but run poorly and only for about 5-10 seconds.

So here are a few questions.

  1. if the motor has compression and spark and the firing order is right 1,4,2,5,3,6 and i am at tdc and the order starts on the right place on the cap then should it start when the intake is taken off and the starter fluid is injected into the throttle body?
  2. i have found a person who helped determine that i have 6 injectors that fire three at a time and that they are also right. so i didnt cross any wires when i installed the new injectors. Can i verify the fuel is making it to the cylinder in the correct order?
  3. Where else can i go with this?

I am hoping that i do not have to run down to the local Ford dealer and have them put it on a scope because that is 80 dollars i do not have but i am kinda at the end of what i can think of.

Please help me. It is a b day present from my wife and we can use a truck. (who cant)

Thanks for looking and trying to think of a solution.

Mike

Reply to
roots4thought
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The "Circle of Life" for any internal combustion engine: Intake, Fuel, Air, Squeeze, Spark, BOOM! Power, Exhaust. Break the circle at any point, and nothing good happens.

Get a compression tester, and make sure all cylinders have compression. But if one hole is dead from a burned valve, it'll have a very obvious uneven cranking speed - and would probably start, or at least try to.

If you have spark but not ENOUGH, you might get it to go on starting fluid but not light off gasoline - ether you can practically spit on and it lights. The resistance goes up with the compression, a spark that jumps the plug gap nicely at room pressure might not be enough to fire gasoline under cylinder conditions. It needs to be a healthy ~30 KV ZAP! and you might need the scope to see a bad coil, bad cap and rotor, or other high voltage problems.

(Problem being most shops have thrown out their old Sun Scopes because "They're obsolete, cars are all computerized!" But that low-tech scope will find ignition problems in two seconds flat.)

If you have spark, but not at the right time, it won't go. You might have to manually figure out where TDC on #1 is, then rotate the distributor to that point. If it's 180-degrees off, the spark won't do any good on the exhaust/intake TDC, you need the compression TDC.

If you have spark at the right time, and compression, but no fuel, spraying starting fluid (ether) would show signs of life. If you can't get any signs of fire out of it with a healthy shot of starting fluid, the spark either isn't strong enough or at the wrong time.

You have fuel pressure in the rail, but you need a fuel pressure test gauge to see exactly how much. Fuel injected engines need anywhere from 30 to 60 PSI fuel at the rail, or you can't push enough fuel through the tiny orifice in the injectors to do anything. 5 PSI will look like plenty, and it isn't.

And there is a pressure regulator on the fuel rail that is supposed to bleed off excess fuel pressure and send the excess fuel back to the tank (and the continuous flow helps to avoid vapor locks) - they can fail and bleed off too much pressure. If the rail pressure is way low, the first thing you do is pinch off the return line and watch the rail pressure to see what happens.

Are you sure you have all the Diesel out of the fuel system? Doesn't take much to gum it up. But this is after you can get it to fire on starting fluid first, and still no fire on it's own.

If you still get no signs of life, see if the injectors are getting firing pulses from the computer. They have kits with lamps and connectors that clip on the harness like injectors, if they don't light up you aren't getting fuel pulses.

If all else fails, get professional help - sometimes you can barter if you have little money and they need the auto shop building painted desperately.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

You can get a code reader for it that cost $30 and runs a bunch of tests AND tests relays all in one shot.

Actron is brand I have.

Reply to
Scott

the guy who mentioned Circle of Life was right except for the exhaust. Just forget about the exhaust....has nothing to do with it.

Your ignition module is probably causing it. Replace it.

And if someone was really stupid enough to have put diesel fuel in the truck, then it is finished. You'll have to tow it to the junkyard. The only fix I ever heard of when somebody pumped diesel fuel into the tank, was to throw a match down the neck into the tank and let the fuel burn itself up, but there is a 50% chance it will burn the inside of the tank to a crisp.

Reply to
Rick Cooper

That's not necessarily true. I've known 2 people who put diesel in their cars, and they are both still on the road (yeah, I know, and we let them vote, too). It was quite expensive- the gas tank was dropped and flushed, all metal fuel lines were flushed, all non-metal lines were replaced, and the injectors were changed. Depending on how much diesel was put in the OP's Ranger before realization hit, he may get away with flushing, and changing the ignition module (as you said).

Good luck!

SC Tom

Reply to
SC Tom

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