I have a 97 Ford Ranger, 2.3L, 4cyl. with 190K miles. The truck ran great until recently. I have solved the issue, so I'm posting my finding here, hopefully I can help someone in the future.

Error: Misfire on cylinder 1

Symptoms: Rought idle / erratic idle, low on power, check engine light stays on, at low speeds check engine light will flash, engine would stall periodically, runs 'fine' at highway speeds.

Solution: Loose vacuum line! I had done a visual inspection a couple weeks ago, eveything seemed fine. However, last night I went through most of the vacuum connections. Sure enough, one of the connections 'looked' fine but wasn't actually connected. It was the connection on the driver side, under the intake manifold, near the cylinder 3 spark plug. Also, check the connections on passenger side, near the firewall. I reconnected the vacuum line, disconnected/reconnected the battery. Truck runs great, issue solved. Before checking the vacuum lines I did the usual, plugs/wire/compression test/spark check/O2 sensors/fuel filter... Just wanted to let people know, check the easy (and free) stuff first, like vacuum lines. Hope someone can benefit from this in the future.

Thanks, Luke

 

Welcome to FTE.

Good find, fix & feedback.
Yup those pesky vacuum lines can cause all sorts of mischief, so as you suggest, it's wise to give them a visual & Physcal check.

I thought I was the only one on here old enough to remember who LashLaRue was!!!! He was wicked with that whip!!!!