i am new to the ranger world, i purchased an 03 ranger with a 3.0 flex fuel engine (v) about 3 weeks ago to take to florida and leave it there for a second car. it was super clean 74,000 miles, ran quiet good oil pressure.
started trip from jersey pulling a landscape type of trailer totaling about 2000lbs.
got 80 miles and bad pinging started, soon after i got a bad miss, pulled off interstate and found a small shop, it throwed a miss code for cyl #3. pulled the plug and the tip was burned off. replaced all plugs with new iridiam plugs. miss stopped, back on road, went 5 miles started pinging bad again and started missing again, made it to a shop, code showed same cylinder miss but with a code for random missfires.
pulled the plug and it was melted. changed the plugs again, would not correct problem.
tried everything and then the big one. did a compression check on 3, -0- reading.
towed it home, found low mileage engine, before replacing it, did a scope on #3, hole in piston.
what in the world would cause this and how can i stop it from happening again.
did i overload the truck by pulling the trailer ???
thanks
julius

 

Overloaded but only by about 1500 lbs.

 

I don't think the load did it.I would look more toward a partially clogged injector causing that cylinder to run too lean or maybe your catalytic converter is clogged.

 

PS. the trailer was a 6x12 rolls easy, loaded with a queen size br set with box and mattress, and a small outdoor table set, probably wasn't even a total of 1500lbs.
two modifications had been done to the ranger, the air box had been replaced with a large round k&n filter and a dual exhaust had been added after the cat back.

 

it definitely wasnt the trailer, i just recently towed 2200, with another 1000 in the bed an cab 270 miles, and another trip with 1500 trailer an 1000 in the bed 200 miles, not a single problem, and i have 180k.

im gonna guess lack of oil changes or just possibly a bad piston when it was made.

 

UPDATE: would anyone know if using a autolite plug xp606 instead of xp104 would possibly cause damage to a piston in a 3.0 flex fuel engine ?????
i didn't pay attention to the boxes when i purchased a set of 104's from autozone and one plug was a 606, i burned a hole in the piston in the cylinder that the 606 was in. smells like a law suit if this could have caused it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

not to be a smart%&* but how exactly does that 'smell like a lawsuit'?
they are going to look at it as it was a mistake on the employee who sold it OR a manufaturing error as it got packaged wrong... then they are going to look at you and ask if you installed them yourself, if so they will call it your fault for not catching the error as you was installing them... if it was a garage then they will call it the garages fault..
personally i could see you getting over on a small garage but a big corporation like autozone will have lawyers and fight you every which way over it...

at least thats what i figure anyways... as said i aint trying to start a war or be a *$%hole here, just wondering on how you figured it would be a lawsuit

 

i am not a sue happy person, i have never sued anyone in my entire life, i am stating that i had no reason to check the plug box, i just checked the plug for gaping, they look exactly the same.
if their mistake caused my engine failure then i think they are somewhat to blame.

 

There's nobody here that can help you, see a lawyer, or a mental health counselor.

 

WELL, I FOUND OUT TWO THINGS TODAY, ONE WAS THREE DIFFERENT MECHANICS SAID THAT THE HOTTER PLUG COULD HAVE CAUSED THE DAMAGE, THE OTHER THING I FOUND OUT WAS WAS WHO THE SMART @SSES ARE ON HERE.

 

Seeing as how you changed the plugs three times, I doubt that they were the root cause of your problem, unless you managed to install one too-hot plug into the same cylinder all three times. The cause for the holed piston had to have been from a lean mixture. In all likelihood, you had a partially plugged injector. The truck managed to run OK under a light load, but towing the trailer added enough of an extra load that the leanness caused too much heat and became too much for the piston to handle.

 

thanks for the info and thought, actually it was two times, the third time the piston was already burned and the cylinder wouldn't fire with new plug.
but while i am at it, i have now installed a low mileage (47000) mile replacement engine in the truck, it runs well.
would you pull a trailer weighing in about 2000lbs total to florida from jersey, about 1000 miles. i am guessing about the weight, its a single axle landscape trailer 7'x12' probably weighing in about 700lbs and its loaded with a queen size bedroom set, headboard, footboard, tall chest, dresser, night stand, box and mattress.
the load section for the 2003 ranger says it can handle up to 3900lbs.

thanks

 

Sorry about your troubles, but yes thats a perfectly safe load.

 

My take on this problem may be a bad injector but other than you were not in OD when towing by chance were you? Everyone thinks diesel engines are the ones that shouldn't be lugged. gas engines suffer the same fates even with knock sensors. kotzy

 

My take you may have had an injector problem however I have to ask you were not in OD were you? Many get the idea that diesel engines are the ones not to be lugged but gas engines suffer the same problems even with knock sensors. An old long gone enginnering authority told me years ago engines are detonating long before you hear it. Kotzy