I bought a1994 Ford ranger recently that sat for 18 months. It ran when the person who had it got another truck and he just parked the ranger. So I jumped it and started right up ran for about 20 minutes. But it wont start again no spark. Replaced coil packs, plugs,wires and new battery all parts looked pretty bad. But still no spark. What am I missing?? I really want to drive my truck.

 

Welcome to FTE.

Which engine is in this puppy? From you saying you replaced the "coil packs" , I'm guessing it has the 4banger engine but we need to know for sure. Seeing as how it started with the jump start, & ran for 20 min, what happened between then & when it wouldn't start again????

Takes fuel, spark, & air to make em run, so check to see whats now going missing. Since this puppy has been setting for a while, remove the air filter & make sure the air intake tube is open all the way to the inner fender liner, as critters like making nests in there, maybe one got sucked into the air intake. Use your inductive timing light to safely check for spark & correct spark timing.. Use your fuel pressure gauge to measure fuel pressure & volume flow over time. PSI with the fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose Attached should be KOEO 35-45 psi, At idle with the FPR vacuum hose Attached 25-35 psi. At idle with the FPR vacuum hose Disconnected & plugged 35 - 45 psi. Volume over time should be something like 1/2 a pt. / 15 seconds pump run time & you can do this with a fuel pressure gauge that has the bleed valve & hose attachment. If your pressure gauge doesn't have that feature, you can ground the pump connector that's along side the under hood DLC & it'll cause the fuel pump to run, so you can turn it on / off for whatever run time you like by removing its ground connection.

If no joy on the air, spark & fuel pressure checks, since It's a 94, & is OBD-1 diagnostics, use, borrow, or come by a code reader, or scan tool that can plug into the OBD-1 under hood diagnostic connector, or use one of these diagnostic connector hook-up's https://www.troublecodes.net/ford/ to extract any trouble code clues, by scrolling down to hook up & watching the analog meter wave, or a test light, or the dash CEL blink, or a 12 volt buzzer sound the codes that might be stored in the engine computer / controller. Post up All pending, or set trouble code Numbers, as they can help focus a trouble shoot. Using a code reader, or scan tool is the easiest & most accurate way.
Some beginning thoughts for consideration, let us know what you find..

 

Well my crank no spark issue turned out to be the crankshaft sensor. Now on to the other minor issues with my recently purchased ranger. I did finally get to drive it. Doesnt have brake lights at the moment so thats my next thing to check out.

 

OK, good feedback & to hear it was spark going missing & replacing the crankshaft sensor seems to have put things right & its running again. Thanks for closing out the thread.

On the no brake lights woe, check the rear brake light fuse & if ok, activate the emergency flashers to see if they'll cause the rear brake lamp filaments to light up & blink, if they do then the lamps, wiring & ground point to them is ok, so then put the brake light switch next on the suspect list. More trouble shooting thoughts for consideration, let us know how it goes & begin a new thread for this woe if it looks to be a longer trouble shoot, so you get answers just for this new problem.