I have a 2000 ford ranger, 3.0L, V6, 4x2, Flex Fuel, with 136,000 miles on it that will not start. It started one day, I drove home from work, woke up the next day, and it would not start.

It has a brand new battery, brand new starter, pressure in the fuel line, and a good spark coming form the plug wires. When I turn the key, it turns over, but will not start.

A buddy told me to take off the air intake hose, and spray some starting fluid in it. After 1/2 can it finally started up for a few seconds, made a horrible noise, then died. I don't really know what that means though. I have asked around, and have been told it could be the camshaft position sensor, timing chain, or the computer (ECM), among other possibilities. Is there anyway to narrow this down? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steven

 

Welcome to FTE.

Do you have a CEL lit???? If so, have the computer scanned for trouble codes & post ALL of the code Numbers found.

With it running ok before you put it to bed, but not wanting to fire the next morning, but trying to run with starter fluid, right now it sounds like a fuel delivery problem.

Post the fuel pressure number you got.

The fuel pressure could be ok, but if the filter is clogged, or if you have water in the tank or lines or in the filter & it's cold enough to freeze where you live, you could have ice clogging something up causing a fuel delivery/flow problem.

Might be helpful if you could describe the "terrible sound" with more definition.

Some thoughts for pondering, let us know what you find.

 

Could you have tripped the Inertia fuel shut-off switch by accident? (if you don't have pressure at the rail)

 

Paw has you on the right track. Interested to hear some of the answers!

 

Inertia Fuel Switch is ok, pressure reading in fuel line is 54 psi, the night I last used it the temp was 75 outside, a cold front moved through that night and dropped the temp to about 40/45 degrees.I connected a code reader to it, and no error/trouble codes showed up. I replaced the spark plug wires and spark plugs (it needed it anyways), and it still won't start. I also replaced the crankshaft position sensor (it was cheap), and it still didn't start. I tested the voltage on the battery (11.93 v), a fuel injector wire (11.73 v), throttle position sensor, idle air controller, and DPFE sensor, all normal. When I replaced the old plugs, they were soaked with gas (which coupled with good fuel pressure leads me to believe it's not a gas delivery problem)

I tested the plug wires to make sure I was getting a good spark, and initially several wires showed a good blue spark (2 weeks ago). Now however, I get intermittent blue, yellow and orange sparks. I tried charging the battery off my wife's car (thinking that after 100+ start attempts I may have run the battery down), but still could not get good blue sparks. (possible intermittent coil pack problem or short in a wire(s)?)

The loud noise I heard was an angry rumble and shutter (lots of new vibrations); a friend described it as "bucking".

Will attempt to obtain a compression tester tomorrow, and check the compression.

Presently I'm thinking some sort of timing problem (worn chain or bad computer)

Any help is greatly appreciated.

~Steve

 

Gotta have fuel, air, fire & compression, to make em run!!!!

Good idea to do a fuel pressure check. It's low, as it should be 64 +/- 8 psi.

Your right about the state of charge on the battery, as 11.93 puts it at a little over 40% SOC & I'll bet that figure is with the battery unloaded, right????

So charge it slow, say at 4-6 amps, until it's electrolyte is back up to a full state of charge at 1.265 specific gravity, or 12.6+ volts on your digitial multimeter, after you let the battery set over night after charging, to let the surface charge dissipate, so you get an accurate state of charge voltage reading.

Or after charging, turn the head lights on for 5 minutes or so, to load the battery & knock off the plates surface charge, turn them off, let it set for 5 minutes or so to recover, then check the post to post battery voltage with your digitial voltmeter.
Again 12.6 volts or more = a full charge.

The weak spark & low fuel pressure could be caused by the low battery charge condition, as the battery voltage to the computer, coilpack & fuel pump are likely to be well less than that while cranking the engine.

Good idea to do a compression check.

Also check the air filter & air inlet tube, all the way from the wheel well, to the throttle body, no telling what might have crawled up in there to get warm on a cold night & plugged things up!!!! lol

 

is it fixed yet? if so what was the diagnosis? The exact same thing except the starting fluid thing is going on here since yesterday morning.

 

1/2 can of starting fluid? That makes me wonder if you still have pistons in the engine, waaaay too much.

Another possible cause is the flex fuel sensor. It sends a digital square wave signal to the PCM as to how much alcohol vs gas content the fuel is. If it fails, like mine did, and tells the PCM you have 100% alcohol the engine will flood if its actually running (or trying to) on gas. Mine would maybe sorta start every 3-4 attempts, chug some black exhaust for a few seconds then die. The FF sensors are a dealer only item, and list at over $600 for the part alone. I installed a "flex fuel replicator" and the truck runs OK now, maybe just a bit rich.

 

Have you check the camshaft sensor and syncronizer assy? I see you changed the crankshaft sensor. as pawpaw said "Do you have a CEL lit???? If so, have the computer scanned for trouble codes & post ALL of the code Numbers found" .