working on a one owner well maintained 1988 ranger 2.3 automatic with 118,000 miles. was drove and parked in the garage. a week later it would crank but not run. there was a mouse bed under intake on top of injectors and fuel rail. took intake off to clean and inspect injector wiring. no wiring damage found. put intake back on and tried to start it. ran wide open. it did this 3 or 4 times and had to turn off with the key. put the filter box and intake hoses back on after checking them for a nest. it cranked and ran for 30 seconds perfectly and died like cutting the key off.
fuel pump in tank can be heard priming when the key is on. the frame pump was taken off and tested. fuel shut off switch was jumpered out. replaced map sensor and put on new ignition switch. fuel shot out of rail valve a good 4 feet. spark is strong. checked idle valve in filter box to make sure it was working. shot starting fluid in the small idle valve hose. would not start on fluid. at a total loss.
fuel - air - spark. and has ran a few times as mentioned. no computer error code was given when it was hooked up. has anyone ran in to this? at a total loss on what to do next. dont really want to take it to the shop but sure looks like it is heading that direction.

 

Welcome to the forum

At over 100k miles on a 2.3l the timing belt should have been changed already
fuel - air - spark <<< you are missing one thing, compression, provided by crank and cam timing

So just have a look and see if cam gear is turning when cranking, if not timing belt is broken, it doesn't cause engine damage, just a no start
Its possible its slipped as well if its old, you can test that with vacuum gauge on intake, should see 2" of vacuum when cranking
Or you can test 1 cylinder with compression gauge, expected is 160psi, under 140psi would be slipped belt, but should still start with 50/50 test using ether(starting fluid)

 

timing belt may about 30k on it. cam is turning and is in time. compression is good. doesnt burn any oil. truck has ran both at high rpm and normal idle on 2 occasions. the high rpm i had to turn off with the key. the normal idle only ran for 30 seconds.
there is just some little something somewhere
thanks for the response

 

Spark? If not fuel are you getting spark? Oknever mind, you did say spark is strong I missed it first time,

 

Not quite understanding

You said it ran at HIGH RPMs and you had to shut off the key to stop it?
That means either the throttle plate was stuck open OR you have a LARGE vacuum leak in the intake manifold, no other options for that symptom

Air is what makes engine RPMs go up, i.e. that is what the gas pedal does it opens the throttle plate letting in more AIR, not more gas, more AIR and RPMs go up, actually it should have been called the "air pedal", lol

 

thanks for looking and replying. this is one strange puppy. nothing is helping to get it back on the road

 

when i first put the intake and throttle body back on, the filter box and all the air tubes were not hooked up. this is when i tried to start and ran wide open. this happened at least 3 times. there was a few vacuum hoses that not hooked up at that time. when i put all the hoses and filter back together it started first try and purred like a kitten for about 30 seconds and then died like you had cut it with the key. all the hoses had been hooked up. this happened one time and nothing since.