I have an 88 Ford ranger 2.3. I change the fuel reservoir but still not getting fuel to the rail I hear the pump prime but will not start. Would it possibly be the relay regulator or pump I can tell that there’s not pressure buildup after I prime it. (Or so I think)
any advice is appreciated thanks

 

Welcome to the forum

You can manually turn on fuel pump power for testing

1994 and earlier Fuel injected Rangers use OBD1 computer system
There will be a OBD1 connector in the engine bay, should be on passenger side between fuse box and firewall, on the wiring harness

Drawing of OBD1 connector seen here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...ry/OBD_I.shtml
It may have a cap on it that says "EEC"

The Fuel pump slot is labelled in drawing
The fuel pump relay gets 12v with key on but is not grounded, the computer grounds it for 2 seconds to prime it, but no ground after that until engine starts, RPMs above 400
That Slot is the computers Ground wire to the Fuel Pump relay
So if you use a jumper wire from a Ground to that slot then with key on the the fuel pump(s) will run full time, well until key is turned off

So with key on, when you ground that slot you should Hear the FP Relay "click" closed, and fuel pump(s) should now get 12volts
If you don't hear the "click" then yes could be bad FP relay, it has the GREEN base/plug in

This is handy to test fuel pumps and fuel pump power

Just FYI
Anytime you have a crank but No Start you should do 50/50 test FIRST
Spray fuel into the intake
Try to start engine
If it Starts and then dies you do have a fuel issue and spark is OK and timed
If it doesn't start then you have a spark, or compression problem
50/50

On the 2.3l a common crank but No Start is a broken timing belt, so do the 50/50 test to take that off the table, and to confirm it is a fuel delivery issue

 

I’ve changed the ignition control mod for the 3rd time and that’s how it was acting, but once I took the line off the fuel regulator there was no fuel at all. Then I put some gas in the intake and it starts I just didn’t know if it would be the relay or pump. Also I have another “pump” after the Reservoir and before the filter. So I wasn’t sure if that was actually a pump or a charcoal chanister
thank you for the response.

 

The 1986-1988 have 2 fuel pumps, a lift pump in the gas tank, and a high pressure pump in the frame rail, so not a charcoal canister

High pressure pump was added for fuel injection which needs 30psi pressure at the injectors

Both pumps share the same 12volt power, there is a splice near the high pressure pump that can corrode, where the original 12v wire was cut to get power for that pump

If that high pressure pump is not working then you would get a no start, it would block fuel flow

 

Thank you for explaining that!