Hi, As I was pulling out of parking lot and shortly after a few blocks down the street my 03 Ranger 3.0L (214K Miles) starts to sputter and run very rough. I look at my gauges and all seems normal, oil, temp...I pull over shut it down, wait a few minutes and start it back up same thing, running very rough so barely make it back home 2 miles away and now the check engine light is on. I pull the codes and get the P0301 and P0316 (cyl1 miss-fire and miss-fire first 1000RPM). I checked for vacuum leaks but could not find any although I did not perform a smoke test to be sure. I pulled the spark plug wire off the spark plug on cyl1 and I get spark so wire is OK and I also get it at the coil pack. I pulled the spark plug, (installed about 4K miles ago Motorcraft SP432-AGSF-32FM) and it looks good no cracks (a little black) and does not look any different than the other 5. I check to coil pack and I get within spec the correct Ohms on the primary and secondary circuit. Today I pick up a compression tester from Autozone, cold engine and I get the following PSI:
cyl 1 = 0
cyl 2 = 150
cyl 3 = 160
cyl 4 = 125
cyl 5 = 140
cyl 6 = 120
I have not pulled the valve cover off yet as that is as far as I got after checking cyl 1 more than a couple of times to confirm it comes out 0. I also discovered that my driver's side exhaust manifold has a nice big crack by number 6 Any and all suggestions and recommendations are welcome. I am not too familiar with Fords but I am learning

 

0 psi in #1 means a valve is stuck open or burned open, worst case is a hole in the piston
You could inject air into that cylinder(leak down test) and then listen at the tail pipe for escaping air, that would mean open or burnt exhaust valve
And listen at oil filler tube, if you hear air escaping there then there is a hole in the piston.

Also bank 2, drivers side is all low compression, 3.0l should be 160+ psi

There was a TSB on 2004-2006 Ranger 3.0l Vulcan engines
Recessed exhaust valve seats
Seems exhaust valve seats would shift and cylinders would start to lose compression
Codes P030X and P0316 were signs of this

Your 2003 may be in that TSB range

The 0 psi cylinder could have been the first to have the exhaust valve seat shift, this leaves a gap between valve and seat, the loss of compression, but it also allows exhaust gases to escape when that cylinder fires, and this will cause burnt valve over time and then 0 psi compression.

So best guess is that both heads will need to come off, and probably need to be replaced

And yes, you will also need to replace that cracked exhaust manifold, hard to say why it would crank, best guess would be casting defect

TSB here: http://www.therangerstation.com/ford..._05-26-3.shtml

 

Thanks RonD for taking the time to reply and give me your thoughts on it. My next step is to remove the VC and see what I find and go from there. Will keep the Forum posted on my findings as I hope it may help someone else in the future.

 

Well, here I am again with some updates on my situation. I attempted to perform a leak-down test but was not successful either because I have not done that procedure before or I was not patient enough to do it thoroughly. However, this led me to the next step which is to remove the valve cover. I discovered that the rocker arm on #1 cyl. (1st one in the front) not sure if it's intake or exhaust (I need to follow up and look again to see what it's line up with)
is very loose, next I noticed that I can rotate the spring with my fingers, YES You Guessed it! I have a Broken Valve Spring. I will try to add my 2 short videos of my discovery but not sure if I will succeed but worth a try. Ok, Videos did not load, I think they are too big but managed to include a shot of the spring. One of the thoughts I have of course is what caused the spring to break in the first place, so is this a sign of something else is wrong and this is the outcome or take it at face value that the spring broke? Additionally, can I just buy one spring? and If so what brand does those who have been down this path before recommend? Thanks for your time! :)

 

Since I am posting my findings I am including a photo of my cracked driver's side exhaust manifold also. Thanks RonD again for your advise and recommendations.

 

Not sure about the ranger but the rope trick might work..length small rope down spark plug hole bring piston up on compression first..rope will hold valve closed...you will have to make tool to compress spring...check with auto machine shops, they might have ranger junk heads for valve spring..

 

Good suggestion uksparky, did not even consider it. Will try that and report my findings.

 

You can buy an in-situ valve spring compressor.
They're commonly used to install new stem seals with out removing the heads.

Rope trick seems to work well, never tried it though, but seems to work well for others.
I used to use compressed air and an adapter through the spark plug hole _ a lot of bother.

All I do know is remove all the plugs so the engine can be turned freely.
Turn the engine so the piston comes to the very top of its stroke on the valve your working on.

Put the truck in gear or park. Set the e-brake.
BLOCK UP BOTH REAR WHEELS ON EACH SIDE _ BEFROE AND AFT.
YOU DO NOT WANT THE TRUCK TO MOVE, OR THE ENGINE TO TURN.
BATTERY SHOULD BE DISCONENCTED TOO.

The piston at the top of the stroke will comfortably hold the valve In place.
It will drop a small amount when resting on the piston, and will allow plenty of stem to install a new spring and get the keepers on place.

ALWAYS USE RAGS IN THIS AREA TO PREVENT THE KEEPERS FROM FALLING DOWN INTO THE PAN.

Use some heavy grease to hold the keepers in place while you release the valve spring.

 

^ Thanks Jeff R 1 for the advice, will try that. I will not be able to work on it for a few days but will post my outcome.

 

Here is my update! I purchased the valve spring form eBay form a Ford Dealer and I successfully replaced the valve spring by using the following method: I stuffed some rope thru the spark plug hole to keep the valve from dropping even though I placed it at TDC and than backed it up a bit to feed the rope and back to TDC (as much as it would travel without forcing it).

I rented a valve spring compressor from Autozone to compress the spring for the removal of the broken one and the install of the new one, being careful not to drop the keepers, plenty of rags.

I also took advantage of the situation and replaced the valve cover gaskets and the upper intake manifold gaskets as the intake manifold needs to come off (easier) in order to get to the driver's side.

I buttoned everything up, made sure nothing was left off, wiring, vacuum lines ........ Started it up and all is well again, (as much as could be with 214K miles on the clock) I did notice that it would not rev above 3K RPM in park but a quick search confirmed that this is normal for my model year.

I discovered that one of the bolts from my driver's side exhaust manifold had broken clean at the support bracket for the intake manifold so I decided to put that job off for another time. Thanks everyone for the help and support

 

Good Work, not an easy job