Hi I have a 92 ranger xlt 3.0 Manuel I was driving home one day an the car just dies on the free way I thought ok maybe I missed the clutch an stalled it but when I go to start it, it just cranks it doesn't catch I'm not good with cars but people tell me it's the fuel pump or oil pump If those went out wouldn't that cause the engine to not crank? Then someone told me it could be a head gasket an my heart sank I really like my little truck can anyone one help me?

 

If the information is correct that I looked up, your 92 has an ignition distributor, this will be at the back of engine.
Remove the cap see if the rotor turns while you have a friend crank the engine.
If it isn't turning, then the gear that drives the rotor is worn and or the roll pin that holds the gear in place has sheared off.
This of course would also cause the oil pump from turning, but the oil pump itself would not cause the engine from running.

Head gasket failure is caused by over heating, so unless you over heated your truck, the head gasket is not the problem (or gaskets in this case).
Failing head gaskets don't suddenly cause the truck to stop. There would be signs of over heating/knocking/pinging/white smoke out of the exhaust etc.

Could be the fuel pump...
But check the rotor first to see if it's turning.

 

I'm not really car smart would the rotor be underneath an behind or on top an behind cause when I think rotor I think clutch disk

 

Welcome to the forum

Not your head gasket, that causes overheating, but engine still runs

When you turn the key ON, your fuel pump in the gas tank will run for 2 seconds, but only 2 seconds.
It isn't quiet, you can hear the HUMMMM in the cab if you listen for it, turn the key off and on as much as you want, it won't hurt anything.

If you do not hear it:

Do 50/50 test
Get some Starting Fluid(ether in a spray can), or gasoline in a spray bottle
Pull off the large air tube attached to upper intake, screwdriver needed

Open throttle and spray fuel into the intake
Leave air tube off if you want, make sure fan won't hit it
Try to start engine.

If engine starts and then dies, spark is OK but fuel is not
If it doesn't start then Spark is not working
50/50

Do the test and report back, there are other causes that can stop fuel pump from working, Fuel pump fuse, fuel pump relay, inertia switch, but no need to check any of that until you find out if fuel or spark is the problem
But at 25 years old the Fuel pump failing is most likely cause of engine dying, although once running they usually keep running so failing while driving is not common, failing to work on startup is most common.

 

The rotor has nothing to do with the clutch.
Open the hood of your truck.
Go to the back of the engine and the distributor will be there, there will be 7 thick wires coming out of it. One in the centre and 6 around the outside that go to each spark plug.
In the screen shot with the red circles in it is the distributor cap.
Undue the screws circled in red, do not remove the wires.
Carefully remove the distributor cap with the wires intact and set it aside so it doesn't get in the way of the moving rotor when the engine is turned over.

The other screen shot is what the rotor looks like, it should turn when the engine is cranked.

 

thanks I'll do that when I get home

 

I'll look into that it did stall out on it's own everytime is try an start it take a few times but eventually it would run fine

 

If it's eventually running fine, then you don't have to check to see if the rotor is turning.
The rotor with either turn or it won't. It doesn't produce intermittent starting issues if the drive gear has failed.

 

sorry I'm bad at grammar as well lol no i mean before it completely died (still doesn't run) when is go to head to work it would stall out id try it again it would idle then die the always the third time starting it it would turn on an go a I'd have no problems but I'm willing to look into anything before I start sending arms an limbs as payments lol

 

OK, do Ron's test and or check the rotor.
Ron's test is a lot easier, the two bolts holding the distributor in place are hard to get at.

 

I'm going to do both the things y'all mentioned I really like my truck an rather try to do everything to fix it then just scrap it

 

You don't scrap a vehicle, especially a Ranger if you're just having starting issues.
Rangers are scrapped if they are badly rusted out or they were in a very bad accident _ they hold their value quite well.

 

True I just keep getting told it's the gasket an it makes me lose hope lol

 

It's not the head gaskets.
Do you have to keep adding coolant (water) ?

 

Kenneth, you said you were driving home one day and the truck just stopped running and wouldn't start back up. That's NOT a head gasket problem, if your head gasket blew your truck would run hot and you'd see steam and smell anti freeze before the engine stopped running. If none of that happened it's not a head gasket. Also check your oil, if it looks fine and you only see oil you don't have a head gasket problem. If your head gasket blows you'll see radiator coolant or anti freeze in your oil . If it's been there awhile your oil may look like a chocolate milk shake. If you see that you have a head gasket problem.

If your oil pump quit your motor would likely have frozen up and would need to be rebuilt unless you turned it off yourself before that happened. Don't think this is an oil pump problem.

When my ranger failed to start one morning, it turned out to be the ignition module, the ignition module can also make your engine just stop when you're going down the road.

The most likely causes of your problem I think are either the ignition module or the fuel pump.

When you try and start your engine does it hit and try to start at all or does it just turn over and doesn't try to start?

 

I haven't had time to look at what the other guys mentioned but as for what you said it shitb it's self off gave no warning just died my oil didnt look like a milkshake or foamy my radatorfluid was still green when I slapped the cap off an for the engine I can litteraly sit in the car for as long as the battery has juice an listen to it turn a turn but it won't catch

 

Do Ron's 50/50 test, it's the simplest to do and tells you where to begin trouble shooting.
Ignition or fuel.

 

I personally wanna say fuel since it would stall it's self out before or idle for 2 seconds then die after being started in the morning

 

Well I'm fairly certain we can omit a bad head gasket as the cause. It's entirely possible you could have a bad or broken rotor in your distributor or a cracked distributor cap but in my experience that would be a rare occurrence. But it's definitely worth checking.

If you check and the distributor cap and rotor are in good shape I still think your problem will most likely lie in either the fuel pump or the Ignition module. And either one of those will have to be repaired in a qualified mechanic shop unless you know someone who knows how to do it.

I will give you a tip that will save you some future money, if you replace any electrical parts especially the Ignition Module make sure you replace them with genuine Motorcraft Ford parts. Do not put any after market ignition module on your Ford. Don't know why this is but I first replaced mine with an after market part and paid $300 for the part and installation. It lasted three months. I put in a Motorcraft module after that and it's lasted two years and still going strong.

I've talked to several Ford Mechanics who have warned me about this so I'm passing it on to you. I think you're just going to have to bite the bullet and put your baby in the shop to be repaired. Depending on where you live I'm guess ing it's goingn to cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 to $500 to get diagnosed by a professional and do the repairs. I don't think based on your posts so far that this is something you will fix on your own unless it is just a distributor rotor. If that's what it is it will cost a few bucks and ten minutes time to fix.

 

So I decided to buy a new oil pump fuel pump an gaskets with new head bolts to just chip away at it since it's 25 years old i figured I'd just start repairing things an narrow it down i figured I'd do the rotor an distributor last thank you guys so much for the help if I have more questions I'll make sure to ask here first

 

Installing a new oil pump isn't going to fix your "No Start" problem...
Plus the fact that it's nearly impossible to install the oil pump with out removing the engine.
There is a video where the guy lifts the entire engine and tranny off its mounts as far as it will go.
He gains just enough clearance to drop the pan _ it's a real PITA.

Do Ron's test and or check the rotor in the distributor to see if it turns while cranking.

Just throwing away money and doing major engine work isn't going to solve your problems.

Myself, Ron and others here have years and decades of experience working on engines and trouble shooting.
The guy(s) who told you that it could be the oil pump or the head gaskets, don't know what they are talking about.

Are you not telling us something, are the head gaskets leaking, are you losing coolant ?

Logically, the truck being 25 years old, it probably needs a fuel pump, coil, spark plug wires and plugs.
When was the last time any of these things were changed ?

 

you don't need to be so worked up an I stated everything that it's doing as for me throwing money away technically it's better since again it's 25 years old things are bound to start going out an no there's no leaks an as far it's maintenance i have no idea literally have had the car for about a month

 

I'm not worked up, take it easy...

I just don't like to see guys spend money on things unnecessarily and the oil pump is one of those things.

Since you've spent money on head bolts and gaskets, I'm going to assume that you're going to pull the head some time soon ?

How many miles are on the truck, maybe it is time for a valve job ?

At any rate, I'm just here to help, start with the small things mentioned in this thread to solve your "no start" issue.

Even on a 25 year old vehicle, major engine components don't usually fail, it's the small stuff that does like your fuel pump, coil pack, wires etc.