starting issue.... is it time.?
 

Well not sure whats going on but I have been having an intermittent starting issue. It mostly happens when I drive a short distance and park for about five ten minuets, it will crank but wont turn over. It act's like it doesn't have spark or fuel not sure which, it just happened to me a few minuets ago and noticed this time I had a strong coolant smell. Any thoughts? I'm hoping its nothing huge but with 226k on the OD I'm expecting just about anything.

Take a long trip, short trips drain the battery more than charging. Try that and see how it does.

1993 Ranger 4.0 146k miles
 

Same thing happened to me. Twice. But intermittent, so don't have a clue. Didn't have any stong coolant smell.
Drove for a while, stopped, tried to restart within a couple minutes. It cranked fine, but no joy. Let it sit a few min, then it started up just like usual. Hmmm. Either electrical or fuel related, obviously. I didn't listen for fuel pump whine. Will next time. Had this vehicle 19 years; never made me walk....yet!

If you touch the gas pedal will it start?

No. It won't start if I touch it, floor it, or anything. After a couple minutes, it starts right up like it never happened. I've been seeing a lot of discussion regarding a "fuel pump relay" that fails on these vehicles occasionally. They are cheap, and I always start with the cheap and easy fixes. I'll do the fuel filter this weekend, too. Worked fine this morning when I picked up the car pooler.

Just swap it with the horn relay.

Thanks. I was going to try that with the A/C relay. Same one, as well. Appears to be a pretty common part. If something is available on the shelf at the chain stores, you know there has been some turnover of inventory! I'm going to put in a fresh one, and see if that takes care of it. If not, then I have an intermittent ground to chase. I like the easy fix first! I appreciate your advice.

Wow been a bit, ended up figuring out what caused the no start. I had a bad injector, I can't recreate the coolant smell though. I am hoping it was just a fluke, not sure but hey truck runs good now after swapping all the injectors!

Matt,

I have a 2002 Ranger (65,000 miles) and am having the same issue. I have checked for codes and do not show any. If I leave it cool down it starts like nothing is wrong.

Some one said something about a bad injector which is possible but would it be intermittent?

I am afraid to drive it since it has left me stranded four times.

Don

Okay, a combo of a bad injector and the ignition relay. I've had this fixed for a while I just wanted to get my resolve out, sorry about the delay haven't looked at this post for a while.

Fuel pump?

I swapped the fuel pump before I swapped the ignition relay. Didn't make a difference there wasn't any spark during start up.