I have been chasing this issue for months and have replaced everything that has been suggested in these post. I to found plug just laying. Cleaned area and jb weld on plug and installed after curing I gave a second coat and reinforced with a wood shim. Truck has never ran better. The pictures were spot on.

 

I would not advise that unless you are going to keep that vid "clean" I had cuss words flowing faster than the Niagra.

 

This thread saved me so much trouble! I just picked up my Ranger last week from a friend of mine in Virginia and drove it back to Connecticut with no troubles. It has 144xxx miles and was running like a champ. A couple days ago I went up to Massachusetts and when I got off the highway it almost cut out on me. The idle was horribly rough and It was misfiring but out of the intake manifold. I was baffled. Couldn’t find a vacuum leak and it just got new plugs and wires. I was about to start replacing parts left and right until I found this thread. Low and behold, that was the problem! Luckily the plug was sitting right underneath the hole so I replaced it and packed jb weld behind it. And she’s back to her normal self again! Thanks god for this forum!

 

I have the same problem but my plug is missing. Any clue as to what to use to,plug the hole?

 

Thank you Lemmy for the post and Tanker3278 for the great photos. I had thrown spark plugs, coil pack, o2 bank1 sensor at this issue before stumbling on this post. I checked and my plug had popped out and fortunately it was still there and I used a similar solution as RichB but I used regular cork as a wedge. So hopefully it won't ever pop again. Thanks to you all for posting.