So I went to start my truck today and it was shaking more than usual. Just something seemed off. I started to drive and it was hesitant. Hooked up my little bluetooth obdII adaptor and opened the app Torque and it said I had a 3rd cylinder missfire. But as I continued to drive it then went away...

What things should I test and how much would it cost to get an oem injector? I looked online and injectos range from $25-90 but wasn't sure specifically what I should get? Should I replace all 4 or only 1?

I went to start it up again and it idled fine and nothing out of the blue.... started up again later to move the truck and it was a little shaky again....

This is a 2001 Ford Ranger XLT 2.3l auto

Thanks,
-Nigel

 

Misfire cylinder can be caused by multiple factors like coil pack, wire coil pack, spark plugs, injector, compression...

The best way to diagnose the culprit is to list everything engaged in the combustion process, check them separately and if it's OK move to the next part in list.

You could start by the easiest part accessible like the coil packs, wire by checking with a multimeter. then you can proceed. Also check your spark plugs for gap. The injector could be test for resistance but it is a more complicated test.
Also can do a compression test.
Do not change all the 4 injector if the others are good (check first for resistance).

Hope this will help.

 

Forgot something important too.
Check for codes and retrieve them first

 

Welp wanted to update.

I went to start the truck many times and it kept making that shaky vibration that just did not feel right.

As noted above some of the spark wires weren't all the way seated in there... Went to push them in and for the life of me they would just NOT go in. So, I pulled the first one out of cylinder 1, had some crap on it cleaned it up. Went to Cylinder 2, 3, and 4. Pull the wires out and ALL had oil on them by at least an inch... I was like WTF.............

Did some research to find out this is common with the engine and that it's most likely a valve gasket leak. YAY!

Yesterday I had picked up new valve gasket at the dealership, sparkwire plugs, and new spark plugs (motorcraft everything).

First time installign a valve gasket and boy what a pain in the *** it was because of the manifold... I had to remove all 5 of those bolts so that I could push it back a little bit to remove the valve cover. Overall I can see myself being faster doing it again, but this is something I've never done before.

For the Spark plug GAP my sticker on the engine bay states 1.00-1.15.
My damn gauge only goes to 1.00...lol Plus when I checked the gap of the motorcraft spark plugs they were roughly .54-.56, so I gapped them all at .55

Everything I've read says .54-.56 but since the engine bay said that large amount I didn't do it that way.

After cleaning out the oil and cleaning the old gasket residue off the valve cover I put the new one on. The new one was all rubbery feeling and pliable while the old one was very tough and felt like hard plastic... I doubt it's ever been changed...

Put the valve cover back on, torqued everything, put the new spark plug wires on and then started the truck up... TONS of white smoke coming from exhaust and I was thinking WTF what did I do... only to think that when there was oil in the spark plug area, once I took the spark plugs OUT, the oil went into the combustion chambers where normally it's not so that is why because it was buring the oil.. after about 2 mintues of white smoke it's all clear.

Drove the truck today to work. Idles very smooth, almost NO shaking like it did before. And the entire ride was smooth and no issues (knock on wood).

It's funny the old spark plugs that I pulled out I thought was weird, they were ALL gapped differently. One was .20, another was .57, .33, and the last one was .45. I'm surprized it ran as it did for so long.

Overall I'm happy I found out how to fix it!!

:-)

-Nigel

 

I'm happy for you on how it turns out to be just "minor repair".