This is regarding a friend’s 3rd gen (possibly 2004) Ranger, 4.0, Automatic. At this moment this is what I now about the situation.

He seems to have overheated it; said there was steam (presumably from under the hood) and the gauge went to hot. Then when he tried to accelerate it just reved but did not accelerate. When he rolled to a stop it died.

This am I went to take a look and maybe get it off the side of the road. First I checked the fluids; oil was good (no evidence of water in oil), tranny fluid was good (bright red), water was pretty much empty. Visually, there were no obvious problems.

When I tried to start it (3 times) it did turn but would not fire up. It seemed to turn enough so it should have fired up and I did not hear any bad noises.

We are going to get it to my place this weekend. My first order of business would be to get it started. I’ll check for spark first. My rough guess is it may be something computer related, like the overheat tripped something in the computer. But I have very limited experience with computerized vehicles.

So my first question is . . . what “typically” may be causing the no start after an overheat?

Your input is appreciated.

 

Nothing in computer that would "trip" if overheated

You need to do 50/50 test
Remove air hose/tube from intake, spray fuel into the intake, gasoline, ether, carb cleaner, ect....
Crank engine over
If its starts and dies then you have a fuel delivery issue
If it doesn't start then you have no spark.............OR no compression(spark testers don't work well on Fords waste spark system, just FYI)
50/50 instant results

Assuming no start after 50/50 test

Overheating could:
Damage coil pack but there are 3 coils inside so would be unlikely that all 3 failed

Cause cam gear(s) to slip, need to test compression on at least 1 cylinder on each bank, expected is 170psi

Can cause cracked heads and blown head gaskets but engine would still start


See if a hose is what blew out and what part of the engine bay it may have sprayed steaming HOT coolant on, could be damaged wiring or engine fuse box issue

But 50/50 test and then "if" a no start, do compression test, these would be first steps so you don't end up chasing your tail

When you turn the key on the CEL(check engine light should come on and stay on, that means computer has booted up, no CEL = no computer
Turn key to START, CEL will go OFF if computer is seeing a timing pulse from crank sensor as engine turns over, if there is no timing pulse then NO SPARK and NO FUEL

 

We finally got the truck to my place.
I've never tried to fire a vehicle with an sir flow meter using ether etc should I spray before or after the flow meter or does it matter?
Thank you for the input Ron.

 

MAF sensor(flow meter?) is not used for start up

Take the large air tube off the upper intake(throttle body) and leave it off, make sure fan won't hit it
Then manually open throttle and spray some fuel in, release throttle so its closed
Try to start