I have a ranger I have been working on getting running after sitting for a few years. Was misfiring so I replaced the coil pack spark plug wires and plugs. Ran smooth for about a 30 minutes and died on the road. Tested spark and it only gets spark on cylinders 1 and 3. I am lost on what to do next. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum

Gasoline only lasts for 4 to 6 months in a gas tank unless it has been treated for storage
Nothing you can do to it afterwards, just drain it and dispose of it, and add fresh fuel
Also change the fuel filter

Try to restart using 50/50 test
Spray fuel into the intake, Quick Start(ether) or fresh gasoline
Try to start
If it starts, runs, then dies you have a fuel delivery issue, bad gas, bad pump, clogged injectors
If it doesn't fire/start then you have no spark
50/50 instant results

 

It has week old fuel in it and it is getting fuel to the cylinders. Fueling issue doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t understand why a brand new ignition system just stopped working after running fine for a half hour.

 

So you checked spark plug tips and they are WET with fuel and you can ignite a tip with a match/lighter?

"Brand new" means never ever tested, you are the first to try it out, lol
"New" used to mean "tested and working" now it just means "never ever tested"
So grain of salt on all "new" parts

If you still have the old coil swap it back in

It will start if 1 and 3 have spark at the right time, run rough but will fire and start

 

I am a little baffled how a wasted spark setup fires on adjacent spark event cylinders, but not their sister cylinders.

Make sure the firing order is correct, it definitely has something awry with it, I'm going to assume some sort of harness damage.

FWIW, my truck ran and drove fine using a tank of 3 year old gasoline. This is not to say bad gas isn't part of the issue, but bad gas should not be causing you to only get spark, and then subsequently only run on two cylinders.

 

Yes, with spark plugs 1/4 and 2/3 pairs being in series you would expect both or neither to show spark, but it would also depend on the type of "spark tester" that is being used or the method of testing spark
i.e. if you test 1 and had spark but left it unplugged then you would have no spark on 4 when tested

That's why I like 50/50 test, lol, tests spark and timing