I am completely new to the forum. I did a search but really don't know what to search for, so i am asking generically. I have two ford rangers. one 4x4 for winter, one 2wd for summer. My 2wd is a 4 cyl 1996. It sat over winter. I am in central iowa. come spring when i could run it again, it started but ran very rough. it ran fine when i parked it. it almost sounds like its only hitting on two cylinders and it lacks the umph going up hills. I put new plugs and wires in it to be sure and that didn't help. I am thinking possibly rodents did something to it over winter that i can't detect. i'm at a loss. i am a farmer and not a mechanic, but i think it might be something in the vacuum system. one of the big reasons i joined and am asking is if there is a known issue that is common in this engine that i can address, or if the symptoms give someone an idea on exactly what it could be. Or maybe theres a ranger expert in central iowa that wants to take a stab at it, i did take it to my local mechanic but he didn't know much more than me and he seems like a good mechanic, so i seem to think it's not something obvious. i do appreciate your time and expertise here.

 

Gasoline lasts for maybe 3 months in a gas tank unless its completely full, so less air contact
How old is the gas in the tank?
How old is the fuel filter?

There also water in all gas, normally its stays mixed up when driving, so you burn little bits at a time
Water is heavier than gasoline
When if sits for a few weeks all the water settles to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel pump is......................
So fuel system gets fouled with water after startup

"bad gas" is gasoline with too much water in it, happens sometimes at gas stations if you pump gas from a storage tank that's being filled at that time, the tanker trucks in flow of new gas stirs up the water in the bottom of the storage tank and you get big gulps of H2O while filling up