Found the problem...

The exhaust valves on cylinders 3 & 4 aren't setting correctly so it looks like I'm gonna have to replace the valves. Might as well do all of them while at it.

 

Throw a cam in there while you're at it.

 

The head is the original head with a ton of miles on it so I'm opting to purchase a remanufactured head and just put it on. I can't really find too many cams for this that would work for a street truck and not a circle track racer.

Good thing is the timing belt is not even 1200 miles worn in and the water pump was already replaced back in 2013.

I'm waiting for the 2.3t swap (or 5.0 if I can decide) before investing anything into the power aspect of the truck. Right now, I want it to run reliably for a little while.

While we are at it with the head replacement, naturally it is going to have the head gasket replaced with the Fel-Pro kit.

Will post pics when the head gets in later this week/weekend.

 

Did a few more tests, turns out it was a fuel injector!

Awesome.

Way cheaper fix now.

 

Mods, feel free to close this thread.

Any future progress to the truck can be followed in my project log.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/projec...rms93s-145556/