What's up guys, I'm new to the whole forum deal. I have a 2002 4.0 ranger XLT. I have a few questions. Everytime I try to put gas in it it shoots gas back out at me. Is that a clogged vent hose? Ok now for the big question, I've changed the fuel filter, 1 O2 sensor, plugs and wires, coil pack and a couple other sensors. My truck shakes like all get out and has no power. My check engine light is flashing. When I drive for awhile my light will quit flashing and the truck will stop shaking and I can feel the power come back, but it only lasts a few minutes. I've checked the codes with my cheap code reader and it says bank 1 to lean and cylinder 1 misfire. I've chnaged and checked cylinder 1 plug twice and changed it twice. This truck was given to me by an old customer 4 years ago so I can't complain. This all hit at once. I'm not a master mechanic but I can do some stuff. All info is appreciated and will be out to use. Please help because it's my only means of transportation and not made of money!!

 

Welcome to the forum

Yes, clogged vent for gas tank

You have misfires, that's what the flashing CEL means, actually means BACK-OFF the gas pedal or engine damage may occur, so never good to see that
And misfires cause Lean codes, Lean codes don't cause misfires

2002 shouldn't need any new sensors except 3 new O2 sensors(every 12 years or 100k miles for these) but not the issue as far as misfires

You have a 4.0l SOHC engine in a 2002, so do you hear any "rattling" noises?

Because of the misfires you will NEED to do a compression test
Cold engine
Remove all 6 spark plugs first, keep spark plugs in order, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Then test each cylinder, one at a time
Write down results, expected is 165psi to 175psi, but high numbers are not as important as the average of all the cylinders

Compression is mechanical, either good or bad, you can chase your tail on spark and fuel for weeks when its a compression issue, so do the test to take that off the table or find out it IS the issue


Coil pack spark plug wiring can be a bit odd unless you deal with coil packs alot

Drawing here: https://www.explorerforum.com/forums...hc-jpg.320448/

You see one side is the easy 1 2 3
But the other side is 5 6 4 <<<<often mis-wired side

This wiring is because there are only 3 coils in a 6 cylinder coil pack
1/5, 2/6, 3/4 are the 3 coils, both 1 and 5 spark plugs fire at the same time, as do 2 and 6 and then 3 and 4

So follow each wire to its cylinder, I have been doing these for years and STILL goof up, when I KNOW its right, lol