My son's 2000 ranger 3.0 was getting water in the oil. After pulling the heads and timing cover, we discovered the water pump impeller was worn out and cut a hole in the timing cover. So we put it all back together and now it won't hardly run. Skipping bad. Sounds like the plug wires are crossed but we've triple checked and they are good. Gotta hold the peddle to the floor to get it to spit and sputter but there is good feul pressure. Also spitting back through the intake. Any suggestions and help are appreciated. Thanks.

 

Check the valve timing, do a compression test.
3.0l should be 150-175psi

Could the timing chain have made the hole?

engine
3 6
2 5
1 4
Front

Coil
3 4
2 6
1 5
Front

I always reverse the drivers side coil wires, lol.

 

Wasn't the chain. The impeller blades cut a perfect hole out of it clean through. A perfect circle fell out when we took the cover off lol.

 

sounds like the timing, did you remove the timing chain when you did this?

 

Yes, we replaced the timing chain.

 

There are usually a few "marks" on the Cam gear, so you can mis-time the valves.

I would test the compression on a few cylinders just to confirm valve timing is OK

 

We did a compression check. Highest was 150, lowest was 120.

 

We also cleaned the crank positioning sensor. The made it run a little better. It will idle now but very rough. Still spitting back through the intake. When you give it gas it wants to cut off.

 

It reads like your cam gear is off, 120psi is very very low for a 3.0l, it is rated at 9.3:1 ratio.
My 4.0l hits 165psi average with over 300,000 on the rings, and it is only 9.0:1 ratio

If possible test another vehicles compression(one or two cylinder) with that gauge then retest the 3.0l.
Even a 1 cylinder lawn mower will be 90psi.

Or remove the valve cover on #1 cylinder side, and all the spark plugs.
Turn crank to line up TDC mark with 0

A 4 stroke engine has:
intake stroke, piston is going down and intake valve is open
compression stroke, intake valve is closed and piston is going up
TDC mark hits 0, spark plug fires
Power stroke, both valves closed, expanding gases are forcing piston down
Exhaust stroke, exhaust valve opens as piston comes up forcing burnt gases out the exhaust.
TDC mark on 0 again, there are TWO TDC for #1 on a 4 stroke engine.
intake stroke...........

And this is where I would check valve timing, the second TDC between exhaust stroke and intake stroke, the #1 exhaust valve should be closing just before TDC mark then be closed and the intake valve will be opening just past the TDC mark.