1996 Ford Ranger 4.0 V6 have codes P0306 and P0174 need some advice please

You can use a party smoke machine but you need a fish pump to pressurize the smoke.You would have to get a 5 gallon plastic bucket with lid.Remove the filter from the fish pump place the pump into the bottom of the bucket.Cut a hole for the plug then seal around the plug.Then cut a hole for the nozzle of the smoke machine nozzel to feed smoke into the bucket.Then seal the bucket where the nozzel goes in.Put the lid on and start the pump and smoke machine up.you can find all kinds of things with smoke oil leaks blow by vacuum leaks even a leaking intake gasket.

Thanks for the smoke device guide, I think I will try it.

Can you tell me do I take the output of the fish pump through the bucket wall and connect to the plenum on the car? So the smoke is pumped by the fish pump? Should I get the Fog machine for $39 or $69?

Yes you put the outtlet of the fish pump thru the bucket forgot to mention that.I would probablly get a 700 watt machine pump the smoke into the brake booster hose without the check valve on it.

It's between fog machines Chauvet h1100, h900, or h700. I would pick the h700 but the specs say it's only 450 watts. By 700 wats did you mean the h700 would be adequate? Thanks

Which fish pump sounds good to you? Tetra 77854 Whisper Air Pump, 60-Gallon, or the 40 gallon, or the 10 gal, or even the 100 gal?

The three models watts are h1100=700 watts, h900 and h700 both are 400watts. Please let me know. Thanks

The output of them is: h700 Output: 1,500cfm, h900 4500 cfm, h1100 is 8000cfm. Thanks for helping me with this.

The higher output of each one get the better it will work it all depends on how much you want to spend on your machine.i would atleast go middle of the road on each one.

I ordered middle of the road fog and pump. I saw the Smoke Pro and the can is a lot smaller than a 5 gallon bucket. Could I use a smaller bucket? I have a two gal metal bucket that seals tight. I was thinking of making a wooden rack to put this assembly into. Maybe on wheels.

The smoke machine goes on the outside of the bucket and feeds smoke into bucket thru a pvc pipe.The fish pump goes inside the bucket to feed presurized smoke out of the bucket.The larger the bucket the more smoke that can be stored to be released.

This problem still exists (misfire on #6), unable to drive. What kind of intake vacuum should I get and what reading would indicate a bad intake manifold gasket? I don't want to replace the injector if it's not the problem. I have the parts for the smoke machine but haven't assembled them yet.

Also the upgrade question is missing at the top of this question. You might let the webmaster know this.

Pete

You cant use a vacuum gauge to see a manifold or another vacuum leak or even that you may have one.The smoke is the best way to find leaks works really well.I was using the one like you were going to build.Now i built a different one with a old metal paint sprayer glow plug fish pump and some mineral oil.Works even better so you only have a cyl6 missfire code now?

I will build it, should be by next month. Thanks Saturn tech especially as a sounding board for my Toyota Avalon EGR VSV problem. Pete

Your welcome oh yeah i remember the Toyota who could forget that one lol.Also wanted to mentioned that a ohms test isnt a totally valid test for spark plug wires.In some cases yes but i have ohm tested plenty of wires as good and turned out to be bad.Something to think about.

Thanks for the info. I also tested the spark with it plugged in and againt a ground. Strong Spark. Also I got a really strong spark using one of those spark checkers where you unscrew the bolt and the spark jumps the distance. I have not driven it for 6 months but the P0174 did not surface each time the P0306 did but I thinks the P0174 code may be significant to the problem. One reason I am not rushing to change the #6 injector and wanting to smoke test it. I was looking at some used paint sprayers with the bottom cup. They go for around $20 on Ebay. I was thinking I could mount a glow plug 12V in it and put a hose on the other opening. I had a painter cup I gave away that had a screw top I think that would be better than the clamp tops. Thanks, Pete

Yeah i have the screw top one and put two nipple at the top of the can one for the fish pump and one for the smoke outlet.Also put the glow plug on the bottom center of the can.I will get you the ac delco part number of the glow plug i used its self limting.Also a spark plug wire will break down from the load of the engine and heat where it might not show on a spark test.A spark test is just basically to tell if the engine has spark.

Could it be the spark plug wire? That would be fantastic! I may have gotten the lifetime ones on this truck a while back. I can exchange them for new if I did. I will call now. Thanks

The glow plug part number is 60g yes the wire could be bad causing the P0306.If you have the duralast wires they dont seem to hold up to long.Let me know what you find.

I had a whole paragraph written here but lost it when I tried to add images. I will post a little later. Thanks, Pete

Thank you for suggesting I take another look at the wires. It paid off.

Ratz I broke the new sparkplug. I used a wobble extension to get the old plug off but I had a lapse and left it on to put the new plug on. Tomorrow I will use a straight extension.The old plug looked really rusty. It was a dbl Platinum too.

I had another plug so I put it in tonight. I am a little frustrated, the engine is obviously missing on I believe cyl 6. On a 10 mile hiway drive with 2 stops, no mil comes on. At idle in my yard the P0300 comes on regular, it starts flashing the mil then if I turn off the engine and restart it the p0300 is set. At idle the miss is noticable, at above 2000rpm the miss seems to disappear(no shaking)

A little background on when this cyl 6 miss first began to happen. I had a coolant leak in cyl3 for a couple years. Every 3-4 months I would change the spark plug and be good for another 3-4 months of no missing/codes. Then it happened that changing the plug did not help anymore. So I put in stopleak into the radiator, the kind you leave in without removing the thermostat. The code for cyl 3 went away with a new plug but now I had the miss in cyl 6. I put another bottle of the same stopleak thinking the head gasket sprung a leak in cyl 6, this had no effect. This is when the cyl 6 miss began. And I can't drive the truck since June 2012.

I put some Seafoam in tonite and 8 gallons of gas. I have driven about 30 miles since. I was hoping the wire was the cause of the miss and I just needed to run the engine for a while to clean out the gas that was six mos old. I really need help with troubleshooting this since I paid to register it again(plus insurance) and need to smog it soon, it was on a nonop. I was so sure the cracked boot and arc scoring on the manifold was the cause of the issue, I should have waited.

Please help me figure this out. Thanks

Also I should say the code that came up right after I changed the plug right now(before the latest test drive) was P0174. Thanks

Now that the obvious wire problem was resolved, how can I test the cyl 6 injector in a way I haven't yet: clogged injector, I don't know a test for this.

What are the steps to resolve the P0174 and P0300 codes? Why am I getting P0300 instead of P0306?

I removed the spark plug wire from the coil pack for cyl 6 and there was no change in engine sound. It was arcing as I removed it so it must be finding a ground.

Could the partially clogged injector trickle at idle then work better over 2000 rpm? Is there more pressure at higher rpm's? The missing seems smoother over 2000rpm.

Whew! I just came from the DMV and they will give me back the $104 registration less another $18 planned non op fee and my insurance is able to cancel the Ranger policy at no cost to me.

Now I can breathe and try to be methodical in testing the Ranger's misfire problem.

I replaced all 6 spark plugs about 10000 miles ago.

Could the egr be sticking at low rpm and smooth out above 2000 rpm?

Any steering you can give me to the best path to take.Will be great.

The current codes are P0300 repeating and P0174 once

Thanks

Injector balance test? At 2500 rpm?

After watching some Youtube videos, I can test the Cyl 6 injector by attching a fuel pressure gauge and powering the injector engine off. This will tell me if the injector is opening or not. I am afraid to use full battery voltage do you have a suggetion on how to power the injector without burning it out? Thanks

I ordered a AA battery holder and 9 volt connector to try and power the injector at 5V, 9V, or 12 volts I should get it in a couple days. Thanks

Sorry for the delay in responses our website has been having issues i havent been getting my email alerts when someone posts a reply to a question i have answered like its supposed too.They just fixed that today so iam playing catch up lol on all my questions.As far as the injectors go for operation there is one wire to them that has a constant 12 volts to it.The other wire is a ground pulse that the computer controls the amount of fuel it deliverys.The proper way to do a injector balance test is to key up the fuel pressure while watching the fuel pressure with a fuel pressure gauge.Once the pressure is at say 40 psi for instance then there is a special tool that hooks to the injector that supplies power and the ground pulse.You can set it pulse the injector for a certain amount of time.You set it to pulse for 100 milliseconds and watch what the fuel pressure drops too.Then do the next one and compare the pressure drop of each injector being pulsed.They should be all close to each other.If the engine doesnt run any different when removing the number 6 spark plug wire and you see a nice blue spark?Heres what i would a compression check on the number 6 cyl let me know what it is?

Compression on cyl 6 was 180 psi back in June. I removed the coil pack side of the wire for 6. Strong blue spark and then no change in idle when held aside. For a while I thought the problem was an intake manifold gasket leaking air to the cyl 6.How likely is this? Let's wait till I get the AA battery setup so I can open the injector with a fuel pressure gauge attached. I have looked for a Power Probe device to activate the injector but they are $40+. Can I just use a battery? What's your opinion about using full 12v battery power to test the injector? I am afraid of burning it out. Thanks

You can use 12 volts they run on 12 volts also have you checked for a injector pulse to the injector while cranking the engine and it running?Also just because you had 180 in june doesnt mean you have that now.If you have good spark then its going to be fuel or compression.I have the power probe 3 it even has a volt meter on it.

Hi, I just got an extra injector connector from the junkyard I will use to check the injector. I have to solder some wires to it and clips. I will rent the fuel pressure gauge at Autozone today. Thanks

Hey what's the ohms reading on the injector across the terminals?

When I checked the ohms back in June it was within specs. I will check it again. Thanks

Also do you have a injector pulse going to the number 6 injector?

Ohms are 16.1 ohms on Cyls 2 ad 6.Compression is 133psi on cyl 6 and 150 psi on cyl 4 cold cranking engine wot. Fuel pressure running is 31 psi, off 32 psi after 2 minutes 32 psi. From max of 36 psi fuel pressure each pulse of injectors 2 and 6 drops 3-4 psi fuel pressure per pulse (touching neg of battery momentarily) until exhausted. 2 and 6 are the same. Cyl 6 injector makes a good loud click. Please let me know your ideas. When running it is still rough missing at idle and smooths out above 2000rpm. I did not let it run much today. It was getting cool and dark so I stopped for today. Thanks

I just noticed you asked about inj pulse at inj 6. In june I used a noid light and it worked correctly. Flashed on and off.

Would a bad intake manifold gasket cause this problem? No firing on cyl 6? I wish I had a smoke machine, a mechanic here said it would cost $100 cash upfront to test with a smoke machine. That was why I was going to make one from a fog machine and air pump. Thanks

So when you remove the number 6 spark plug wire there is no change in the way the engine runs?Your compression really dropped from 180psi to 133psi.I want to know if you have injector pulse to the number 6 injector now?