Fuel injector?
 

Need help. First I am not a mechanic and do not pretend to be. I have a 2000 Ranger 6cyl 4.0L. I am having a problem I believe may be fuel injectors. I have a sputter in the engine especially when going up hill or whenever the engine is working hard. At traffic lights it feels like it wants to stall but has not yet. I bought a data plug in tool, Autoxray, which gives me a code for Check Engine light and it said I have 2 lean cyl and detecting a backfire in cyl 7. I tried the cheapest route first, liquid fuel injector cleaner with no result. Just curious? Am I barking up the wrong tree? If not, can I clean or replace the fuel injectors fairly easily myself? Help!!!!
Thanks

Re: Fuel injector?
 

Well a few things come to mind here, and none of them have to do with fuel injectors.

#1: Lean conditions are usually caused by vacuum leaks. Usual spot is right behind the top of the engine.

#2: I find it hard to believe you have a backfire in Cylinder #7 since you only have 6 cylinders.

#3: Misfires and stuttering under heavy load is usually a symptom of a clogged fuel filter, or bad spark plugs.

Re: Fuel injector?
 

Fire,
Thanks much. I might just try replacing the spark plugs, sorry about being a numbskull with the cyl 7. LOL When you say right behind the engine, what do you mean? Also, a friend mentioned vacuum too but not sure what you meant?

Re: Fuel injector?
 

Any air that enters the engine should only come through the throttle body (or carb on old stuff). That's the only way the engine can keep track of how much fuel to mix with it. A vacuum hose off, a leaking intake gasket or other leak allows excess air in and results in too lean a mix. Backfiring is a common symptom. Can cause serious overheating problems. Fix promptly.

Re: Fuel injector?
 

Read this. All about the common vacuum problem.

http://www.fordrangerforum.com/4-0-s...look-here.html

Re: Fuel injector?
 

My 2000 ranger 4.0l kept getting a P0174 and P0171 lean condition and eventually a P0303 misfire in cylinder #3. When I replaced the #3 spark plug, the issues went away for several thousand miles, then back. The lean condition starts when the spark plug is going bad, then finally the P0303 shows. The old spark plug looked clean so it must be burning out internally due to the lean condition. Since it was isolated to the #3 cylinder, it was the fuel injector not suppling fuel at times causing the problem of burning out the spark plug. A vacumn leak at the intake would cause more than one cylinder to misfire so I eliminated this idea.

A bad MAF sensor can trip misfire codes. MAF went bad in my 06 & tripped those exact codes. It's not a cheap sensor either.