wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

ok so i had a blown head gasket so i pulled it down and replaced them. This is on a 99 ranger 3.0. now ive got it all back together and it runs but runs rough. when i give it gas in park it backfires and blows the DPFE hose off and then when i rev it with the hose off it blows a little fire out of the tube. It will rev up in park or neutral but when i put it in gear it stumbles real bad under a load. When i try to rev it in gear it just acts like it wont take the gas. i can hold it to the floor and it will only rev to like 1500rpm's (just guessing on that #) I had my friend hook his snap-on scanner up to it and it wont detect anything, he looked at the oxygen sensors and the MAF sensor to make sure they were doing what they were supposed to. I pulled all the plugs out (They were brand new-only about 20 min idleing run on them) was cylinders 1,2,3 (passenger side front to back) were still almost brand new looking porcelin was still white. Cyl 4 (driver side front) was BLACK and cylinder 5 (Driver side middle), and cylinder 6 (driver side rear) looked like my old plugs that i pulled out that had about 50,000 miles on them. I have checked and rechecked all my vaccuum lines and ground straps and they are all correct.. Any ideas? :confused:

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

I'm 99% sure its your firing order. The diagram in the Hayne's manual I have is wrong. Clean off the top of the coil and make sure the wires are on according to how the coil is marked.

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Ok I will double check the firing order this evening

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Got it. Thanks wvcat. The manual is wrong. I cleaned the top of the coil pack off and followed the numbers there and it fired up and ran good. Thanks again.

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Your welcome...been there done that...glad to help out.

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Just when i thought i had it fixed..... I drove it a little bit this weekend and it ran great, so i decided ide drive it to work this morning. Mind you this is 4:15 am. Halfway to work it started missing like crazy and cut off on me. I was able to get it back started and limp it anout 1/4 mile up the road to a hotel. I had to be at work so i went back and got the truck later on a trailer. Did a compression test and a big fat ZERO on cylinder #5. WTF............. Hopefully its just a broken valve spring so i dont have to pull the head back off. Seems like i cant win for losing.

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Good luck I hope its something simple...

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Me too. Sucks cause its on the driver side so the upper intake has to come off again. But im going to hope that when i pull off the valve cover i see something. I dont want to have to pull the heads again.

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

For it to have zero compression a valve is open or a hole in a piston. I would guess either the keepers came off the valve spring, a spring broke, or the stem is seized in the valve guide.

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Haha I did the same exact thing!

Re: wont run right after head gasket replacement
 

Took it apart yesterday and a valve spring is broken. Going to replace them all while I have it apart.