I have a 1995 Ranger with 4.0L V6, 4WD, Ext. Cab and Auto trans that has been having some weird starting issues. The problem first started one night when I drove home from work and parked in my driveway. I went in the house for about 20 minutes and came out to start my truck, and the engine would just crank and not start. I tried it again about an hour later and it still would not start.

The next morning I tried to start it and it fired right up! So I went inside thinking the problem fixed itself, except I tried a few hours later and again, just cranking and not starting. I tried it later that night and it fired right up again, so I shut it off and tried to start it again, but it would just crank.

The next day, it did the same thing, fired right up the first time and just crank after that. I then discovered that if I held my foot to the floor and started it, it would fire, but then idle up to between 3000-2000 and slowly work its way back down to 1000. Also, if I started it this way, a cloud of black smoke would come out the tailpipe upon starting.

I had a friend of mine plug his scanner into it and we got a code for the EGR valve (Excessive flow detected, or something like that). We swapped that out and it did relieve the rough idling problem I was having and has only helped with the starting problem. Now, if the engine doesnt start on the first try, I can get it to start on a second try without having to push the pedal at all. It did do the high idle thing one time so far.

Does anyone have any ideas here, because Im stumped?

 

I know there was a response here this morning. It must have gone somewhere.

As for this fuel pressure regulator, where would that be located?