93 truck won't start

[Boro Buzzie]

Good evening,
I've got a 93 Ranger that won't start. It's a 5 speed regular cab with just the 4 cylinder in it, about 220K miles. I've managed to put the trans back together in two attempts with new clutch parts, and master and slave cylinders. (After the first attempt it did start with a new battery and ran easily for 45 - 60 minutes, but wouldn't shift into gear. So I took it all apart again and put in a new slave cylinder.)

It took me about 14 months to get it ready the second time, and I'd charge the battery every month or two. When I went to start it and test the trans, the battery had lost enough juice that it wouldn't turn over. At that point I should have tried jumping it off one of our cars. But instead I tried hitting the 100 amp engine start on the Craftsman charger I have. I'm wondering now if I might have fried any wires or circuits, and it didn't start anyway.

A week later I had a new battery, put it in the truck, and it will crank great now. But still no starting - not even coughing like it's interested. I did pour a half cup of gas down into the air intake duct, and with that it did run for 10 seconds to burn up just that gas. So I'm glad the spark plugs still want to work.

I've checked the fuel pump fuse, fuel pump relay, and inertia safety switch for continuity, and they're ok. Today I put in a new fuel filter and I'll try it again tomorrow. By turning the key I don't get that warm and fuzzy hum of a Ford fuel pump (we've had a Tempo and an F150), so I'm thinking fuel pump. But could it also be the PCM, if I managed to fry it during the attempt with the dead battery? One other thing that strikes me strange is that the wire leading to the inertia switch reads about 6-1/2 volts to ground, not zero or 12. This evening I was reading in my Chilton's how to remove the gas tank, so that might be the next step. There's not a ton of room between the top of the tank and the bed, and I'd like to check the power going to the fuel pump.
Thanks for listening, and I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have;
Boro Buzzie

 

[5.0]

I've never worked on any other Ranger than my '97, so your '93 may be different... but on mine there is a connector in the wiring on the driver side frame rail under where I sit that goes back to the gas tank. I can unplug that connector and test the voltage going to the pump, or connect a 12 volt jumper wire from the battery directly to the wire for the fuel pump.

At one time I suspected a weak fuel pump on my truck, so I unhooked the fuel lines and electrical connector under the truck. Then I had a complete gas tank and fuel lines for a '92 Thunderbird that I connected to the truck. I wired the pump directly to the battery and connected the fuel lines under the truck. It turns out my pump was fine, but it was still fun to do anyway.

Edit: I saw a guy do this with a Chevy van with a bad pump... start hitting the gas tank with a hammer while a friend turns the key on. Amazingly the van started! I guess the vibration "jump started" the pump. He only drove about 45 miles after that until it quit again, but at least he knew what the problem was.

 

[Boro Buzzie]

wiring

Thanks for your idea, when I was under there yesterday messing with the filter I saw the harness which might have such connectors. On different forums here I've seen other ideas I might check out too, like bad connections in the power distribution box or bad fuel pump and EEC relays.

I'll keep a hammer and some mallets handy too. I recall seeing a guy crawl under an old Monte Carlo in Ohio and convnce a starter to go with a hammer. So there are uses for our fine adjusting tools.