Bought a used 2001 Explorer V6 brought it home last week...

[Harper]

Ok still "no start"
I have good fuel pressure at the fuel rail.
I have good Spark to plugs.

I did notice either water or fuel in the oil though- wondering now if maybe I don't have a blown head gasket. Or it very well could be fuel. I may have an injector hanging open?
I will investigate more tomorrow, but pulling every plug and checking compression/ and plugs individually.
Not really what I had hoped for- but then again it is what it is. I really am not into it for much at this point, so it's no big deal.
Thinking even if it's heads or something I may still try to see about cost of a rebuild. The only thing that kinda freaks me out is the rear cam/timing chain on the passenger side head/block lol

 

[koda2000]

Ok still "no start"
I have good fuel pressure at the fuel rail.
I have good Spark to plugs.

I did notice either water or fuel in the oil though- wondering now if maybe I don't have a blown head gasket. Or it very well could be fuel. I may have an injector hanging open?
I will investigate more tomorrow, but pulling every plug and checking compression/ and plugs individually.
Not really what I had hoped for- but then again it is what it is. I really am not into it for much at this point, so it's no big deal.
Thinking even if it's heads or something I may still try to see about cost of a rebuild. The only thing that kinda freaks me out is the rear cam/timing chain on the passenger side head/block lol

If you've got good spark and are now getting good fuel pressure, but still no sign of trying to start, it makes me wonder about the fuel. How does it smell? Still, you'd think it would do something on starting fluid. How much did you spray in? I usually give about a 2-3 second squirt directly into the throttle body. Also, try pulling the fuel pump relay to keep possible bad gas out of the engine while spraying the starting fluid.

If the truck sat for a year or more w/out running, it could be the fuel has gone bad. They say ethanol fuel can go bad after a month or two, but I've never found this to be the case with low percentage ethanol blends. If it's sat a long time I've also seen fuel injectors completely clog up, but starting fluid should be getting around those issues well enough to get at least a sputter out of it.

Being a SOHC, I'm still wondering if it's jumped time. Does the engine sound normal when cranking?

Rebuilt SOHC's can run $1700-$2300 and even relatively low mileage used SOHC's are around $1200-$1300. That's a lot of money to spend on a vehicle that if running and driving is worth $1500-$2000 (maybe a bit more if otherwise in good condition) where I live.

 

[Flash]

Being a SOHC, I'm still wondering if it's jumped time. Does the engine sound normal when cranking?

Easy way to check; take the cam covers off and check that the cam slots are horizontal at TDC.
Might have to use a dummy tensioner.

 

[Harper]

Yea it sounds normal to me- but I have never owned a SOHC 4.0 that was not cranking either.
I sprayed the starter fluid i2-3 good seconds thru the TB but it doesn't even remotely begin to try to start-

Yea it's just not worth the trouble of pulling the engine, buying another engine that could also have issues and all that.

The fuel smells ok and I added 3 more gallons thinking that the fuel could have been low and the fuel gauge could possibly be wrong (reading almost 3/4's of a tank.)