Fuel Pressure 4.0L SOHC 1997 vs 1999

[DFGasner]

Hey all,

I'm trying to diagnose my P0171 Bank #1 Lean. Been pouring through the forum finding a lot of good tips. One of which is that my fuel filter may be going bad. Haven't checked any yet, so I know I have a lot of things to go through.

The reason for my question is this. My brother got a 1999 X that had a blown motor because of the timing chain issue. After some research we found that the issue was with the timing chain cassette was fixed in 2002+ rangers with the 4.0L SOHC. So we went out, got a nice one from a junk yard and it runs wonderful. Couple years back I wanted to get myself one, didn't take long to find a cheap on on Craigslist with the same issue. Mine however was a 1997, not near as nice as my brothers, but I love it all the same. Swapped the motor and runs great. Except that my check engine light has been on since we swapped. Just now out of college and finally have the time to try and look at it.

So my question is simply this, did Ford change the fuel pressure between the 97 and the 99, causing my brother's X to have the right pressure for the Ranger motor and mine to be to little?

Sorry for the story to preface such a simple question
Thanks in advance!
Davey

 

[2000StreetRod]

return vs returnless fuel system

Your 1997 model has a return fuel system with the fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail while your brother's 1999 has a returnless system with the fuel pressure regulator mounted in the fuel tank.

If only one bank is lean then it may not be due to a bad fuel filter or fuel pump. See my helpful thread: Lean condition procedure

Unfortunately, even the 2002+ SOHC V6 rear cassette has no metal reinforcement on the traction side and can still break.

 

[DFGasner]

Thanks a lot for the response. I was thinking that the fuel pump/filter would be my last resort. I had not however seen your thread yet, although after just searching for P0171 on the forum I'm only on page 8. I'll be going through the things I've found so far on the forum, along with your post (which probably includes all of them) .

Good to know about the cassette never being fixed. Had a friend tell me that once a while back, that's why we did it to my brothers. Said that in 02+ the part number of the cassette changed to a better one. Oh well, my motor has 130k on it when I picked it up and it runs like a champ besides that stupid like .

Off to hunt down what I'm sure is a little leak somewhere