Good luck with the bug finder,i had a few of them myself,a scanner may help,if its in the emission systom,i had a geo that would run good till hot then had too pull over. wait 2 minnuts ,drive a awhile then stall, check all the computor grounds, ECT. bad grounds are code setters,and cause havoc with computor systoms, possibly loose ignition switch,or key,if you have one of the chip keys. Next time it wont start have some one turn the key off and then on again,put your ear on the gas tank fill tube and you should hear the pump, some fuel pumps wont run if the engine oil pressure sending unit is faulty.it should run when the key is turned off then back on for a short time before the timer shuts it back off untill the motor starts.
I’m guessing fuel pressure. On a Dakota, the rails have an old style “an” connector that is the same as old A/C service gauges. That makes it easy to check pressure.
That sure helps when the fuel rail has the attachment,The old throttle body chevys, you had too make a tee in too check.first step is hearing it run, then psi checking.
Hi carl ,your fuel pressure never opens the regulator, it runs so low psi when hybrid’ing.maybe. I mean whats your psi when hybrid’ing
I see about 5 psi at my lowest setting. (1.7 VDC) Normal for these Dakotas is about 45psi. No regulator on a 95, and no return line that I know of. The regulator may be in the tank.
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Thanks carl,you must have thought that tank would never go empty,drizzling fuel to dakota,on the big 800 mile drive.SWEM OR was that 1600 round trip.
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your timing isnt advanced when cranking on gasoline is it?
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Hi all, Welllll, the Ford Ranger is now running on gasoline and I have no idea what the problem was. Put new plugs in and cranked the engine over while they sat on a grounded surface and they all had a hot spark. Now I can return the coil pack I bought because the old one is still good. Put the plugs in, shot some ether in the throttle body and…It fired right up until the ether was burned up. This same proceedure was followed several days ago with no cylinders firing. Well, now I can return the crank sensor I bought. Another shot of ether and the engine fired just fine until the ether was used up. OK, no gasoline then, BUT the fuel rail had pressure. Finally I started it on ether and while the engine fired, I pumped the accelerator rapidly, The engine started pulling gasoline die down then reve up then die down then reve up and then it ran just fine,
For now, I am just running on gasoline but will make some modification to the charcoal gas system before using it again, These modification include 1. Installing a valve to shut off the charcoal gas from entering the air intake of the engine, This way I can drive my last few miles on gasoline with no charcoal gas making the air mixture richer, 2. I will install a cooler/cyclone (5 gallon metal bucket) to see if some of that soot will drop out before getting to the engine. 3. I’ll also monitor the use of the oil drip/ water drip and no drip to see what affect that has on soot build up.
That is it for now, More later.
Gary in PA
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It sounds like your gasoline fuel system just got jealous because your engine had a new girlfriend called “Carmine” Monoxide. 
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Gary Keep the starting fluid with the truck. It sounds to me like the fuel line got air locked. What you did with the starting fluid was something like what happens in diesels when they run out of fuel. You don’t just add fuel and drive away. You have to bleed the air out of the line. The fuel pump becomes locked with air. I don’t know if your truck has an air leak, or in shutting off the fuel and running on Carmine Monoxide, caused an air lock. TomC
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@TomC I’m pretty sure you can vapor-lock gasoline vehicles too. That said, @glgilmore said he couldn’t get even a cough using ether, which points to an intermittent spark problem to me.
Hi Gary, sounds like you are making progress. I’m not a mechanic, so I don’t understand the part I quoted above. What happens in a Throttle Body Injection system when you “pump the accelerator”? It does not have an accelerator pump, does it? When you mash on the accelerator pedal, it turns a shaft on the throttle position sensor, which tells the Motorola computer to inject more gasoline. At the same time, the computer calculates the weight on the incoming air (Mass Airflow Sensor), and the Oxygen sensor in the exhaust determines if the mixture of air and fuel was correct.
Based on this thought, my bet is on soot (or even tar) in the Throttle Body assembly, or perhaps a bad connector somewhere in the system. So, I agree 100% with your 3 step plan to sort this out. Perhaps someone who knows the system will chime in…
Gary,
My hunch is the same as Ray’s.
Is the computer throwing any codes? Does your CEL even work? Does it come on in KOEO mode?
When my '92 Ford computer said “TPS sensor out of range” it turned out to be right. Those computers are scary reliable, but the instrument panel bulbs sometimes aren’t . . .
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Brian; Yes you can get vapor lock in gasoline but highly unlikely with modern day formula of gasoline. I am talking about AIR lock in the gas line. A diesel engine fuel pump will only cavitate when air gets to it and can’t pull any fuel into the pump. I have no faith in “starting fluids” now days. They are NOT either anymore. Yesterday I was working on a single cylinder engine, it had excellent spark. When I sprayed SF into the carburetor, nothing happened. When I pulled the fuel line off the fuel pump I noticed nothing came out of the line. The line was plugged. Cleaned it and away we gooo!TomC
Yes. Sorry, I did mean “air lock”. So many still refer to it as “vapor-lock”. 
Hey GaryG before you throw parts at this problem use the power of the Net and search up. “1994 Ford Ranger Intermittent Spark”
I did. And found four solid references to owners experiences that were resolved
.Anytime one of us finds an obscure vehicle model pattern failure problen and talks Net about it like WayneK did on his Dakota it gets searchable then.
Found two searched out design/manufacturing headaches on family vehicles this way. Recorded two others that were hours and hours of headaches for me chasing wiring problems down to pinpoint plastic harness plugs being either weather temperature sensitive, or years in service pin-plug undersized then in-use circuit heat flow go intermittent.
The more aftermarket cheapest junk parts you throw at an intermittent problem the more you are playing a added jokers go’s wild card game. BE suspicious of previously replaced parts.
Yes an alternative fuel is a good diagnostic. But use bottled propane as a fuel gas. More reliable and safer.
On spark checks use an actual wider gapped spark tester to load the system versus an easy not under compression standard spark plug. You will need two for each coil in a wasted spark system.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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Well, good news and bad news, I posted this over two weeks ago;
For now, I am just running on gasoline but will make some modification to the charcoal gas system before using it again, These modification include 1. Installing a valve to shut off the charcoal gas from entering the air intake of the engine, This way I can drive my last few miles on gasoline with no charcoal gas making the air mixture richer, 2. I will install a cooler/cyclone (5 gallon metal bucket) to see if some of that soot will drop out before getting to the engine. 3. I’ll also monitor the use of the oil drip/ water drip and no drip to see what affect that has on soot build up.
These changes were done while I continued to drive to work and home on gasoline, No problems,
Once everything was installed, it was time to start driving on charcoal again, Well I made two or three round trips to work (20 miles each way) and then got ready to go to work one morning and NO START!!!
The three times this happens is in the morning. Tried today to get it going again, but no luck. Good spark, fuel spirts from the schrader valve. Can the computer shut off the engine or is there something else going on, REALLY frustrating, It is fun to drive on charcoal gas and this problem is really it.
Gary in PA
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Hi Gary; My heart goes out to you. I have a Ford tractor, that I can’t get to run. A friend that said he had worked on old Fords came over and thought he would have it running in minutes. 8 hours later he went home shaking his head. It still doesn’t run.
Having said that, I do have something in mind that might help you. You say you have fuel spirting out of the Schroeder valve. So the next place to look is at the injectors. With a test light turn on the key and see if you have current to the injectors. If you do; have some one turn the engine over you should hear a bebe rattling noise as the solenoids open and close the injectors. It is very hard to see if any fuel is spraying out of the injectors, so try to stick something below the injector and see if it gets a little wet. IF you have pressure at the Schroeder valve, and current at the injector and the rattle of the solenoid, and a spray coming out ot the injector, it must be running-- or it should.
Bleed the pressure on the Schroeder valve. Turn the engine over and see if it builds up again. If not-- fuel pump.
If you don’t have current at the solenoid, check your fuse and wires for short. Also make sure you have straps to ground the engine to the body/frame for a complete circuit. I believe the computer grounds the wires to the injectors to make the solenoid work.
No bebe rattling sound — we have a bad solenoid or a
computer problem.
Everything but not gas spraying below the injectors. Air in the line, between the Schroeder valve and the injector. Hold the gas wide open and turn it over so the injectors can bleed the air out.
As I said, I can’t get a old Ford tractor with a carburator started, but these are some ideas to try.TomC
PS Could you possibly start it on charcoal gas – that would tell if the gasoline system is messed up.
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Hi gary hope the qwirk aint too hard too find, One thing i have done when fuel pump was at questian is put a small propane tank in back seat,bolt a old barique regulator too tank and run a hose too the intake vac line and crack the tank valve ever so slightly and when you get the air fuel ratio good it will start,i have drove down the road this way, too get back home it may only idle fast ,but can be driven, Or not much control this way but i had it working on a geo tracker,and geo metro.Just enough too get back home and fix the problem,make sure hoses are good and no leaks from tank too intake manifold.
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