Fuel problems ??
 

Hello gentlemen it's been a while since I've been on but I have a problem. My brother has a 97 Ford Explorer it's a sport addition, 4.0 pushrod engine and he is having fuel delivery problems I believe. The engine runs very rough at an idol if you can get it started at all. We did change the fuel filter which helped a little bit but not very well and we change the fuel regulator on the fuel rail which didn't help at all. My brother wants to take an air compressor and blow the sock off the fuel pick up in the fuel tank which I don't think is very good idea at all. As you can tell we are drawing at straws so your thoughts will be greatly appreciated, Thank you.

A quickie, check and make sure the EGR valve is not being held open either with a piece of carbon or just stuck in the partially open position.

you have vacuum leak
 

make your own vacuum smoke tester to go into brake booster hose. this engine bad about both intake gaskets leaking . mine was the vacuum canister purge valve leaking badly-- under battery . I had already fixed my intake gaskets.