1992 ford ranger 2.3L running very sluggish
 

hello,any help would be appreciated..i have the 4 cylinder
dual plug system.it runs ok until you come to a hill and
even on level ground it doesn't have any power(get up and
go)once you leave 4th gear.it has a small miss at idle,and
does seem to maybe miss/surge in high gear(sort of like a
lurching forward).with it idling i've pulled each plug wire
from the coils one at a time,and what i find is that on the
intake coil the #1 & #4 cylinders change the engine idling
significantly,but the #2 & #3 cylinders are firing great
from the coil but no change in engine.i've swapped the
plugs around and stills remains the same.now on the exhaust
coil,the #2 & #3 cylinders are firing but doesn't change
engine,and the #1 & #4 cylinders have no fire at all coming
out of coil.(and i already tried new coil,same exact
thing)so that leads me to believe thats either normal or
theres a problem before it gets to the coil..*just to note
my engine lite doesn't come on at all,not even in the
mornings when you cycle the key,hooked up the obd 1 and it
says vehicle not responsive..tried it several times with
same responce.could it be timing jumped 1 tooth or maybe
the ign. module.any help would definitely be helpful

RE: 1992 ford ranger 2.3L running very sluggish
 

id say the ignition control module would be a great place to start looking as it is what takes the command/information from the actual computer and basically tells the other engine systems what to do. i had done alot of electrical checking on my 91 explorer when i couldnt get it started after i had rebuilt it this past winter. I checked the EEC the ignition control module and basically from the module i was able to check the current going to the coil and the power going to the crank shaft position sensor and the power going to the fuel injection. if you do get into doing these checks be careful not to test equipment to wrong pins in the ICM or you may cause damage to the ICM and or other engine sensors or parts. when checking engine systems thru ICM you will be checking to see that there is power to the part your checking but also the fuel injection and the coil pack both receive a pulse to them i think from the ground source and that pulse is what tells the coils or injectors when to start and stop theelectric or fuel to each of the plugs and injectors. hope you get it figured out ..good luck to you