There is a small threaded boss behind the stock damper. It can be found around the 6 o'clock position. The boss has a 6 mm fine thread hole in it. Before you try to loosen the crank bolt, there must be a bolt installed through the damper into the boss. Without the bolt to positively hold everything in position, the balancer or crankshaft will turn as the bolt loosens. If this happens, you lose valvetrain alignment as well as crank sensor synchronization on the crank trigger. Because the 2.3 Duratec/PZEV uses no crank key way, everything is held in place by the torque of the bolt, and can move out of position without it.
Try the following to check that the cams are still in alignment:
With the coils and plugs removed, remove the valve cover.
Turn the crankshaft with the crank bolt as previously recommended until the piston is at the top of the bore.
A long screwdriver is useful for monitoring the piston location.
Note the location of the cam lobes on #1 cylinder.
They should be pointing away from each other if you are on the compression stroke, or towards each other if they are between the exhaust and intake stroke.
Rotate the engine one more full turn if they are pointing more towards each other, to get them pointing more away.
Feel out TDC with the wrench on the crankshaft. You just need to be close for this, it does not have to be to the degree.
Now, note the back of the cams. There is an alignment slot in each cam.
If the slots are in a straight line, and you can slide a straight edge into them, your cams are still aligned.
This would be the best case scenario.
If the cams are not aligned, there is a serious chance the valves may have collided with the piston.
They can not collide with each other or the spark plug, only the piston.
In the event they have collided with the pistons they may be bent or broken as suggested earlier in the thread.
Unless you have an in with you dealer service tech for a printout regarding cam/timing setup, you will likely want to get a Ranger service manual for the 2.3 Duratec to get the information on the procedure.