1984 ford ranger

[Sean44116]

Hi my name is Sean. I’m new the the forum but I wanted to ask you guys a few questions. I’ve had a 1984 ford ranger 2.8l v6 with 126xxx miles for about 8 months now. She been running strong but ever since I bought the car smoke has been coming out of the breather on the valve cover. I know this is a pretty good sign of excessive blowby but I wanted your guys opinion. I’ve done a ton of work to the engine but I’m only 17 and I don’t have the time or money to do a rebuild. So my over all question I guess is what you think is happening and how long I have before my engine fails. I check my oil every day and I don’t see/smell/taste any gasoline or antifreeze in it. I’ve changed out my PCV valves and I tried adding 10w-30 instead of 5w-30 thicken up the oil for the worn cylinders. I’m doing a compression test this weekend I just ordered a tester. My guess is worn rings. So I’ll take any thoughts and information you guys have. The car is running and driving well. It’s slow but runs good. Thanks everyone I really appreciate everything

Just to add I also had a oil leak and I decided to take off my breather cap because my guess was I was building to much pressure because the cap was so restrictive. As soon as I took the cap off my leak was gone. Just wanted to also add that for more information.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

If it aint knockin....run it.

 

[Dan B.]

It’s slow but runs good.

This pretty much describes every factory powered ranger is existence. ?

 

[Sean44116]

If it aint knockin....run it.

no knock it has a little valve clatter but I think that’s because it’s just getting cold and I’m using a little heavy weight oil

 

[RonD]

Welcome to the forum

Check and clean PCV hoses as well, and use a hose to blow INTO the valve cover hole for the PCV Valve to make sure its clear, there is a filter and plate inside the valve cover to help condense some of the oil vapor

PCV system works on engine vacuum, but OPPOSITE of what most think
At idle vacuum is high in the intake, PCV valve is closed well mostly closed
When accelerating vacuum goes low and PCV Valve OPENS because there is more blow-by at higher RPMs

Thats what the weight inside the PCV Valve is for, the thing that rattles when you shake it, vacuum at idle is high enough to pull the weight UP to partially close off the valve, when vacuum drops the weight drops as well, gravity, opening up the valve.

The oil vapor in the engine, crank case and valve covers, comes from the HOT gases when a cylinder ignites, blowing by the piston rings, it vaporizes some of the oil on the cylinder walls and piston sides
All engines have blow-by, but yes as the engine gets older the blow-by increases.

Yes, using a good brand of oil reduces some of the vaporization, cheap oil vaporizes more

The breather should be pulling in air just slightly most of the time, and yes if positive pressure is building up in the engine it will cause oil leaks, so something is amiss in the PCV system
Vacuum gauges are only $20 and can tell you ALOT about an engine

Good read here on the tests: https://www.gregsengine.com/using-a-vacuum-gauge.html

You can install a Catch Can on the PCV hose, this is often needed on older engines, it condense the oil vapor so it stays out of the intake manifold

 

[Sean44116]

Welcome to the forum

Check and clean PCV hoses as well, and use a hose to blow INTO the valve cover hole for the PCV Valve to make sure its clear, there is a filter and plate inside the valve cover to help condense some of the oil vapor

PCV system works on engine vacuum, but OPPOSITE of what most think
At idle vacuum is high in the intake, PCV valve is closed well mostly closed
When accelerating vacuum goes low and PCV Valve OPENS because there is more blow-by at higher RPMs

Thats what the weight inside the PCV Valve is for, the thing that rattles when you shake it, vacuum at idle is high enough to pull the weight UP to partially close off the valve, when vacuum drops the weight drops as well, gravity, opening up the valve.

The oil vapor in the engine, crank case and valve covers, comes from the HOT gases when a cylinder ignites, blowing by the piston rings, it vaporizes some of the oil on the cylinder walls and piston sides
All engines have blow-by, but yes as the engine gets older the blow-by increases.

Yes, using a good brand of oil reduces some of the vaporization, cheap oil vaporizes more

The breather should be pulling in air just slightly most of the time, and yes if positive pressure is building up in the engine it will cause oil leaks, so something is amiss in the PCV system
Vacuum gauges are only $20 and can tell you ALOT about an engine

Good read here on the tests: https://www.gregsengine.com/using-a-vacuum-gauge.html

You can install a Catch Can on the PCV hose, this is often needed on older engines, it condense the oil vapor so it stays out of the intake manifold

Alright Thanks so much. I’ve done all of the stuff you where saying about the PCV valves. I just redid my valve cover gasket so I cleaned everything when it was open. Rockers and rods all looked really good. So about the catch can? My pcv valve goes straight into the carb or intake. So how will the catch can create a vacuum and is there somewhere I can see how it install one? At this point I have a clean pcv system and an open breather. The pressure has gone down to a good level but I’m still having oil vapor coming out of the breather. I’m honestly just worried about the entire engine failing because of to much blow by

 

[RonD]

Catch Can would need longer vacuum hoses
Between lower carb or intake vacuum and PCV Valve

(air flow)<<Carb/Intake------<<------catch can-----<<-------PCV Valve----<<---crankcase/blow-by

Catch Can is a sealed container so vacuum is not lost, as vacuum pulls air from crank case thru it, it allows the HOT oil vapor to cool down so it condenses inside the can, so air going into the intake is cleaner.
Then you empty the can as needed
The can needs to have lots of surfaces area inside for best condensation, for DIY people often use the course steel wool pads inside the can

 

[Sean44116]

Catch Can would need longer vacuum hoses
Between lower carb or intake vacuum and PCV Valve

(air flow)<<Carb/Intake------<<------catch can-----<<-------PCV Valve----<<---crankcase/blow-by

Catch Can is a sealed container so vacuum is not lost, as vacuum pulls air from crank case thru it, it allows the HOT oil vapor to cool down so it condenses inside the can, so air going into the intake is cleaner.
Then you empty the can as needed
The can needs to have lots of surfaces area inside for best condensation

Alright thanks again so I attach it between the pcv valve and the carb intake. So with the problem I’m having (I know this is really hard to answer) but how much time do I have before the engine is unusable. What type of damage does excessive blowby do if I don’t do a rebuild because I just can’t afford that for a while

 

[RonD]

Blow-by on its own doesn't hurt anything, it means you will have less power because some of the explosive power when a cylinder fires is lost as it "blows by" the piston so it doesn't add power to the crank shaft

Its seen as lower compression on a compression test, and lower compression is also lower power
You can do a DRY compression test, write down the numbers

Then do a WET compression test, add a teaspoon of oil via the spark plug hole then test compression
The added oil seals the rings better so compression will ALWAYS go up on any engine, but how much it goes up can tell you how bad the blow-by is in each cylinder.

Just dip a straw in a bottle of oil, put finger on the top and transfer it over to spark plug hole, thats enough oil for this type of test

Cleaning out the oil vapor with catch can helps keep intake and spark plugs oil free so engine can last longer with less problems
But there are no other running issues associated with excessive blow-by, as said ALL piston engines have blow-by when brand new, its expected which was the reason PCV was added
You just will have lower power than a newer engine of the same model


If you are "burning oil" thats from the intake valve guide seals leaking, liquid oil is being sucked in from the valve cover area via the intake valve stems and its then burned in the engine.
This makes for smoke from the exhaust pipe
If you decelerate down a hill using the engine as the brake this builds up HIGH vacuum in the intake, so if guide seals are leaking extra oil will be sucked in
Then give it gas at the bottom of the hill and watch the tailpipe/exhaust for a puff of smoke
If you see the smoke then valve guide seals are leaking
These can be changed without pulling the heads but not easy to do

 

[Sean44116]

Blow-by on its own doesn't hurt anything, it means you will have less power because some of the explosive power when a cylinder fires is lost as it "blows by" the piston so it doesn't add power to the crank shaft

Its seen as lower compression on a compression test, and lower compression is also lower power
You can do a DRY compression test, write down the numbers

Then do a WET compression test, add a teaspoon of oil via the spark plug hole then test compression
The added oil seals the rings better so compression will ALWAYS go up on any engine, but how much it goes up can tell you how bad the blow-by is in each cylinder.

Just dip a straw in a bottle of oil, put finger on the top and transfer it over to spark plug hole, thats enough oil for this type of test

Cleaning out the oil vapor with catch can helps keep intake and spark plugs oil free so engine can last longer with less problems
But there are no other running issues associated with excessive blow-by, as said ALL piston engines have blow-by when brand new, its expected which was the reason PCV was added
You just will have lower power than a newer engine of the same model


If you are "burning oil" thats from the intake valve guide seals leaking, liquid oil is being sucked in from the valve cover area via the intake valve stems and its then burned in the engine.
This makes for smoke from the exhaust pipe
If you decelerate down a hill using the engine as the brake this builds up HIGH vacuum in the intake, so if guide seals are leaking extra oil will be sucked in
Then give it gas at the bottom of the hill and watch the tailpipe/exhaust for a puff of smoke
If you see the smoke then valve guide seals are leaking
These can be changed without pulling the heads but not easy to do

Alright man thanks so much I really can’t thank you enough. I would definitely say my valve guide seals are bad. If you don’t mind is there a link I can access to see how those would be changed because if it doesn’t involve ripping the motor out I’m willing to change them. This car is a project and a way for me to learn so. How hard is it to change because everything you said about the seals is happening to me. Thanks again I’m sorry to bother you

 

[RonD]

Not sure I have ever seen a video of that, changing valve guide seals with heads in place

Its fairly easy to explain
Valve guide seals are inside the valve springs, so each spring needs to be removed to change that one seal, but if you take off the spring the valve is free to fall out, and into the engine, which would be a bad thing, lol
This is why they are usually only changed when the head is off.

So to change them with head in place you need a way to hold the valve up so it doesn't drop into the engine when its spring is removed.

There are three ways to do this

Put piston at TDC and use constant supply of compressed air via spark plug hole to hold valves closed, use wrench on crank shaft pulley so piston isn't push down by the air pressure.
I don't prefer this method because of two things, power outages(lose air pressure), lol, long shot yes, and the oops factor, if you happen to push down too hard on the valve stem you lose the air seal and OOPS the valve drops

Inflatable rubber bag that fits down spark plug hole, and then piston is moved to top and bag is inflated, air pressure prevents valves from dropping, tie off crank

Small diameter rope, the tangle free kind, you feed the rope down spark plug hole and it will coil up, move piston up and the coil of rope will hold the valves from dropping, same as above, tie off the wrench

You need a smaller valve spring compressor to get it into tight places to do this
And extra "keepers", keepers hold the valve springs to the valve stems and they like go flying or otherwise disappear so have intake to engine covered, don't need no metal pieces going down the carb, lol.
Better to have extra keepers on hand just in case

Replace seal then reinstall that valve spring, intake valve is the only one that matters but best to do both valves in each cylinder.

Then move to next cylinder

Takes a bit of time but no special knowledge is needed, just patience

This type of spring compressor will usually work for this: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61A82tKjcrL._SX466_.jpg

 

[Uncle Gump]

I have the same style compressor... just seen this one at Jegs… awesome price.

JEGS Performance Auto Parts

Performance Automotive Parts from Accel Billet Edelbrock MSD VDO. JEGS is the source for performance parts with Same Day Shipping.

www.jegs.com

 

[Sean44116]

Not sure I have ever seen a video of that, changing valve guide seals with heads in place

Its fairly easy to explain
Valve guide seals are inside the valve springs, so each spring needs to be removed to change that one seal, but if you take off the spring the valve is free to fall out, and into the engine, which would be a bad thing, lol
This is why they are usually only changed when the head is off.

So to change them with head in place you need a way to hold the valve up so it doesn't drop into the engine when its spring is removed.

There are three ways to do this

Put piston at TDC and use constant supply of compressed air via spark plug hole to hold valves closed, use wrench on crank shaft pulley so piston isn't push down by the air pressure.
I don't prefer this method because of two things, power outages(lose air pressure), lol, long shot yes, and the oops factor, if you happen to push down too hard on the valve stem you lose the air seal and OOPS the valve drops

Inflatable rubber bag that fits down spark plug hole, and then piston is moved to top and bag is inflated, air pressure prevents valves from dropping, tie off crank

Small diameter rope, the tangle free kind, you feed the rope down spark plug hole and it will coil up, move piston up and the coil of rope will hold the valves from dropping, same as above, tie off the wrench

You need a smaller valve spring compressor to get it into tight places to do this
And extra "keepers", keepers hold the valve springs to the valve stems and they like go flying or otherwise disappear so have intake to engine covered, don't need no metal pieces going down the carb, lol.
Better to have extra keepers on hand just in case

Replace seal then reinstall that valve spring, intake valve is the only one that matters but best to do both valves in each cylinder.

Then move to next cylinder

Takes a bit of time but no special knowledge is needed, just patience

This type of spring compressor will usually work for this: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61A82tKjcrL._SX466_.jpg

Alright great thanks so much. Any suggestions on anything I should do with the ranger obviously you know there’s cars. Anything that goes bad? I’ve redone the entire cooling system, oil pan, valve covers, etc...

 

[Uncle Gump]

I would say to get a good look on the bottom side of your truck. If it has lived in Ohio its entire life... the chassis will have some rust issues.

Things that come to mind would be... all suspension brackets... frame structure behind said brackets... body mounts... brake and fuel lines. All of these areas are accidents just waiting to happen. Would be a good idea to change rubber brake hoses too. They degrade and plug up...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I would say to get a good look on the bottom side of your truck. If it has lived in Ohio its entire life... the chassis will have some rust issues.

Things that come to mind would be... all suspension brackets... frame structure behind said brackets... body mounts... brake and fuel lines. All of these areas are accidents just waiting to happen. Would be a good idea to change rubber brake hoses too. They degrade and plug up...

While thats good advice...

The older frames seem to hold up much better to corrosion then the 98+ ones.