87 2.3 ranger swap, waste of time and $.

[85beast]

So, my ranger started making "lifter noise" so i just decided to swap the whole engine, $250 with a t-5 attached? snagged that up.

when i get home, first thing i do is tear it down and check all the wear points (cam lifters cylinders etc) all looked great! best ive ever seen! so i clean up everything and start resealing it (PM pretty much, all new externals) and after i pulled my old one out

here is the "new" one:

as i was swapping parts (new was 2.3 mustang, different brackets etc) when i pulled my oil pan off the old engine and look in my sump to see why i had low oil pressure, found a shard of piston skirt(what the hell?) so then i start digging in my oil pan and found this:

^
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thats my my #3 piston. so what i was hearing wasnt a lifter tick, it was that rattling on my crank and rods.

so here i am. ready to go in:

so i get her all put in buttoned up and fire it up! running on 3 cyl!! wtf? come to find out a few loose wires on my #2 injector, easy fix runs like a champ.

has lifter tick (ok no prob engine was sitting for few years figured it might) so it goes away. SWEET!! ready to go. then i hear it. starts effing knocking! KNOCKING! $250 and a WHOLE weekend (730pm- 3am friday. 11am saturday- 1am sunday. and then 10am sunday til 730 that night) so im pissed very very pissed. so i just drive it home, ill drive it til it blows. but when i woke up in the morning, fire it up to warm up, and im leaking oil like a siv from my pan, didnt seal right. so i said eff it, leaked 4 quarts in 80 miles.



so here i am, driving my 1970 getting 10 miles to the gallon driving 80 miles a day. making $10/hr. im going broke, i cant even afford to think about working on my ranger.

im bout tired of my ranger. i really am! i aint done nothin but treat her right and shes just a bitch to me!

 

[scotts90ranger]

been there, there's a reason my truck has been parked more than driven in the last couple years... and that's not counting most of last year when it had no choice to be parked because of no windshield or roof...

any chance of the oil pan just being loose? that much oil in 80 miles is excessive for the oil pan, sounds like a main seal or oil filter gasket...

 

[85beast]

been there, there's a reason my truck has been parked more than driven in the last couple years... and that's not counting most of last year when it had no choice to be parked because of no windshield or roof...

any chance of the oil pan just being loose? that much oil in 80 miles is excessive for the oil pan, sounds like a main seal or oil filter gasket...

shes from the pan, i need to ez out a bolt or drop and permatex. i looked at it, its right where i broke a bolt.

 

[Jfive]

Had a similar story a few years back. Bought a ranger with a worn out motor. Paid 585.00 for it. Drove it around for a few weeks. Had a tick, and upon my way home one day, I sent a rod and piston through the oil pan and side of the block. So got on ebay, after not finding anything locally or on craigslist and found a 89k motor for 400.00. Thought shoot that would be nice if I could get it here for a decent amount, so I called the guy and he told me 280.00 for shipping but give him a day and he would see if he could do better. Called me back with a quote of 135.00, so I took it and waited for it to come. Got held up for 5 days, but finally came. Turned out to be a differant setup, so had to swap all my stuff from my motor onto it. Put it in and ran great. Then on a long trip from western montana to spokane washington to pick up a 408sbf(modified not windsor) I had built, the engine just died at 75mph on the interstate. Pulled over, and grabbed my tools and started looking for issues, like spark and fuel. pulled a plug and had my wife turn it over. Had spark. Pulled another plug to find it was wet with fuel. So stumped I called a tow truck and had it towed back 5 miles to the previous town, rented a hotel, and had my dad come get us the next day. Towed the ranger the rest of the way to spokane cause i had my core block in the back, and picked up my new one. Towed it all the way home, to find that the stupid timing belt had snapped. With only 89k on it I guess the crap they spray on the roads on the east coast not only covered the engine in rust, but wore out the belts. Glad it non-interferance. Could of drove it off a mountain at first, but you get over it, and buck down and fix it again. Hopefully you will get it fixed for the long haul this next time like me. Best of luck.

 

[Mark_88]

shes from the pan, i need to ez out a bolt or drop and permatex. i looked at it, its right where i broke a bolt.

That shouldn't be too hard to fix...but you will probably have to pull the engine again...and obviously you're tired of having to do the work...it gets weary sometimes and can be very expensive...but the good news is once the oil leak is fixed you will have a decent running truck with better fuel economy...

Towed it all the way home, to find that the stupid timing belt had snapped. With only 89k on it I guess the crap they spray on the roads on the east coast not only covered the engine in rust, but wore out the belts. Glad it non-interferance. Could of drove it off a mountain at first, but you get over it, and buck down and fix it again. Hopefully you will get it fixed for the long haul this next time like me. Best of luck.

When I first bought my Ranger I had this happen also...threw about $200 worth of new parts at it before deciding to call the tow truck...good thing I had CAA...when I got it home found I had to spend another $40 on the timing belt...and that's how I got to like working on my truck...

 

[4b316]

Rangers and women are alike,you can spend money left and right on them,take them to a nice dinner and dance and at the end of the night still end up lonely and at the edge of the road.Then sometimes they are great,a few bucks and they treat you like you are the best thing since sliced bread....

 

[tempforce]

check the service manual on those timing belts, they do not last 100,000 miles.. my 83 ford (pinto) engine specs said to change the belt every 50,000 miles. a good rule is replace them between 50-60,000 miles.
newer engines will be longer.

 

[chilsam]

Been there

Have you thought of using one of the "new" pistons in your "old" motor? My son blew a hole in #3 in his 87 and we bought a new piston a o'reilly's $28.00 had it pressed on the rod $12.00 used the old ring's and bearings fine grit emery cloth and then a green scotch brite pad with 2 stroke oil and heavy duty razor blade to scrape the melted aluminum off the top of bore "Above top comp ring".Wiped out cyl's dropped in the piston buttoned it up and it runs like a CHAMP! Scotch brited the other bores also. Good luck!

 

[85beast]

That shouldn't be too hard to fix...but you will probably have to pull the engine again...and obviously you're tired of having to do the work...it gets weary sometimes and can be very expensive...but the good news is once the oil leak is fixed you will have a decent running truck with better fuel economy...



When I first bought my Ranger I had this happen also...threw about $200 worth of new parts at it before deciding to call the tow truck...good thing I had CAA...when I got it home found I had to spend another $40 on the timing belt...and that's how I got to like working on my truck...

im gettin way tired of working on it! but, hey i pay no shop charges! timing belts are so easy on this. book time was 2.5 hours. i had it done with water pump and a slipped belt in 2hours. but today i start tearing into it again.. my old lady is getting tired of the truck. and im only getting 14 MPGS yes 14.47. so im gonna put no money, and then trade it in

 

[85beast]

Rangers and women are alike,you can spend money left and right on them,take them to a nice dinner and dance and at the end of the night still end up lonely and at the edge of the road.Then sometimes they are great,a few bucks and they treat you like you are the best thing since sliced bread....

i think i just blew my spleen! thats funny!

 

[85beast]

Have you thought of using one of the "new" pistons in your "old" motor? My son blew a hole in #3 in his 87 and we bought a new piston a o'reilly's $28.00 had it pressed on the rod $12.00 used the old ring's and bearings fine grit emery cloth and then a green scotch brite pad with 2 stroke oil and heavy duty razor blade to scrape the melted aluminum off the top of bore "Above top comp ring".Wiped out cyl's dopped in the piston buttoned it up and it runs like a CHAMP! Scotch brited the other bores also. Good luck!

my old engine need bored and machined. there is NO cross hatches in all 4 cylinders lol.

and yes i did that to my brother 00 ranger. he blew headgasket and cracked the head in all 4 valve seats and melted the #3(why always #3 lol) so i did EXACTLY what you did. and worked awesome, but i cant half ass mine as i drive 80 miles a day

 

[chilsam]

Yaaaa

I drive mine about the same but needing a bore on the other block shoots that n d rear.I'v just had more going out than coming in $ lately so I have to make do with what is at handAt lest you got the T-5 on the cheap if you get to keep it.

 

[85beast]

I drive mine about the same but needing a bore on the other block shoots that n d rear.I'v just had more going out than coming in $ lately so I have to make do with what is at handAt lest you got the T-5 on the cheap if you get to keep it.

if i was 2wd i would keep! and to make it better its a t5 WC(world class) very desired tranny! so im trying to sell it to make money back

 

[RangerKing1]

if i was 2wd i would keep! and to make it better its a t5 WC(world class) very desired tranny! so im trying to sell it to make money back

Please contact me asap. I have a NICE 2wd 88 ext cab that runs and has no engine problems. Just needs $200 or less of trans work. If interested, I may swap with you. Send pics to rangerking1@gmail.com and I will do the same. Thanks.

 

[85beast]

Please contact me asap. I have a NICE 2wd 88 ext cab that runs and has no engine problems. Just needs $200 or less of trans work. If interested, I may swap with you. Send pics to rangerking1@gmail.com and I will do the same. Thanks.

trade what? trannys? i need cash man. ive got to pay for my engine to be bored and crank polished