Veloman
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2009
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Phoenix, AZ
- Vehicle Year
- 1991
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.3
- Transmission
- Manual
I'm a new member of your forum and thanks for all the great hints on Ranger maintenance. I'm an old guy that's done car stuff for probably 50 years. I have a '92 Miata and have done practically every maintenance task on it for 10 years including timing belt changes. My son recently picked up a 1991 Ranger 2.3 and started having problems starting it a week or so after buying it. We bought the Ford code reader and didn't pull a single code. After parking it in my garage it wouldn't start at all. Hooked up a new plug I had in my stock of motorcycle parts and tested the spark. It wasn't a sharp blue spark but it did appear to spark regularly. Then we listened for the fuel pump to run when switching on the ignition. It always ran for approx 3-4 seconds each time the switch was turned on. Haven't hooked up the fuel pressure gauge to the fuel rail yet so can't say about the pressure. It's bloody hot here in Phoenix so each session with the truck is about 15 minutes before I start cooking!
Thought I'd better look at the timing belt through the front cover hole and what I see looks like a flat belt riding on the cam pulley with no apparent teeth. I know the engine backfired a few times trying to start it before it became absolutely dead in the water. I know I should turn the engine with a wrench to see if the pulley actually turns. I'm anticipating it won't turn correctly.
My real question is, after reading through 98 pages of this forum I see lots of questions on timing the cam and a few references to people doing a belt change in 1-2 hours. Someone said he was thinking about cutting off the piece of the engine block which prevents removing the belt without removing the vibration dampener. Has anyone on the forum devised a way to change the belt without removing the dampener? I had to do that on the Miata and it was no fun at all, besides having to remove the radiator etc to get clearance for the wrenches etc. This engine looks about 10 times harder to work on than the Miata twin cam lump. If I had a garage which wasn't at 105 degrees I wouldn't be so leery of starting this job. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.
Thought I'd better look at the timing belt through the front cover hole and what I see looks like a flat belt riding on the cam pulley with no apparent teeth. I know the engine backfired a few times trying to start it before it became absolutely dead in the water. I know I should turn the engine with a wrench to see if the pulley actually turns. I'm anticipating it won't turn correctly.
My real question is, after reading through 98 pages of this forum I see lots of questions on timing the cam and a few references to people doing a belt change in 1-2 hours. Someone said he was thinking about cutting off the piece of the engine block which prevents removing the belt without removing the vibration dampener. Has anyone on the forum devised a way to change the belt without removing the dampener? I had to do that on the Miata and it was no fun at all, besides having to remove the radiator etc to get clearance for the wrenches etc. This engine looks about 10 times harder to work on than the Miata twin cam lump. If I had a garage which wasn't at 105 degrees I wouldn't be so leery of starting this job. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.