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- Joined
- Jul 24, 2017
- Messages
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- Points
- 1
- Vehicle Year
- 2003
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Manual
I am new to the forum and new to Rangers. My 14 year old recently purchased his first car which he will be rebuilding for the next year and a half. It is a 2003 FX4 Level II with the manual transfer case. The previous owner had started a "pre-runner" build which apparently starts with a few cans of black primer over what was a halfway descent factory paint job. The truck is ugly but it ran pretty good. It had a broken and poorly repaired thermostat housing and a bad temp sensor which we replaced. We also did a quick tune up with coil, wires and plugs. It runs well now but has a bit of a lumpy idle and stutters when acceleration from idle but runs really great once over 2k rpm. Yesterday it started leaking water from the exhaust pipe and smoking. It was a ton of water. I will run a test but I am assuming we have a blown head gasket and/or a cracked head. Is that a safe assumption. There is nothing to do with the thermostat housing that would dump water would it? Anyway if it is the heads my plan is to buy new complete heads, studs and gaskets. Here are my questions.
1- I have searched the web and have come across contradicting information on if the heads can be replaced on the 4.0 SOHC with the motor still in the car. Does anyone have any input there?
2- I have been working on cars and motorcycles my whole life but mostly easy classic stuff. Last time I replaced heads it was about an hour of work on a 66 Ford Mustang 302. how big is the effort of changing heads on this beast?
3- Any gotchas or anything else I should do while I am in there?
Thanks in advance for your help.
1- I have searched the web and have come across contradicting information on if the heads can be replaced on the 4.0 SOHC with the motor still in the car. Does anyone have any input there?
2- I have been working on cars and motorcycles my whole life but mostly easy classic stuff. Last time I replaced heads it was about an hour of work on a 66 Ford Mustang 302. how big is the effort of changing heads on this beast?
3- Any gotchas or anything else I should do while I am in there?
Thanks in advance for your help.
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