jrobinson004
New Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2014
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Vehicle Year
- 1998
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Automatic
My 1998 Ranger, 4.0 L, 4-Door, 4x4 recently overheated - the Check Engine light came on, but the temperature warning did not. I was on the freeway, turned on the heater and slowed down. The temperature instantly went down (not quite to normal temp), but a few miles later the temperature went back up and cold air came out of the heating unit.
I managed to pull into a gas station just as smoke started coming out from under the hood.
The next morning, I rinsed off the engine, let that water dry and then tried adding water to the radiator - it's definitely leaking.
My plan - please let me know what you think:
1) Replace radiator, upper & lower hoses, thermostat, radiator cap
2) Remove and inspect water pump
***3) Inspect fan & fan clutch (not 100% sure what to look for with that)***
4) Get that all together, fill up with coolant/water and try to start the truck
My questions:
1) How do I know if my head gasket is torched (other than the fact that my truck won't start)?
2) Should I replace all the spark plugs? Is it common for them to foul when the engine gets hot? Is it possible to have a "false positive" for the head gasket if a plug is fouled?
I managed to get all the radiator & cooling parts cheap (minus the water pump at this point) but am very afraid if I need to replace the head gaskets - the truck has over 200K on it and I just rebuilt the tranny.
Anything else I am possibly missing?
Thanks for the input,
Justin
I managed to pull into a gas station just as smoke started coming out from under the hood.
The next morning, I rinsed off the engine, let that water dry and then tried adding water to the radiator - it's definitely leaking.
My plan - please let me know what you think:
1) Replace radiator, upper & lower hoses, thermostat, radiator cap
2) Remove and inspect water pump
***3) Inspect fan & fan clutch (not 100% sure what to look for with that)***
4) Get that all together, fill up with coolant/water and try to start the truck
My questions:
1) How do I know if my head gasket is torched (other than the fact that my truck won't start)?
2) Should I replace all the spark plugs? Is it common for them to foul when the engine gets hot? Is it possible to have a "false positive" for the head gasket if a plug is fouled?
I managed to get all the radiator & cooling parts cheap (minus the water pump at this point) but am very afraid if I need to replace the head gaskets - the truck has over 200K on it and I just rebuilt the tranny.
Anything else I am possibly missing?
Thanks for the input,
Justin