lost compression on 2 cylinders....

I have a really strange issue with my '94 2.3 (the junkyard dog truck) yesterday was running fine, i stop at the bank after work for maybe 5 min, shut it off while i was there, went to leave and its missing bad, didnt think much of it, once in a while when starting it would miss but straighten out, figured it was a fault fuel injector, it is a 94, 145K miles on it. well anyways, i went to the dmv then the house, still missing bad, got worse the more it ran. this morning, same thing, drove it 5 miles to work, can barely pull itself, 4.10 gears and the most it will do is 45, 4rth gear, will idle but horribly. work my 8 then before i leave i check things over, nothing seems wrong, oil level and coolant level fine. drove it home, about halfway its smoking alot, i pull over and pop the hood, can see its oily around the #3 manifold port on exhause and its smoking from where the manifold joins the downpipe (i knew it was leaking there before) i get it to the house, pull plugs for a compression test, i had done a compression test when i first got the truck in july, it was roughly 150/160 across all 4. well now i have 160 on 1, 155 on 2, 20 on 3 and 5 on 4. so yes, 2 dead cylinders, my thought is blown head gasket between cylinders (havent pulled head yet) but theres one thing yet puzzling me. after the engine cooled down i checked fluid levels. coolant fine, oil down to the add mark..... yes, i lost a qt of oil i under 5 miles of driving. i did notice oil pressure guage acting weird during driving, it would dip halfway down then go back up. almost acted like a bad connection it was moving so much back and forth. motor sounded like it was "hammering" while driving too. i took a couple of videos, at idle after the drive from work it almost sounds like a diesel. both 3 and 4 plugs were oil soaked, i cant understand why the oil loss/burning is happining. any ideas? yes, i know i have to keep digging and take it apart. but this is just incredibly weird. ran great up until it didnt..... was surprized it lost 2 cylinders. guess that proves that its not always as bad as you think it could be.... sometimes its worse....

video links.....

this was how it was running before, took about a month ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojaJFKWOJlU

on the drive home today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPQgTShRuP4

parked after the drive from work, idleing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e2TlGFGxYU

sick....not in a good way....

Yes, odd thing

Once valve cover is off you may find valve stems are the source of the oil loss and loss of compression.
Could have busted valve springs

heres a picture of the exhaust manifold side of the engine, notice how its really oily at the #3 exhaust port. i was expecting #3 to be dead before i did a compression test, really surprized me when i found that #4 is a dead cyl as well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/154582078@N03/24861638758/

The oil passes through the left rear of the cylinder head, the gasket could have failed completely on #4... I pulled and serviced the head on my 2.3L last year with the engine in the truck, wasn't that bad and I have a turbo hanging off the side and a bunch of lift and big tires... luckily it wasn't my daily driver but most of my vehicle issues are complicated...

head gasket was blown between 3 & 4, and was eroded to the point where the oil reurn passage was so thats why it was inhaleing oil and fogging for mosquitos. sent head out and it was found to have cracks in nearly every valve seat. guess someone before me got this engine really hot. found another head and its being sent out to be checked and frshend up. block and oistins looked ok.

heres the heads, top one is the original one that head gasket blew on, lower head is the one i got last week from a junkyard. both are 60# paperweights. think im going with a autozone head, can get one with valves but no cam/lifters for 350. a complete head with cam, valves,lifters and such is 532. think i have enough other peices that will work. just bites that "estimated delevery time" is dec 28. dont feel like taking chances with another junkyard head. just hope this isnt a china casting. they dont call it "the land of almost right" for nothing....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/154582078@N03/39183005462/in/dateposted/

well, pulled the trigger on a new autozone head, the $350 one with no cam/lifters/rockers. just a head with valves in it, got my other peices i'll need soaking in diesel, cleaned with gas first but wanted a diesel coating for a little lubrication. head is supposed to be in saterday, guess we'll see, i was able to get my money back on that junkyard head that turned out to have cracks.

That has to be the worst luck in the world. I thought you had to take the coolant out of the 2.3 to get it that hot.

My 2.3 is a cold-blooded whore. Even with a fresh t-stat she barely gets to temp, and you can watch the gauge move around. It would probably be more stable if the sensor wasn't in a bloody heater hose.

adsm08 said:

That has to be the worst luck in the world. I thought you had to take the coolant out of the 2.3 to get it that hot.

My 2.3 is a cold-blooded whore. Even with a fresh t-stat she barely gets to temp, and you can watch the gauge move around. It would probably be more stable if the sensor wasn't in a bloody heater hose.

Click to expand...

Is this a trait of 2.3 and Vulcan 3.0 engines? I've complained here about the inability of the engine to get to the stat temp setting. The factory faux temp gauge gives no indication of low operating temp, but both my aftermarket digital temp gauge (in the factory coolant sender location) and my ScanGauge ECT temp show about 20* less than stat spec of 195*, depending on ambient.

The ECT temp reads 5* more than the engine coolant temp, but that's because the coolant temp sensor is located more away from the engine (out front).

My recent install of an electric fan improved the running temp and I also insulated the bypass hose as it's quite long.

I know that another 3.0L engine in my Montero got to temp very soon after starting, but the volume of coolant in that engine was quite less than the Ranger.

Is this just a question of the ratio of metal mass of the engine to coolant volume?

There is an aspect of the ratio of the coolant mass to the metal mass, obviously more coolant will absorb, more heat, the radiator is also a tad over-sized IMO. The 2.3 is hard on thermostats too. IME 3-4 years is a good run for a high quality 2.3 thermostat.

My 2.3 vehicle is a Mustang, not a Ranger, and she will get into the normal range, but I can watch the temp gauge go up and down while driving, and even control it with the fan setting. But like I said, my sensor is in the one heater hose, close to the firewall.

well got the valvetrain together and went to put head on last night, and my gasket set didnt have those small things that look like peices of pipe that help align the gasket and head, got the bright idea today to just cut the heads off 2 of the old head bolts, make a scewdriver slot in the end and use those as alignment pins, then just back them out with a screwdriver once head is on.
the 2.3's ive had in the past have always ran on the cold side, enough that id block off the top half of radiator with a cut-down political sign so i could get some heater output. i do have a new thermostat to put in, as well as a new water pump. already have a new heater core. just sucks to have to do all this work in late december. snow is coming down right now, have a barn to work in but even with a space heater you can see your breath

racsan said:

my gasket set didnt have those small things that look like peices of pipe that help align the gasket and head, got the bright idea today to just cut the heads off 2 of the old head bolts, make a scewdriver slot in the end and use those as alignment pins, then just back them out with a screwdriver once head is on.

Click to expand...

Those "pieces of pipe" are alignment dowels for precision alignment. I hope the heads line up OK. I've used/made the head bolt cut offs to help get the head on, but with the alignment dowels in place.

The dowels also hold the Head & head gasket in place a more precise manner, without them the head and gasket even compressed by the bolts could slide and move around as the bolt holes in the gasket and head are clearance holes and are larger than the bolts.

Your going to need the dowels, or you are extremely lucky, might consider a lottery ticket if this works for very long.

JP02XLT

after nearly a month, its back on the road again, fired it up last night about 10:30, i did finnaly find some alignment dowels and used them, 4 in a pkg for 10$ through oreillys. like most 2.3's it seems to run on the cool side, even with a new thermostat, only issue ive really seen is that the oil pressure reading isnt as high as it was before all this, could be the sender, i dont know. i did change the oil after its first warm up, 5w30 pennzoil. nothing is knocking or tapping like a oil pressure issue, guess i'll just watch and see what happens. nice to be able to go through all 5 gears again and not be stopped at 3rd with a max speed of 40. took some pictures before putting cap back on, kind of like the look of it without the cap but need the weight for the snow thats here now and its nice to keep the bed cleaner this way, i had took it off mainly because i was putting all the parts in the bed while i worked on it and it was alot easier to just reach over the side vs going through the back.
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